Leaving It All on the Ice

The college hockey season is over... almost. Eight Saints have been chosen to represent the Super East Collegiate Hockey League (SECHL) in this weekend's American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 All-Star Challenge.

The bus ride will be, according to Chris Schulman '25, "different."

"We've been going against these guys for three years, and now all of a sudden we're traveling together as teammates. I'm really looking forward to meeting everybody and getting to know them as people."

Siena's club hockey team plays in the SECHL, one of the toughest leagues in the highly competitive ACHA. This weekend, the league has revived a tradition that went dormant during COVID. The best of the best from around the country will compete for league bragging rights in all-star tournament. Enemies are now teammates, and bonding happens on the road.

"The bus starts in Albany and we'll load up the Siena players," said Siena coach Steve Hunter, who will coach the all-star squad along with his Siena assistant and son, Dave Hunter '17. "Then we'll drive to Marist and pick two players before heading to Montclair State to grab their players as well as the Sacred Heart all-stars. From there, it's on to Pennsylvania."

Each team will play five games in West Chester, PA this weekend, with conference bragging rights on the line. The SECHL has won five of the past nine All-Star events. This weekend is a bonus for the skaters who earned their way onto the roster via coaches' vote. And for Coach Hunter, the past six years have been an unexpected bonus to his coaching career.

"I sent two of my three boys to Siena to play hockey. When Dave graduated, he stayed on as an assistant coach. When the opportunity opened up for a head coach, he asked me to join him. We don't always agree on everything, but it's a privilege to do this with my son. We've begged my older son to join us, but for now, he keeps telling us, 'no.'"

Siena's program doesn't compete at the NCAA level, but the level of competition is high enough to attract NCAA-caliber players who are prioritizing academics, but still want to compete.

"I knew I wanted to play college hockey, but when I broke my collarbone in high school, it gave me the perspective to take a step back. Siena was the right choice for me academically, and the beauty of it is, I didn't have to give up on hockey."

Coach Hunter believes that's the right approach.

"We look at hockey as a student activity. There are bigger programs that treat it like a professional sport. I'm a competitive person and I want to win, but at the end of the day, we're here to help these students grow and be prepared for the real world. We need to be an extension of the Siena values."

This year, 13 members of Siena's squad made the league's All-Academic Team. Two, in fact, are carrying 4.0 GPAs this year. Siena's hockey team is also the College's reigning Club Sport of the Year, presented in recognition of effective leadership, good sportsmanship, competitive performance, and dedication to bettering their club sports' mission within the Siena community.

"I've made a lot of close friends here," said Schulman, a biology major. "I wouldn't trade this experience for the world."

On June 2, Schulman will begin his career as research technician at Albany Med conducting research on diabetes and heart disease. But first, before he hangs up his skates, he gets to wear the Siena hockey jersey one last time.

"It's a great feeling to represent Siena," Schulman said. "I'm playing for more than myself."