From Gunnison Country Times
By Jacob Spetzler
The Western Colorado University club hockey team kicked off the season last weekend with a pair of home games against the Colorado College Tigers on Nov. 11 and 12. Both games ended in a loss for the Mountaineers.
Although former head coach Daren Glover left his position in March, the end of last season, the program’s search for a new coach ended only two weeks ago. Now, Eric DePaul has taken the helm. Not only is he new to the position, he’s fresh to the valley. He moved to town less than a month ago.
DePaul said his hockey history runs deep — the product of three generations of hockey players from Sonoma, California. He played D3 for Santa Rosa Junior College. From there, he spent several years coaching before becoming the hockey director in Vacaville, located about an hour from his hometown.
While visiting family in the Gunnison Valley, DePaul became enamored with the area, and made the decision to make a permanent move. He applied for the coaching position as soon as he heard of it.
Despite the outcome of the games against the Tigers, DePaul said he’s confident in his team.
“I came on and only had two practices with them. But they were still able to implement some of the systems and strategies that they learned in those three weeks,” he said. “The kids are very coachable, eager to learn.”
During both games, the Tigers established sizable leads before the Mountaineers had time to respond. In the first, on Friday, Colorado College managed to put three points up on the board in the first period.
Then, in the second period, the Mountaineers found their footing to some extent, and put the puck into the back of the net three times — courtesy of Cole Brooker, Aidan Medina and Joe Vennard.
But the Tigers scored twice more to hold onto the lead, bringing the score to 5-3 at the end of the period. In the third, the Tigers sealed the deal with two more goals before the end of the game.
The arc of Saturday’s was similar though the first period stayed scoreless. In the second, a series of Mountaineer penalties gave the Tigers the opportunity to establish an intimidating lead, scoring four goals over the period.
In the third, Western players Josh Clyncke and Cole Brooker each managed to get the puck into the net. But Colorado College scored two more to finish the game, 6-2.
DePaul noted the majority of the goals, particularly in the first game, were scored in the final minutes of a period. That’s a problem he thinks he can fix using a coaching philosophy that centers around hustle, DePaul said.
“The kids started getting flat footed and stopped skating so much towards the end of the period,” he said. “You have to finish out every shift, every period, every game. I’m trying to install that culture.”
(Originally published at https://www.gunnisontimes.com/articles/club-hockey-opens-season-with-twin-losses/)
