ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) - The Elmira College hockey season is just a couple of days away and the EC men are ready to take the ice with an experienced group.

Elmira will begin the regular season on Friday at Nazareth University. The Soaring Eagles finished last season 13-12-1 where they lost to Skidmore in the NEHC Quarterfinals. The team is excited about their experience as they return The Soaring Eagles have 12 seniors.

After last season's disappointing finish, the team took that to heart and they're ready to come back with their eyes on a championship.

"Things are definitely different from last year, you can tell from the first time we stepped on the ice the vibe is different," said Head Coach Aaron Saul. "Over the summer, they worked a little bit harder, everybody is a little bit stronger, and they're definitely a motivated group."

Saul also talked about the strengths of this year's team.

"Depth up front is very good. The four lines we can all score, defenseman we're a little short-handed on the back end but the guys we have are really talented players. I think our goaltenders, both of them are sophomores and we have a returning graduate student. Those guys' experience last year, I think they had some tough times as freshmen but they seem like different goaltenders this year so we're excited about that."

"We're a very veteran group, we have a lot of seniors this year so just looking to use that experience and leadership going into this year," said Senior Forward, Bailey Krawczyk.

"A big thing that we've kind of talked about in the room has been our practice habits, just kind of making sure every day is game-like, every day we're ready to go and I think that's kind of the direction we're headed so far" added Senior Forward, Jared Smith.

"There's not many teams that we can't go in and beat every night so I think it's just going in, having a plan and executing that plan to take home the W every night," said Senior Defenseman, Jordan Gonzalez.

Elmira's home opener at the Murray Athletic Center is scheduled for Saturday, October 28th against SUNY Oswego at 7 PM. The full 2023-24 season schedule can be found here.