Hockey

When these guys started playing hockey together, Bill Clinton was President, Google didn’t exist and the Green Bay Packers had just won Super Bowl XXXI.

Lawrence University hockey stars Matt Hughes and Jameson Raymond have been joined at the hip for 15 years. They go together like Martin and Lewis or Montana and Rice, but they would likely prefer the metaphor of Gretzy and Kurri.

“We were nine years old and just trying out for the same team and made it,” Raymond said of his best friend, Hughes.

That was back in 1997 and they began playing mite hockey for the Flint Icelanders. Raymond was a defenseman from Flint, Mich., and Hughes was a forward from Goodrich, just 15 minutes away. They have spent every hockey season since 1997 playing for the same team, and Raymond and Hughes are in their final season as seniors at Lawrence.

“It’s kind of scary how long I’ve know him,” Hughes said of Raymond.

Not only did these guys grow up playing hockey together, they were both standout baseball players and played that sport together until high school. Both young men said they didn’t make a conscious decision to continue playing together until high school.

“We had to make a decision to stay in Flint to play hockey or go to Detroit,” Raymond said. “We decided we were going to play in Detroit because our coach in Flint got the head coaching job at Belle Tire (a bantam team).”

They stayed together from Belle Tire to Copuware to the Bozeman (Mont.) Ice Dogs to the Traverse City (Mich.) North Stars. Then came the decision of where to attend college.

“With college, we wanted to do what was best for ourselves. It just kind of worked out this way,” Raymond said. “I had interest from a lot of schools out East, but I didn’t want to go out East.”

Hughes said of the college choice, “We really didn’t know. I knew Reg (Raymond’s nickname) was talking to some bigger schools, but it worked out well. It was just a bonus that both of us could go (to college) together.”

Raymond and Hughes have been fixtures in the Lawrence lineup since day one. They will both play in their 100^th game this weekend when the Vikings have a home-and-home series with MSOE.

Through hockey and baseball, sleepovers when they were just kids, long drives to practice and endless road trips, they have forged a friendship that’s as strong as a piece of Detroit iron.

“I consider Matt my best friend, and I think he would say the same. We do everything together, hunt, fish,” Raymond said. “It’s kind of that grumpy old men situation. It honestly is. We do a lot of things together because we like hanging out with each other.”

Hughes said all those years spent together has solidified the friendship and led to an unspoken bond in the ice.

“When I’m on the ice with him, it makes it an easy game,” Hughes said of Raymond. “We don’t have to say too much to each other to figure it out. We’ve gotten each other quite a few points because of that. We know where each other are going to be. That’s simplifies the game and makes it a lot easier for both of us.”

With 41 goals and 78 points, Hughes is one of the top scorers in Lawrence history. Raymond has piled up 47 assists and 64 to become one of the top scoring defenseman the school has ever seen.

“Jameson is a special player.  He sees the ice very well in all situations.  He just has a knack for being in the way as a defender and finding open ice on offense,” Lawrence coach Mike Szkodzinski said.

“Matt’s work ethic is tremendous.  He definitely gets the most out of his abilities.  There has not been a single day in the past four years when I can remember questioning whether or not Matt Hughes was giving us everything he had to give.”

While the clock is winding down on their careers at Lawrence, they are wondering whether this will be the last time they put on the same sweater for a hockey club.

“That will definitely be strange,” Hughes said of not playing with Raymond. “I told him that if he makes a team next year or I make a team next year, it will have to be a package deal.”

History has proven they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Gaby goes long

Lawrence track and field assistant coach Jake Gabrilska was a winner this past weekend when the Vikings opened the indoor season at UW-Stevens Point. Competing as an alumnus, Gabrilska posted a winning toss of 16.53 meters in the 35-pound weight throw. That was more than a meter longer than second-place finisher Adam Sellner of Ripon College.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.

Mike Szkodzinski did not major in philosophy during his college days, but he’s definitely taking a philosophical approach to his Lawrence University hockey team.

These Vikings are young – really young. Lawrence has 16 freshmen and six sophomores on its roster. All the sophomores are regulars in the lineup, and two-thirds of the freshmen have seen significant action in their rookie campaigns.

So the ancient adage about good habits in your youth making all the difference rings in Szkodzinski’s head.

“The team is about where we expected it to be at this point of the year,” Szkodzinski said. “There have been times when we have been very solid, and others when we really didn’t look so great. That is the sign of a team working to find its identity, learning the importance of the details at this level. We expect to take the lessons learned so far this year and apply them during the rest of the season.”

Despite the youthful nature of the Vikings, several of the rookies have made big contributions.

Freshman goaltender Peter Emery has emerged as the starter from the five netminders on the squad. Emery has all five of Lawrence’s wins and boasts a .924 save percentage and 2.42 goals against average.

“Peter has been solid,” said Szkodzinski, an All-American goalie in his playing days at St. Norbert College. “He has made some big saves at key moments. His demeanor during games has had a calming influence on the entire bench. However, it’s a safe bet that he would be the first one to tell you that he has a long way to go before he reaches his full potential. It certainly helps that there others pushing for his playing time.”

Emery also has gotten a boost from having seasoned veterans like Jameson Raymond and young stars like sophomore William Thoren, an All-Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association pick as a freshman, playing defense in front of him. The Vikings have also had to rely on freshmen defensemen as well, and Szkodzinski said two have stood above the rest. Erik Soderlund does so literally on his 6-foot-4 frame while Killian is a more modest 6-0,

“Erik Soderlund and Kevin Killian have established themselves as quality collegiate defensemen,” Szkodzinski said. “They have brought a physical aspect on the back end that we had been missing at times.”

In the other team’s zone, rookies are also making an impact for the Vikings Forward Patrick Coyne recently won MCHA Freshman of the Week honors, and another freshmen forward, Gustav Lindgren, leads the team with nine assists.

The Vikings, who are 5-5-3 and 4-1-3 in the MCHA, will need those young players to keep maturing because they are entering a rough stretch of the schedule. Lawrence has only one home game in January and will play at 2011 NCAA Division III runner-up Adrian College this weekend before taking on the nationally ranked squad from MSOE in a home-and-home series next weekend.

“We have always approached each and every game one at a time,” Szkodzinski said. “We know the importance of the game Friday night, but we also know that in college hockey, every single game matters and the games get bigger every single weekend.” 

Off and running

The indoor track season begins on Saturday when the Vikings travel to the UW-Stevens Point Invitational. The Vikings will again be led by distance star Sam Stevens on the men’s side and former Midwest Conference champion high jumper Rose Tepper on the women’s side.

Numbers game

The high-scoring Grinnell College basketball team makes its yearly appearance at Alexander Gymnasium on Friday night. The Pioneers are 10-0 (6-0 MWC) and feature Griffin Lentsch, who set the NCAA Division III scoring record of 89 points earlier this season.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.