SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College hockey team returns home this weekend for a pair of New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) games. The Thoroughbreds host nationally ninth-ranked Norwich on Friday for Pack the Rink at 7 p.m. and New England College on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
The unbeaten Thoroughbreds (5-0) are off to their best start in nearly 30 years.
 
Friday night's annual Pack the Rink event will feature free t-shirts to the first 150 fans who bring a canned good or toy donation. In addition, free admission, giveaways, a shootout competition, and more will highlight the event. A free fan bus will depart campus from Case Center at 6:30 p.m. and will return after the conclusion of the game.
 
Skidmore is off to a 5-0 start and has won both of its games in the NEHC. Norwich is 3-2 and 2-2 in the conference, but is coming off a weekend home sweep of UMass Boston (4-3) and Johnson & Wales (6-0). Last weekend, Skidmore took down future NEHC foe Albertus Magnus, 4-1, before creaming SUNY Canton, 11-1. NEC has one win in five outings (1-3-1) and is 0-3-1 thus far in the league.
 
Junior Kaeden Patrick leads Skidmore in scoring with six goals and five assists. Everett Wardle (4-5—9), Ryan Waltman (4-3—7), and Danny Magnuson (2-4—6) round out the top Skidmore scorers. Four more skaters have five points through five games. A whopping 24 players have recorded at least one point for the Thoroughbreds. Tate Brandon has two NEHC Goaltender of the Week awards already. He is 5-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage.
 
For the Cadets, Clark Kerner is fast out of the games with eight points (2g, 6a) through five games. Bryan O'Mara (2-3—5) and Owen Sclisizzi (1-4—5) are tied for second in scoring. Norwich has started three different goalies thus far. Bryce Walcarius is coming off NEHC Rookie of the Week honors after picking up a 21-save shutout against JWU on Saturday. Three out of the last four Skidmore-Norwich games in Saratoga Springs have ended in ties. The match up is 1-1-2 in the last two years.
 
The Pilgrims of NEC have struggled to score thus far in 2023-24, with just eight goals over their five games. Paul Waldhauser has scored two of them. NEC has been outscored 20-8 and has been shut out twice: both in the tough Elmira-Hobart road trip two weeks ago. Kai Tomita (4.32 GAA, .904 SV%) and Danny Miscavish (3.36 GAA, .875 SV%) have split time between the pipes thus far for NEC. Skidmore has won each of the last four meetings with the Pilgrims and have lost just one game (Feb. 7, 2020) in Saratoga Springs against NEC going all the way back to the 2014-15 season.
 
Next weekend, the Thoroughbreds will look to defend its Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational title with Tufts, Brockport, and #10 Salve Regina in town.