BY RANDY SCHULTZ –

Roster size of a hockey team can sometimes make or break a team’s season. For the University of Buffalo women’s hockey coach, Phil Basinski, he feels that size will be a determining factor in the success of this year’s team.

“We’ve got a larger than normal roster this year,” said Basinski of the ACHA UB women’s hockey team. “Our roster size can vary from year to year depending on much interest we have from the players.

“In the past we had as few as 12 or 13 players on the team. This year we have 20. We’re working on building from that piece of the team.”

For Basinski, recruiting for the UB squad can be a bit difficult. As a contract coach he’s not allowed to have anything that says UB hockey on it (like business cards, etc.), which can make recruiting a little more challenging.

“We rely on our players to do recruiting and whomever they can come up with,” added Basinski, who is assisted with the team by his son, Edward.

What are the strength’s of this season’s UB women’s hockey team?

“We have a real strong defense,” answered Basinski. “We have a fantastic starting goaltender, who is a senior and we will be losing her next year.

“We have an underclassman goalie and we’re looking to see if we can sign another goalie for the future.

“And we have some really strong forwards on our team. But we really don’t have the depth up front that we would like so that we could make a really strong run this year to the Nationals.”

Now in his third season with UB and working with a team that had to be rebuilt, Basinski explained why he took the job.

“I have a passion for coaching,” explained Basinski. “Especially women’s hockey.

“My daughter played hockey for a number of years for different teams and organizations. And all throughout it there seemed to be a disconnect between the coaches and the girls.

“They didn’t seem to understand that it was about the girls having fun. It just seemed to me that the girls never caught the passion for the game being fun.

“So I want it to be a great experience here at UB. They can learn the game, play the game, they can have fun with their friends without it being a crazy, over the top commitment.

“They come when they can (for practice or games). They play the best that they can. If they have a class, they don’t have to worry about missing it.

“This is a club team. Our priorities are about the student achieving their academic goals.

“Hockey is the icing on the cake for them.”

Basinski also has an interesting philosophy when it comes to coaching hockey.

“The goal I’ve had for every kid I’ve ever coached is to be playing hockey when they get to be my age” commented the UB coach.  “If that happens then I think I’ve done my job.

“Plus, we let each player play up to the skill level they are capable of playing. There are some players on this team that are better than others on the team.

“We explain this to each player before each game.”

Does Basinski see a difference between coaching a women’s team versus coaching a men’s team?

“There are huge differences in my opinion,” responded Basinski.  “Women are more about the community and men are more about the winning.

“You can be a lot harder on guys when it comes to discipline. You can give them an earful on the bench or at the next practice.

“Women don’t seem to respond to that in the same way. You have to do a little more explaining as to what your expectations of them are.

“You don’t call them out in front of their teammates. Instead you pull them aside and have a word with them.”

What is the ultimate goal of this year’s UB Women’s Hockey Team?

“At our first meeting this year I asked that question,” concluded Basinski. “And to a player all the seniors said to go to the Nationals.

“Very simply that is our goal.”

(Photo’s by Janet Schultz Photography, NY Hockey OnLine)

POTSDAM, N.Y.—SUNY Potsdam senior Kaylee Merrill (Wasilla, Alaska/Anchorage North Stars) has been named the Northeast Women’s Hockey League’s Player of the Week. It’s the second time she’s earned the honor during her career.
 
Merrill stayed red hot last weekend, amassing seven points in a two-game sweep of King’s College. In Potsdam’s 9-0 win on Friday night, Potsdam’s captain had two goals and two assists. Merrill added two more goals, including the game-winner, and an assist in the Bears’ 3-0 win over the Monarchs on Saturday afternoon.
 
In seven games, Merrill now has 10 goals and three assists for 13 points. She ranks second in the nation in goals-per-game with 1.43 and sixth in the nation with 1.86 points-per-game. Merrill’s frantic pace also has her rapidly climbing the Bears’ NCAA-era record book. The forward now has 50 points on 39 goals and 11 assists. She currently ranks 10th on the program’s scoring list and third on its goals list.

BY RANDY SCHULTZ –

November will always be a special month for Buffalo State College Women’s Hockey Coach, Rachel Grampp. It was just a year ago this month that Grampp was suddenly promoted to interim head women’s ice hockey coach at Buffalo State, just three games into their regular season of play.

Grampp, who had been serving as an assistant coach with the Bengals since 2019, didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. She remembers the moment very well.

“We talked to the players and told them to put their heads down and keep competing,” recalled the Williamsville, NY native. “That’s the mentality that I had.

“It was a lot more work. It turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us. We just tried to make the best of the situation.”

Today, a year later, the interim label has been removed and Grampp is the head coach of the Buffalo State squad. She had the opportunity to recruit and put her own mark on this team.

Grampp admits that she came into this season feeling better than she did a year ago when she took over the team without any prior warning.

