CASTLETON, Vt. (WCAX) – Hockey season is starting early for the Vermont State University Castleton men’s team. While the ice is being redone this summer, the Spartans are headed overseas to prepare for a tough season ahead.
“I’ve never been to Europe. I know we’re all really excited to get over there and see a different style of play and play on that bigger surface and I think everyone is excited,” Castleton Men’s Ice Hockey Captain Justin Stairs said.
The Castleton team will be one of the six competing in the Riga College Hockey Invitational next week in Latvia, one of two NCAA schools heading to Europe. But it won’t be the first time for one member of the team.
“It was the best week of my life, obviously, we played some really good hockey. We won all of our games,” said Kyle Richards, the head coach of the Castleton Men’s Ice Hockey Team.
Richards was a player when the Spartans first took a trip to Europe in 2012. Now, more than a decade later, he’s leading the team back across the pond in a more organized fashion.
“It wasn’t about the hockey, it was about the experience and the team bonding and getting to experience new cultures, like I said, with your best friends. So, I’m just really excited for this trip to sit back and hopefully watch our guys have that same experience that I was lucky enough to have as a player here,” Richards said.
The coach says the trip over will be the first time he’ll see many of the players since their last games in the winter. He says he’s eager to get the whole team onto the ice in Europe for the first few laps of skates of the season.
“I think the biggest takeaway will be the team bonding and getting our group as tight as can be so that when we start school we’re ready to go and we can really integrate the new players quickly,” Richards said.
Stairs says he’s excited to have the team represent Vermont in Latvia.
“We want to go over and make a great game for ourselves and do the Spartans proud, at the same time, we want to experience the landscape and really get to take in where you’re at,” Stairs said.
The Spartans will touch down from the skies on Aug. 11 and will take to the ice with a few practices together as a team before facing off against Under 20 and Under 23 teams from countries around Europe.