Keene, NH-  The Keene State College Owls Men's Ice Hockey Club has just completed its best fall semester- both at the rink and in the classroom. The Owls enter the semester break ranked 3rd in the ACHA's Northeast Region, one spot higher than the team's final ranking at the end of last season, and have defeated regional powers, UNH and NYU, at home for the first time this fall. 

In the classroom, the team posted a team GPA of 3.08 which raised the the team's cumulative GPA to 3.06.  Senior Defenseman Jeff Rossman led the way with a perfect 4.0.  Rossman is followed by Carlin Testa (3.9), Kyle Carignan (3.87), Lucas Poulin (3.87) and Andrew Pierce (3.83).  In total, 18 different players earned Dean's List honors with the team's first-year players averaging 3.07.

Head Coach Bobby Rodrigue attributes the success, in part, to the team's move to Keene ICE just over a year ago.  "We've always set 3.0 as the team GPA goal.  The team almost always hits that goal in Spring semesters and almost always falls just short in the Falls.  We have long felt that this was because of all the travel down to Massachusetts for practices and home games in previous fall semesters.  Having a true home rink has helped us to attract good players who are very strong students and has clearly enhanced the studies of our returning players."

Rodrigue expanded further on the benefits of Keene ICE, "Since moving in, we've won our 1st NECHA Championship, advanced to the ACHA National Tournament for the 1st time, set our highest fall semester GPA, set a team record for community service, we've set a single-season fund-raising record, we've seen our highest average game attendance, we've seen fewer injuries and fewer misconduct penalties and game misconducts and we've posted our best fall record in team history, all in less than a year, so yeah, I'd say the new rink has been a game changer for us.  Our boys are very comfortable in the new locker room and the rink.  The team has a great culture right now."

Keene State (11-2-1 Overall, 4-0 Division) will return to the ice on January 10th and will host Post University (NCAA D2) on Saturday, January 14th at Keene ICE before traveling to Boston College on Sunday the 15th.  The Owls will hit the books again for the Spring semester beginning January 17th.