Women’s hockey must do better

Editor's Note: February 25, 2020

This piece was initially published in our Sports section. After further deliberation and feedback from our readers, we believe this article does not meet the standards of journalism that The Polytechnic abides by. Since the article is based on the author’s personal thoughts about the season, we have moved it to our Opinion section as an “Editorial Notebook.” We understand that the content of the article was not substantial or productive as a Sports article. We apologize for our lack of care in the making of this article, and the harm that was caused to the team and their personal lives as a result.

As a staff, we respect the efforts of the women’s hockey team this season, and are honored to report on their accomplishments. Moving forward, we hope to learn from this experience and better serve the Rensselaer community.


Women’s hockey is not performing at the level that they should be.

That’s a lot to say right off the bat, I know, but it’s an opinion grounded in fact. Let’s say, hypothetically, you attend an institute whose sports are primarily Division III. Despite this, there’s one sport where they’ve managed to be Division I. You’d expect that team to be pretty good, right? Now, let’s say, that team hasn’t had a great season. Obviously, bad seasons happen. But imagine that team, through more than half of their season, has a record of 0‒24‒1 with an 18-game losing streak. That hypothetical is a reality this year for the women’s hockey team. They must improve.

Former Sports Editor Theo Severud ’23 vowed to our staff that after the loss to Princeton, where the Engineers were outshot 59‒11, he would not report on women’s hockey until they produced a win. I was hesitant to write about women’s hockey this far into the season, considering I personally wouldn’t want to keep writing about women’s hockey losing every week. However, I want to show my solidarity with the team.

I’m directing this at the women’s hockey team in the hopes that they gain some sort of motivation. I really want the women’s hockey team to do well. I think it’s imperative that at a school like Rensselaer, where the majority of the student body most likely aren’t very interested in sports, their best teams perform their best. We all know that our men’s hockey team is the main attraction in terms of sporting events, but I think it’d go a long way if the women’s team could catch up.

The first half of the most recent game against Yale was rather enjoyable; it was a stalemate where each play felt like it had the potential to be important in shifting the tide of the game. As a result, I’ll probably go to most of their games from now on. They’re fun to watch, or at least for half of the game anyways.

If anyone on the women’s hockey team is reading this, make us proud. Whether it’s a matter of skill level, team chemistry, or consistency, we’re all here to back you up. Just don’t forget that you’re playing for more than yourselves out there, you’re playing for each other and for all of us in the stands.