Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Colgate’s European Vacation
In nearly 20 years at the helm at Colgate University, head coach Don Vaughan has seen a lot, including Hobey Baker finalists, All-Americans and NCAA Tournament appearances.
He had his eye on broadening his players’ experiences even further and for years toyed with the idea of taking his team on a European trip. Vaughan never could seem to fit it into the school’s academic schedule around New Year’s and considered the idea far-fetched – until he saw that Michigan Tech visited Germany and Austria last summer.
With August as an option and having made contact with former Minnesota player Brad Doshan and his company, Eurosportours, Vaughan and the Raiders started fundraising. The generous support of alumni helped make the once-in-a-lifetime trip a reality this summer. (Photo, above, courtesy of gocolgateraiders.com: Austin Mayer, Mike Leidl and Christian Long, with the Roman Coliseum in the background.)
“We were looking forward to it but really didn’t have a lot of expectations,” Vaughan said a few weeks after the team’s return. “Any expectations we had were met and exceeded. It was just a great experience for everyone, culturally, educationally and athletically. Experiencing the culture, being around the people was a great experience.”
Under NCAA rules, college teams can make overseas trips once every four years to face international competition. Teams can practice up to 10 times prior to their departure (Colgate had seven practices) and summer trips can include all returning players and graduated seniors.
Italy provided a perfect destination for the Raiders, whose junior defenseman Thomas Larkin hails from Cocquio Trevisago, Italy. Not only could the team arrange competitive games – including two against the Italian National Team – but it had its own guide and translator in the locker room.
The players blogged about their experience (as Michigan Tech did last year) and chronicled their sightseeing, the games, and occasional difficulties bringing smelly hockey equipment into Italian hotels.
“We found a plot of grass across the street that suited our needs,” senior defenseman Kevin McNamara wrote. “The grass was a simple 20-yard stretch that looked harmless enough, so we dumped the contents of our Colgate hockey bags across the public property.
“Some guys volunteered to stand guard by the equipment and work on their tans. Suddenly, the local law enforcement pulled up along with a news crew. We quickly found out that they didn’t come find us for interviews on our latest victory. Apparently, the innocent patch of grass that we scouted out was a little more important to the townspeople than we had assumed. The grass was actually a memorial. Trying not to irritate any more people than we may have already, we began pushing everything off of the grass as quickly as possible. When the police and news crew realized we weren’t from the area and meant no offense, they had a good chuckle and went on their way. We eventually decided that it would be best to just leave the equipment on the bus.”
The trip should help Colgate – which struggled through the regular season last year before a surprising playoff run – on and off the ice.
“Getting the guys back together and putting last year behind us should really help,” Vaughan said. “The team bonding that went on was fantastic. You just can’t get that kind of experience on campus or even on a typical road trip.”