On Saturday, January 12th, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Ice Hockey team will pack up their gear and head to Brooklyn, NY for a very special game.
The Spartans will take on the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks in a 6am morning contest at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The arena is the current home of both the New York Islanders and the Brooklyn Nets. Later in the afternoon, both teams will take in the New York Rangers versus New York Islanders, National Hockey League game, also at Barclays Center at 1pm.
In order to participate in the event, St. Thomas Aquinas and Stevens Tech. are taking part in an on-going fundraising/ticket purchasing campaign to promote the game of hockey, by selling tickets to the Rangers/Islanders match-up. Families and Friends of both players and coaches have stepped up, to date, and purchased tickets to help both teams reach their established goals and thus make the Saturday morning game a reality. *Note: A limited number of tickets for the Rangers/Islanders Metropolitan Division showdown are still available for purchase. Please contact Head Coach Matt Schuster if interested in attending.*
The Spartans are no strangers to Barclays Center, as STAC was victorious over the Hofstra University Pride, 3-2 in 2017 and again last season, besting the Columbia University Lions in a thrilling 10-7 game.
Head Coach Matt Schuster, in his third season as the bench boss of the Spartans, and a longtime Islander fan, commented that "playing in the Barclays Center, means the world to our student-athletes, coaches and to the future of the STAC Hockey Program. The experience of playing in an NHL arena and winning the game the last two seasons, is one that neither I, nor my players will ever forget. We are looking forward to another great day of hockey in Brooklyn coming up on the 12th."
When asked what he most looked forward to about the events of the day, Coach Schuster said "playing a highly competitive contest against a well-coached, talented Stevens Ducks team, then being able to sit back and enjoy the "Battle of New York" with our opponents. The Rangers/Islanders rivalry has such a rich history, so we look forward to watching two teams battle it out in a game which has NHL playoff implications.
Make no mistake about it, the Spartans are going into this game with the attitude that they want to take this third and final match-up of the regular season from Stevens Tech., and once the puck is dropped they will look to pick up the W, and springboard themselves into their spring semester schedule.
If you cannot make it to the early puck drop in Brooklyn, you can watch game LIVE on the Spartan Sports Network. Andrew Romanella and Chris Kowalchuk will bring fans all of the action from Barclays Center.
Please Note: For those wishing to attend the Spartans/Ducks game, it is free admission and doors open at 5:15am. However, to attend the Rangers/Islanders game later in the afternoon, you must purchase a ticket through the St. Thomas Aquinas College Ice Hockey team at a cost of $110 per ticket, with those doors opening at 11:30am.
For status updates on the event and ticket sales, please check back with STACAthletics.com or log onto the Official Twitter Account of the St. Thomas Aquinas College Ice Hockey team at @STAChockey.