N.C. State’s club hockey team rattled off five straight wins in the fall to start its impressive season and is currently riding an eight-game win streak. Currently sitting with an impressive 19-6 record, the Pack has continued to dominate competition. This year’s team boasted an undefeated home record, a rare feat in any sport at any level. Notable wins included a 5-1 decision over rival UNC-Chapel Hill on Oct. 5 and a 10-1 thrashing of Duke on Feb. 1.
“This season we’ve had much more success than in seasons past,” senior defenseman Tyler Cloutier said. “Going undefeated at home is very hard to do.”
The ACC club tournament is set begin Friday. The Wolfpack is expected to be among the favorites, facing opponents such as Duke, George Washington, UNC, Elon, Georgetown and Wake Forest. Led by sophomore forward Garrett Sunda (16 goals, 14 assists), junior forwards Alec Engel (15 goals, 15 assists) and Mackie Hayman (14 goals and 14 assists), the Wolfpack will look to maintain its momentum and bring home an ACC club championship. The team will not be satisfied if it doesn’t bring home the trophy.
“That’s what our goal has been this season,” Cloutier said. “Anything less than that will be a disappointment.”
The Wolfpack’s regular season culminated in a thrilling shootout victory over George Washington last Saturday at Raleigh Center Ice. After two periods of play, the Pack trailed the Colonials 3-1 with the ACC regular-season title hanging in the balance. State struck back with two goals in the final stanza. First, senior defenseman Nate Sprankle cut the deficit to one with a hard slapshot, then the Pack converted off of a turnover, with freshman forward Zach Cline beating the George Washington goaltender on a two-on-one breakaway to knot the score at three.
Neither team scored again for the rest of regulation and even an overtime period was still not enough to separate the two teams. In the ensuing shootout, Engel and Chris Nelson scored on their attempts and junior goalkeeper Nick Kamaris stonewalled both Colonial attempts, prompting a Wolfpack mob on the ice in celebration of its ACC title and sending the announced crowd of 473 into a frenzy.
“Bringing home that shootout win kind of summed up our season,” Cloutier said. “Increasing our fan base this year has helped us tremendously.”
N.C. State, which is the top seed in this weekend’s tournament, will open play on Friday against eighth-seeded Duke. The Wolfpack has already mapped out an agenda for preparation, which includes watching some of the world’s best in their sport.
“We have three practices this week on Olympic ice sheets,” Cloutier said. “We’re going to maintain focus on hockey and watch some of the Winter Olympics.”
At many American colleges and universities, particularly in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, hockey is on par with football and basketball in terms of popularity. At State, however, the sport will almost certainly remain at club status for the foreseeable future. There simply aren’t enough varsity programs in the area for the Pack to take the next step.
“The main issue with that is travel expenses,” Cloutier said. “Also, we like to be able to play our rival teams like UNC and Duke.”
As it is, the Wolfpack will be looking for its first ACC Tournament title since the 2010-2011 season. Other first-round matchups on Friday include Wake Forest vs. George Washington, Elon vs. Navy and UNC vs. Georgetown.
