The Oregon Ducks hockey team began their regular season campaign this past weekend in Fort Collins Colorado as they took on the Rams of Colorado State. I have tracked the weekend series, and it will be part of my recap article this upcoming weekend.
Before getting into the results of the season I wanted to preview the entire Ducks hockey season from a big picture perspective as the Ducks begin their 4th season at the Division 1 level. In the pre-season the Ducks hosted two Canadian universities teams
for 2 double header weekend series. I did not chart these games but I did watch all of the games so that I could get familiar with the players, forward line combinations, D-Pairings, powerplay units, and penalty kill units. There were no significant differences in how coach Hyman deployed his players from the first to the second series so if you are looking for specific commentary player personnel for this upcoming season I would recommend you read my first pre-season article.
Big Picture Expectations
When I spoke with Coach Hyman in the off-season, we had a great talk about the trials and tribulations of moving up a division and the challenges that come with that. Expectedly the first 3 years of the Ducks at this higher level have been a challenge as the ducks have a record of 26 Wins 49 Losses and 3 losses in OT or a Shootout. The Ducks amassed that record in the early days of Division 1 play with a core group of players that all came into the program in 2021 and graduated last year. The bi-product of that is that now in year 4 coach Hyman has a more talented roster of players that will exclusively play at the Division 1 level, but those players are Sophomores and Freshmen this season. In fact 14 of the 20 players on the roster this year are underclassmen so while the talent profile has ticked up, from Hyman having the opportunity to sell Division 1 play, I’m still expecting growing pains this season as the Ducks will be competing against older rosters.
Even though I expect the results to be similar as the 3 previous years, where the Ducks finish with 8-10 wins this season, it will actually be a step forward for the Hockey program, and an indication that the results should begin to turn the following two seasons.
Schedule
While those are my expectations for the team, coach Hyman and the players have the goal of being the first Oregon Duck team to make the ACHA Division 1 tournament. To be able to get selected for the tournament they will need to put together a resume against their 24 game schedule here but here are the highlights:
- Home Games
- Nov 14-15 vs Washington
- Jan 9-10 vs San Diego State
- Feb 13-14 vs Oakland University
- Outdoor classic in Bend
- Jan 16-17 vs Alabama
As always you can support the team by attending these home games or by purchasing the best uniforms in hockey which work great for keeping warm at Autzen stadium from the online store or at pop up sales the players do on campus.
I’m really excited for this season to see how this team grows. Sco Ducks!
