Arslan Ahmed | Sports Editor
Featured image: Coach Russ Herrington has high hopes for the Lions next season. | Courtesy of Rick Madonik
This week, Excalibur met with coach Russ Herrington, the bench boss of the Lions men’s hockey team. In his first season as coach, Herrington lead the team to a 17-10-1 regular season record and a semi-finals appearance. He gave the team a defensive identity, as York only allowed 80 goals all season—good for third-fewest in the conference.
Like players, Herrington and his staff also have a ritual. They post lineups and game keys in the players’ changing rooms, and spend time discussing the matchup.
The meeting to discuss game keys with players take place an hour before warm-up on game days.
During warm-up, the coaching staff treat themselves to a snack in the locker room, fill out their game cards, and don their game attire—suits. A part of the rituals of the coaching staff, Herrington prefers to take two pens to the bench with him and a piece of gum, which he doesn’t chew until after the national anthem plays.
When asked about his team’s success, Herrington was enthusiastic about the evolution of York culture on and off the ice. He says: “We had a large turnover from our previous year, which thrust players into new roles.
“For the most part, that transition went smoothly, and the players’ growth into those roles was a big part of our success.”
He believes there are small details that can still be shared, but will take care of themselves as part of the evolution of the York programme and culture.
The semi-finals loss to Brock was heartbreaking, as York’s own mistakes cost them the series. “The thing that hurt us the most was a poor start in game one.
“I do not believe we played poorly in that game, however, a few egregious decisions/errors led to easy opportunities for Brock,” adds Herrington.
York did allow four goals in the first period of game one, and two of them came on the power play. Unfortunately, the poor start in the game hurt the Lions, as they were defeated in a nail biter in game three.
For next season, Herrington implores: “The goals and expectations remain the same. We want our programme to take another step forward and that means players must continue to excel in the classroom first, and as teammates and York Lions second.
“We take great pride in how well-rounded our players are, and how high the internal standards are within our programme. We will continue to push these standards higher and higher each year.”
