After an off-season move to the OUA East Division prior to the 2023-24 season, the York University Lions men's hockey team is back for 2024-25 with an eye on being in the playoff picture at season's end.
It's no secret the Lions record last season of 3-22-3 fell short of expectation. However, head coach Russ Herrington says last season taught his group a lot about how to play against some of the top competition in the country. He expects his team to use that new-found knowledge to put themselves in contention in a loaded East Division.
"I think we learned a lot last year playing as a young squad in the very deep and talented division," he said. "Above all else, I believe we learned what it looks, sounds and feels like to play against playoff teams, and that is the exact identity we are trying to embody ourselves. We hope, therefore, that we see progress in the actions and behaviours that are ingrained components of teams that find themselves in the playoff mix at the OUA level."
Being that the Lions were one of the youngest teams in the OUA last season, they have a lot of returning players. Among them are leading goal-getter Owen Gilhula and leading scorer Brock McLeod, two veterans York will rely on to provide offence once again this season. However, Herrington is looking at goal prevention this season, with his entire defence corps and goaltending tandem returning.
"While we hope to see progress across the board from all players, this is a particularly difficult level to play at in your first couple of years as a defenseman or goaltender," said the Lions head coach, who, upon puck drop of Friday's opener, will become the second-longest-tenured head coach in program history. "With all our players at those positions back again this year, we are confident that the experience they have gained in the past couple of seasons is going to pay dividends as many of them move into the third and fourth years."
York's focus this offseason was finding a way to get quicker, and they did so by bringing in a recruiting class entirely comprised of forwards. Namely, Mason Svarich, Chase Sandhu, Olivier Lamothe, Harry Clark, and Hunter Brown come to York from across the CJHL and NAHL. Herrington says they will all opportunities to make an immediate impact up front.
"We were targeting players that we felt could help us play faster as a team," Herrington said of his quintet of recruits," and the early indications are that they will push the pace and compete for roster spots within our forward core. We are very happy with the players we secured as this year's recruiting class."
While the Lions are obviously looking to improve on the ice, Herrington has made it his mission in his seven years as head coach to build a 'program,' in the true sense of the word. This combines on-ice performance with academia and community involvement in each athlete. When asked what a successful season looks like outside of winning and losing hockey games, the York bench boss expects his players to uphold the standard he has set in all facets of themselves.
"As always, the only request we make of our players is to live with Yeoman's Service and the Heart of a Lion across all aspects of their lives," he said. "It is both a privilege and a responsibility to represent York as Lions and I believe our players will continue to strive to do so in the proper way regardless of whether is at the rink, in the classroom or in the community."
The Lions open up the 2024-25 season against the RMC Paladins – just as they did the 2023-24 campaign – on Friday night. This year's season opener takes place at RMC in Kingston, beginning at 7:00 pm, streaming live on OUA TV.
