GUILDERLAND — When the Kenmores come to town, look out.

The Guilderland hockey team hosted Kenmore East and Kenmore West in a pair of games at Union College in Schenectady last Friday and Saturday, and the results were not as bad as in the past couple of years.

The Skating Dutchmen lost to Kenmore East, 6-1, on Saturday after dropping an 8-2 decision to Kenmore West on Friday.
"We’re ahead of last year’s team," said Guilderland Coach John DeRubertis. "Last year, we didn’t belong on the ice with them."

Scheduling tough competition is all about preparing for the future, not winning in the present.
"Every season since the program started," DeRubertis said, "our goal as a team is to start the season with top-caliber teams and improve steadily as the season goes on to be playing well when we need to be."

It worked last year for the Skating Dutchmen, as the team played well late in the regular season and made some noise in the Section II playoffs. As a number-five seed, Guilderland beat Niskayuna-Schenectady on its home ice in the quarterfinals. The Dutch then almost upset top-seeded Shenendehowa in the semifinals, losing by one goal, 5-4.

Breakdowns

But, on the opening weekend of this season, DeRubertis saw some things his team needs to work on if it wants to improve and be a factor at the end of the season.
"Today, penalties killed us," DeRubertis said on Saturday. "One of my coaches between the second and third period said that they had 16 shots on goal. That’s eight shots a period, That’s not terrible. But we were addressing it because we were down 4-1. We were up and down to some degree.
"Through two periods, we would have a breakdown and they would capitalize," DeRubertis added. "We gave up four goals on immediate breakdowns. They are a skilled team. If you have a breakdown in the defensive zone, they are skilled enough to capitalize on it."

The Dutchmen trailed, 3-0, before sophomore defenseman Josh Evans scored with 4:02 left in the second period. Jeff Geisendorfer assisted on the score.

But Guilderland gave up a goal with 1:10 left in the period to drop down again by three goals.
"We had the momentum," DeRubertis said. "But then we give them a power play 20 or 30 seconds later on a bad penalty. A minute-and-a-half of play later, they score and it’s 4-1 at that point and that was the nail in the coffin."

"A mix"

DeRubertis has some inexperienced players on his team this year, especially on the offensive end of the ice.
"We have a mix," the coach said. "Our first four defensemen are four seniors. It’s nice to have that experience on the blue line. Of our forwards, we have one senior. Aaron Cahill came back from the C.D. Selects. And we have a couple of skilled forwards that are young. We need to get the kids in the weight room. The freshmen and sophomores are small in stature.
"We also need to do a better job of sustaining pressure and put pucks on the net," DeRubertis added.

The defense is anchored by senior goalie Brendan Glennon. He missed Saturday’s game because he was in a wedding; freshman Michael Alsante filled in.
"Michael Alsante did a nice job," DeRubertis said. "It was his first high school game. He made some nice saves. We did a nice job of getting in position and not over-reacting to pucks."

Freshman Dan Golderman is another goalie on the roster for the Dutchmen.

Back on defense is senior captain Jeff Geisendorfer. He is joined by classmates Nick Koss and Max Goodknight, and by junior Jon Fogel.

Also on defense are sophomores Shawn Buzzard, Gary Waters, and Evans.

Juniors on the front line will have to contribute some offense for the Dutchmen this winter.

Joe Romano, Collin Burg, and Dan Dickenson have all put the puck in the net in previous years for the Dutchmen.

Sophomores Greg Warnken, Anthony Liguori, Shayne Tybur, Robby King, Jeremy Tobin, and Nate Weinberg, along with senior Brian Hart and freshman Conor Hurley also play forward.
"The goal we got was an ugly goal," DeRubertis said. "We’ll take them any way we can get them. But that was our third line.
"We have some guys on the third line that are on our penalty kill," the coach added. "They did not get the same minutes the other two lines did. But they did a great job."

"We want to be stronger earlier"

DeRubertis said that his players didn’t measure up to the two teams from Kenmore physically.
"Both teams were bigger," DeRubertis said. "They were physically stronger. And it showed itself as they were able to shed our checks. They weren’t affected by the checks we put on them."

DeRubertis believes that his team has the talent to be competitive much earlier in the season than last year.
"We play strong teams early to help us catch up with the pack," DeRubertis said. "We want to be stronger earlier. Last year, we looked like a team on fire at the end of the season and at sectionals. We want to hit that stride earlier. And I think we can with the seniors we have on the blue line."