Futility loves company in NCAA hockey
Since the NCAA began recognizing women’s hockey, there has never been a season where a school has seen both its men’s and women’s teams lose every game on the schedule.
That might change soon. Meet the hockey programs at Finlandia University and Post University. Their four teams are a combined 0-75- 0 this season and most games haven’t been close — the average score is 7-1.
And yet both schools press on.
“We are 10 steps ahead of where we were last year,” said Post forward Trevor Buchas, the first captain in the young program’s history. “I know the scores don’t reflect it. But we are.”
Finlandia’s men (0-23-0) have two games left, while the Finlandia women (021-0) and the Post women (0-19-0) each have four left. The Post men (0-12-0) only have an exhibition remaining. They have won three games against club teams and play another such exhibition Saturday, although those aren’t reflected in the official record.
“We have a good group,” Finlandia men’s coach Joe Burcar said. “We just haven’t had the results.”
Finlandia’s men have lost 41 straight going back to last season.
That drought is nothing compared to the school’s women’s team.
Finlandia’s women have lost 69 in a row — the last win coming Feb. 8, 2014. Finlandia has three seniors who played in that game as freshmen.
It’s the lone win for Alena Fiala, Theresa Wolf and Sara Martin, who have a combined 249 appearances in college.
“Our locker-room is a positive place,” Finlandia women’s coach Matt Marchel said. “We don’t let negativity creep in. Obviously, things can go really, really south really fast when you have the seasons we’ve had. But we have a good group of girls who think positive and try to get better every day.”