On this past Sunday we scrimmaged vs. St. Michael's College at Middlebury's Kohn Field. The temperature on the thermometer read in the 40's, but it felt much colder with the infamous wind blowing across the fields onto Kohn. No complaints, though, anytime we can scrimmage at home in February we should be, and are, thankful!

Typically, we would scrimmage Dartmouth on this date, but Dartmouth played Rutgers in a regular game. I am not sure if we have lost the scrimmage permanently, but if the calendar falls as it did this year I think there is a lot of pressure at the D1 level to open on that weekend. So, the St. Mike's scrimmage was a different experience than our usual first scrimmage.

We felt as if we were fairly far along in our progression as we have had a solid number of outdoor practices. So, we were able to get some good practice on a number of rides as well as a little more offense than we might typically have in for the first scrimmage. The most impressive part of the scrimmage was our depth of talent. There did not seem to be much of a drop off at all when we subbed liberally at halftime. Although we were not able to face the high level of talent we would have otherwise faced vs. Dartmouth, it was great to get everyone quality playing time. We played 5 quarters and pretty much split the playing time evenly. We are keeping 4 goalies on our roster this year as we have 2 goalies in the junior class in addition to the senior All American, Eric Krieger, and an outstanding freshman (coached by Duane at Holderness), Alex Palmisano. The juniors were there for us the past two years when we needed both of them, so we were unwilling to cut either one of them now that we have another goalie in Alex. So, the two junior goalies were probably the only two players who did not receive considerable time.

The freshmen look outstanding. I am pleased to say that two Panther siblings are right at the top of the class. Ben Raymond a freshman defenseman is the brother of Jed Raymond, '00. Jed seemingly has passed on his back of checks to his younger brother. Greg Bastis is a Senior All American, Captain Midfielder. His brother Nick is a freshman attackman. The word, "wow", was about the only word that came to mind several times during the St. Mike's scrimmage (a few other unprintable ones as well, "holy _ _ _ _" and "did you just see what _ _ _ _ _ _' Bastis just did!) Just like all freshmen they have some things to work on, but along with several of their classmates, they could make an immediate contribution.

Seniors John West and Ben Tobey and Sophomores Jon Sisto and Aaron Herter all missed the scrimmage due to injuries. As a testament to our depth you would not have noticed that 4 of our top players were missing. West practiced yesterday and looked great, the others should return within 1-3 weeks.

We scrimmage Skidmore this weekend, so that will be a better test for us. St. Michael's was a success given the early date, we are ready to bump up the competition and challenge this weekend, and then we open the following weekend (Saturday, March 13) at home vs. Colby.