By NICK TISO
The Ramapo College Ice Hockey team, which is currently a D3 club team, is on a roll this season, and are poised for a shot at playing in the NCAA.
The Roadrunners are currently 22-1-0 and there seems no slowing down with the playoffs just around the corner. They have be dominant all season, winning games by at least 5 goals 8 times. The team has even have a few victories by winning by 10 goals or more, this has happened 3 times on the season.
The competition just seems too easy for the Roadrunners, may be it’s time they move on to Division 3 and see how they fair, observers say. They would need funds to jump to division 3 club to the NCAA Division 3.
“A lot of kids go play juniors after finishing high school in hopes of getting a chance to play NCAA hockey. There are a number of elite junior programs around here, but no NCAA programs,” said Dan Demarco, who’s one of the young stars of the Ramapo Roadrunners Ice Hockey.
Demarco would love to see a move to D3 as the competition would be a huge jump but with good recruiting and the young guys playing at even a higher level why not go for it. “It would be great if Ramapo was a place where some of those kids could live their dream, while getting a great education,” he added.
The team was finally able to play in the 15-16 season after going 31 years without having a team, in just 2 seasons the Roadrunners have built a powerhouse team. Not having the right pieces, and funding were the factors that lead to not having a hockey team.
The location of the college is also prime for the Roadrunners if they were going to make a move to D3; there are multiple rinks in the area that produce a lot of talented players. The New Jersey Hitmen, New Jersey Rockets, Ramapo Saints, New Jersey Colonials are just a few teams, with prospective players. They have both produced D1 and D3 players, there is a hotbed of talent at these locations. This does not include the other rinks, as well as high schools where they could scout players.
The roster would also grow, there are now 18 guys on the team currently and that number would grow a little. The would have a full team as well as extra players that would not dress to play. Another major question that would be how many guys on the current team would stay, and how many would be cut? Many questions would be asked if they made the move but it’s something the school should look into.
With a move to Division 3, there would be a chance the team’s enrollment would go up as they would have a full team. The College is not allowed to award scholarships to play D3 sports; this would not hurt Ramapo College’s finances, but help them with more kids coming into the school. More kids would be willing to come to Ramapo if there was a hockey. The school could charge more to get into the games, market the team more and become more profitable of the move.
“It’s in the early stages and if, and when this happens…I think we would fair well against other teams with the returning core coming back,” said Patrick Callinan, a junior, who’s a defensemen from the ice hockey team.
Callinan seemed confident going into the playoffs, as well as a push for D3. If the core of young guys comes back next year, may be it’s something the school should look into.
Callinan was really focused on the Roadrunners final 2 games where they would play on the road including games against Yale, and Fordham . That will be it for the Roadrunners until the playoffs, which will be starting in a few weeks, where they will play in the MCHC playoffs in Dix Hills park.
There’s no doubt the Roadrunners will be a favorite to win it all, but the playoffs is a brand new season with no room for error. Possibly winning it all will be even a bigger push for the school to playing in the NCAA D3.
Be sure to check out http://www.ramapoicehockey.com/ for your Ramapo College ice hockey team’s stats, updates, scores, news and more!
Overall great story, very interesting to see how far the team has come, and hopefully can become a Division 3 team which will allow more hockey players out of high school want to join the program and attend Ramapo College.