Skidmore ice hockey expansion reinforces team identity and culture

At the top of the wall inside the Skidmore men’s ice hockey team’s newly constructed
locker room at Saratoga Springs City Rink, three words are emblazoned in school green:
RESPECT, EXCELLENCE, TEAM.

The 3,200-foot expansion, which extends beyond the team’s home bench area and includes
a changing room, training room, and coaches’ office, “helps to establish a sense of
identity and build a strong team culture,” says Assistant Vice President for Student
Affairs and Director of Athletics Gail Cummings-Danson. “Both are vital ingredients
necessary to compete at the highest level.”

Goalie Tate Brandon ’24 agrees that the new facilities have a big impact.

“The new locker room provides a much more professional space for our team to get ready
for games and practices,” he says. “We are very fortunate to have this space, and
I feel that we show it with the effort, day in and day out, through practices and
games. The locker room is a microcosm of how far our program has come, and just how
far it will go.”

The Thoroughbreds — undefeated and ranked 13th nationally in NCAA Division III as
of this writing — are off to a strong start, including a hard-fought tie Nov. 17 against
then ninth-ranked Norwich at the annual Pack the Rink event in front of a near-sellout crowd of over 1,100.  

The following weekend on Nov. 26, the team faced off against Brockport in the Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational title game; officially recorded as a 2-2 tie, Brockport won the overtime shootout.

Though disappointed…