Women’s hockey head coach Matt Holmberg has seen his fair share of successes in his time at Queen’s, winning two OUA titles in six seasons. But before the regular season begins, Holmberg’s players take an annual trip to build team chemistry on and off the ice. 

“We deliberately and carefully plan the exhibition season so that we try to play as many high-quality teams as we can,” Holmberg said. 

Both the women’s and men’s hockey teams completed road trips this past weekend. For the men, they headed to Atlantic Canada to take on St. Thomas and PEI, while the women’s team traveled south of the border to take on NCAA competitors, Colgate University and Syracuse University. 

“In the exhibition season, there’s the possibility that we can face a few losses, but that’s really secondary to the process,” Holmberg said. “We want to test ourselves and constantly push ourselves in the exhibition season.”

The women’s team won 1-0 in their second game against Syracuse, but were badly beaten 7-0 against Colgate. However, Holmberg pointed to the losing result as a learning experience for the team. 

“The game against Colgate, I think it was closer than the score indicated. After the first, the shots were even, the play was even, there were a lot of positives for us,” Holmberg said.

“We got out of those two games what we were hoping to achieve,” he continued. “We played two highly-skilled teams, and really tested ourselves against them.” 

Though the women’s team didn’t have much time for 

off-ice plans, the men’s team had a bit more leeway, as their trip was spread out over five days. For men’s head coach Brett Gibson, a golfing excursion with his team was one of the trip’s highlights.

“PEI’s one of the most beautiful destinations in the world to golf in,” Gibson said. “A lot of the guys had never been able to do that before.”

The men’s team won 5-0 in their first game over St. Thomas, before falling to UPEI 2-1. Defenceman Spencer Abraham was the standout of the weekend, picking up three goals. 

“It’s the one time of the year when you’re not focused on the result, when you’re more focused on the individuals,” Gibson said. “You’ve got a lot of guys right now in our dressing room. I’ve just got to put the puzzle together to see where they all fit.”

 Gibson liked the lengthy trip as it allowed him to learn more about his team, especially his first-year players. 

“You [get] to know the players as people as opposed to just players,” he said. “Sometimes we forget about them, that they are people, and we need to know what makes them tick off the ice. Spending five days in the Maritimes, I got to know the first-year guys a lot better. We became closer as a team.”

This coming weekend, the men and women are heading out on another set of preseason road trips. The men will travel south to take on the University of Connecticut, while the women are heading east for games against Ottawa and McGill. 

Both Holmberg and Gibson,  recognize that the time has almost come for the games to count for real, as their seasons kick off on Oct. 9. 

“The guys are realizing it’s coming up real close to the season,” he said. “It’s getting more serious.”