“It definitely helps a little bit,” commented Grampp, who had previous coaching experience as an assistant with SUNY Canton in 2018-19 as well as serving as an intern coach for the U15 USA National Development Camp. “I definitely like seeing my own recruits out there and seeing how they are adapting to my system of play.

“I’m really just excited to see how we will look in a couple of years as we keep growing and keep building and keep putting the work in to make us better.”

Grampp is no stranger to girls/women’s hockey in the Western New York area. She played defense for the Williamsville Girls High School Hockey Team as well as the Buffalo Bisons before moving on to a four year hockey career at Elmira College.

Does Grampp’s Buffalo State team’s style of play reflect the style that Grampp played during his playing career?

“I would love to see that, but I don’t think we’re there yet,” commented Grampp, who was the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Defensive Player of the Year with Elmira College. “We’re taking some of the simple things that I’ve learned as a player growing up and while I was also at Elmira and applying it.

“Honestly, it’s different when you can recruit players to play a certain style. But right now I have a group of players and we’re growing from the inside out.

“We’re creating a style that best fits us as a team versus creating a style that we’re not really fit to play.”

Unofficially, Grampp is the first player to come out of the Western New York Girls Ice Hockey Federation to become a head coach in hockey.

Grampp is considered by many to be a pioneer in girls/women’s hockey in Western New York.

“Honestly, I didn’t know that I was the first player to become a head coach in hockey, but it’s just me giving back to the hockey world that’s given so much to me,” said Grampp, who helped the Soaring Eagles of Elmira reach the NCAA Championships in each of her four seasons with them, including a pair of national runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2018. “This is where I want to be.

“I wanted to be back in Buffalo. Home is a big part of who I am.

“Just to be back here, watching those high school games and recruiting some of those players and watch them develop over the next four years, it’s a lot of fun.”

Ironically, coaching hockey wasn’t really on Grampp’s radar screen until her final season of college play.

“I didn’t know that I was really interested in coaching until I was applying for grad school,” said Grampp, who completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a criminal justice minor. “I was talking with Rick Hopkins (her Williamsville Girls High School hockey coach) and he asked me if I was going to go into coaching.

“I told him no. Then I talked with a few of my other coaches and the next thing I knew I was an assistant coach at SUNY Canton with Dave LaBaff.

“He gave me full reign to anything I wanted to do. I was running drills. I was running systems.

“So was fortunate to have such a great mentor let me find my way and find what I liked and learn how to coach.

“Now it’s up to me to do something with that.”

(Photos By Janet Schultz Photography/NY Hockey OnLine)

BY RANDY SCHULTZ –

Abby Miller, who plays defense for the Wilkes University Women’s hockey team, was no stranger to new Colonels head coach, Dave LaBaff, when he took over his new position.

“I had a chance to see her last year when I was coaching at (SUNY) Canton,” said LaBaff. “And I must say that she is really thriving this year, considering all the changes I’ve made in the team’s play.

“She’s really latched on to everything that the coaching staff has to say. It’s amazing what she can do out on the ice.

“And she does it all with poise, maintaining a good, steady type of play out there.”

Miller, a senior at Wilkes U, is in her fourth season of play for the Colonels. The Webster, NY native admits that in those four seasons of play she has really blossomed as a player.

“I’ve really grown as a person and player since coming here,” remarked Miller, who played for the Rochester Edge and Rochester Monarchs hockey teams before attending Wilkes U. “I really enjoy all my teammates on our team.

“This is an amazing team. All the players are supportive of each other. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”

Why Wilkes U, located in Wilkes-Barre, PA?

“I had originally been recruited by them,” recalled Miller. “Then I went down and visited the campus and immediately fell in love with the scenery down there.

“I liked everything that they had to offer. They had everything I was looking for in a college.”

Miller describes herself as a “stay at home” type of defenseman.

“But since Coach LaBaff has come in, he has been pushing me to play more offensively” commented Miller, who was named to the 2^nd Team All-MAC team in her sophomore season. “So I’ve started to get more involved with the play, the way he wants me to.

“I’m pretty happy with it.”

Miller is a psychology major at Wilkes U. She is minoring in sociology.

“I’m looking at going more into Industrial Psychology in management,” said Miller. “I’m looking at getting into things like marketing tactics and things like that.”

Did Miller find a big difference going from the style of play that the Rochester Edge and Monarchs play to that of college hockey?

“I think it comes down to commitment,” responded Miller, the daughter of James and Shannon Miller. “When you play travel hockey you have more flexibility with what you can do with the off-ice time.

“When you play college hockey you are expected to put in all the extra work to make you better as a player. If you don’t, you’re probably not going to play.

“The bottom line is you have to learn how to manage your time better.”

What advice does Miller have for young girls going up the ladder playing hockey?

“Enjoy the time you have playing hockey,” concluded Miller. “The time goes by so fast.

“These years I’ve had playing hockey have been the best years of my life. I’ve enjoyed it.”

(Photos by Janet Schultz Photography/NY Hockey OnLine)