Sports

Jacks look forward to working hard in 2013-14

By Tyler Ohmann

10/22/2013

It is that time of year again, and no not Halloween, it is hockey season.

The Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) hockey team opens their season soon, and coach Travis Rybchinski and the team have been practicing hard the past couple weeks.

“We’ve seen a lot of good competition. With 28 bodies everyone knows that anyone can play on any night. So we’ve really seen the competition raised,” Rybchinski said. “We’ve also seen some hard work. I don’t think we’ve had the hard working players the last couple of years, and this year’s group, I don’t know if it’s so many numbers, or if that’s just their way, but we seem like a hard working group.”

Both Rybchinski and the Jacks are all ready to start the season.

“We’re pretty excited to start the season,” Rybchinski said. “We just want to be able to hit the other team now. I think guys are getting tired of practicing against each other and want to show what we can do in a game situation.”

DCB features many new players and freshman from all over the U.S. and Canada. Rybchinski is excited to see what they can do once the season begins.

“What I’m real anxious for is to see guys in game situations, will they raise their play compared to practice,” Rybchinski said. “Will they work hard whistle to whistle, and just to see where we’re at and what we need to work on.”

The Jacks plan to open their season this weekend with a home series against the Winkler Royals. They plan to play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

“We don’t know too much about them, but I know an alum Marlin Froese plays for them, and they’re sort of interested in coming down,” Rybchinski said. “They have a lot of players that played university in Canada and juniors, so they’ll be a pretty good team.”