WCU ice hockey continues to struggle
Matt Chandik
Issue date: 12/7/09 Section: Sports
The diplomacy has officially come to an end. Following yet another upset loss, this time a 4-3 decision at home to the No. 23-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, WCU men's hockey general manager Dom Bellizzie held nothing back in a post-game interview where he lambasted his current team.
"These [current] seniors are absolutely the worst leaders we've ever had here at West Chester since I've been here," an infuriated Bellizzie said. "There's been no leadership and no team chemistry."
WCU appeared to be back on the right track during a six-game stretch where they went 4-2, including a sweep over Drexel, a 7-3 thrashing of No. 8-ranked Rhode Island, and an 11-3 throttling of Duquesne. However, Bellizzie was not pleased with the team's effort versus the Mountaineers.
"Absolutely embarrassing," Bellizzie said when asked about the game. "West Virginia can play, but I'm just disgusted with the effort, lack of leadership and lack of consistency."
"I don't understand what the heck the problem is with these guys," Bellizzie said. "One game, they look like they can handle anyone in the country. Then, the next game, they come out so flat and it looks like they've never played hockey before."
When asked if anyone was really standing out this semester for the Golden Rams, Bellizzie stuck to his guns.
"Not one of them. They need to get their act together. This is completely unacceptable for West Chester hockey. It's not so much the increased losses that bother me. It's the complete lack of interest and intensity that these guys are putting together. It's complete garbage and I'm sick of it," Bellizzie exclaimed.
While the recent win over Rhode Island may eventually boost WCU's national tournament résumé, losses like these will do them no favors if they end up on the tournament bubble as expected. They have been crushed by many of the upper-echelon teams that they faced, such as No. 9 Arizona State (9-2), No. 7 Oklahoma (6-1) and No. 6 Penn State (7-1) and also dropped games to teams below them in the rankings such as unranked Pittsburgh and the aforementioned West Virginia Mountaineers.
"These [current] seniors are absolutely the worst leaders we've ever had here at West Chester since I've been here," an infuriated Bellizzie said. "There's been no leadership and no team chemistry."
WCU appeared to be back on the right track during a six-game stretch where they went 4-2, including a sweep over Drexel, a 7-3 thrashing of No. 8-ranked Rhode Island, and an 11-3 throttling of Duquesne. However, Bellizzie was not pleased with the team's effort versus the Mountaineers.
"Absolutely embarrassing," Bellizzie said when asked about the game. "West Virginia can play, but I'm just disgusted with the effort, lack of leadership and lack of consistency."
"I don't understand what the heck the problem is with these guys," Bellizzie said. "One game, they look like they can handle anyone in the country. Then, the next game, they come out so flat and it looks like they've never played hockey before."
When asked if anyone was really standing out this semester for the Golden Rams, Bellizzie stuck to his guns.
"Not one of them. They need to get their act together. This is completely unacceptable for West Chester hockey. It's not so much the increased losses that bother me. It's the complete lack of interest and intensity that these guys are putting together. It's complete garbage and I'm sick of it," Bellizzie exclaimed.
While the recent win over Rhode Island may eventually boost WCU's national tournament résumé, losses like these will do them no favors if they end up on the tournament bubble as expected. They have been crushed by many of the upper-echelon teams that they faced, such as No. 9 Arizona State (9-2), No. 7 Oklahoma (6-1) and No. 6 Penn State (7-1) and also dropped games to teams below them in the rankings such as unranked Pittsburgh and the aforementioned West Virginia Mountaineers.
Be the first to comment on this story