2015-16 Endicott Men's Ice Hockey Schedule
BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's ice hockey team has released their schedule for the inaugural 2015-16 season. The program will enter the season as a member of the ECAC Northeast Hockey League which currently is the home to Becker College, Curry College, Johnson & Wales University, Nichols College, Salve Regina University, Suffolk University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Western New England.
The Gulls will elevate to a NCAA Division III status in the fall with the construction of the Raymond J. Bourque Arena which will be the home of the Endicott men's and women's ice hockey programs.
The Blue and Green will kick off the season under the leadership of head coach, R.J. Tolan on Saturday, October 31st as they travel to Stonehill for a non-league matchup. Stonehill fell in the NE-10 Semifinal after compiling an overall record of 14-6-4 last season.
The following week on Wednesday, November 4th Endicott will see their first ECAC Northeast opponent on the road at Nichols. Nichols will enter the season as the reigning league champions for the second straight season after compiling a record of 21-4-3.
On Saturday, November 7th Endicott will host their much anticipated home opener against league opponent Suffolk at 1:00 p.m. Both the men's and women's programs will host the first game in the Raymond J. Bourque Arena on that Saturday for a doubleheader.
The Gulls will continue their stretch of ECAC Northeast opponents as they travel to Salve Regina on November 11th before hosting Wentworth on the 14th for a 4:00 p.m. faceoff. During the week of November 16th Endicott is slated to faceoff with league opponent Johnson & Wales (R.I.) who finished third in the ECAC Northeast last season with a 15-11-1 overall record. That same weekend the Blue and Green will battle with Becker on the road.
In the final weekend of November Endicott will take a trip up to Maine where they will take on NESCAC foe's Bowdoin and Colby for a tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Last season the Polar Bears (8-7-3) finished the season at #5 in the NESCAC, while Colby (2-13-3) finished 9th.
December will be a short month for the Blue and Green as they will play just two Saturday contests. The first being on December 5th with a home game vs. Stonehill at 1:00 p.m for their second meeting of the season. The following Saturday before the holiday break the Gulls will host cross-town rival Salem State at 1:00 p.m. for a North Shore Cup faceoff.
Endicott will kick of the New Year with a Holiday Classic Tournament with Salem State and Babson on January 2nd and 3rd. Babson wrapped up the 2014-15 season with an impressive record of 19-6-3 before falling in the ECAC East championship to Norwich.
On Saturday, January 9th the Blue and Green will face their third NESCAC opponent of the season as they host Tufts for a 4:00 p.m. matchup. Three days later the squad will battle with non-league opponent Assumption before traveling to Western New England over the weekend.
To close out the remaining 10 days of January the Gulls will host Curry and Nichols back to back on the 20th and 23rd. After a road game at Suffolk for their second meeting of the season the Gulls will end the month with a home league game with the Seahawks at 3:00 p.m on January 30th.
To start off the final stretch in February the Gulls will travel to Wentworth for their second meeting of the season before hosting Johnson and Wales and Becker on February 6th and 10th. During the week of February 19th Coach Tolan will lead his team into the final two regular season games with Curry and Western New England before the start of the ECAC Northeast Tournament.
The ECAC Northeast Tournament will begin on Saturday, February 27th for the quarterfinals with the semifinal and championship games slated for March 2nd and 5th.