It’s time to once again defend the home turf.
After playing two on the road last weekend, the Oregon Club hockey team returns home Friday and Saturday, facing off against Montana State for the first time ever.
Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m., and will be played at the Lane County Ice Rink. Oregon is 2-0 at home this season.
“We don’t really know much about [Montana],” team captain Tyler Shaffar said.
While Oregon is in the Pac-8 league, Montana plays in the RMCHA West, and was ranked eighth in the ACHA last year, Shaffar said.
“The RMCHA is a pretty premier league,” Shaffar added.
The league includes all of the Utah schools ­ hockey powerhouses such as Weber State and Utah State.
Unfortunately for the Ducks, Mike Tornabene and Brett Ledders, who came forward as stellar players in Los Angeles. last weekend, have personal obligations and can’t play against Montana.
“Two good forwards are not going to be here, which will make it that much tougher,” Shaffar said.
“Some of our other players need to step up our game, and put the puck in the net,” forward Andrew Belcher said.
Belcher will be a part of the starting line for the Ducks Friday. This week’s practice has revolved around hard skating.
“We want to be in shape and ready to skate three hard periods Friday and Saturday,” Belcher added.
Key players for the Ducks this weekend will be Scott Tedrick, Jack Hendrickson and Steve Budke.
“They played great this last weekend, especially on Saturday,” Shaffar said. “Steve had a rough couple of first games, but Saturday he really showed what kind of player he can be.”
Budke is also a part of the starting line for the games this weekend, and Josh Hardin will be tending the goal for the Ducks. Hardin has played really well this week in practice, Shaffar said.
“It’s exciting to play new teams,” Shaffar said. “We’ll just go to the rink and take it from there.”
This will also be a key week in forming the right mix of players.
“Last weekend we established ourselves as a physical team,” Belcher said. “After this weekend we should be more settled down in the line to set up something more permanent with everyone back in town and ready to go.”