It may be October, but a huge focus of the Wilkes community right now is the beginning of hockey season. 

With the 2025-26 season right around the corner, the men’s hockey team is going back to work as they get another season underway later this month. 

A historic season last year for the team ended in heartbreak as they lost in the MAC final to Stevenson. 

Looking to right the wrongs from last year’s end, the team understandably is playing with a chip on their shoulder.

Going 17-8-2 last year, the Colonels amassed a 16-3-2 record in conference play. Entering the playoffs as the first seed in the MAC, the team fell to the second seed Mustangs in March. 

Entering his seventh season at the helm, head coach Tyler Hynes is looking forward to getting the show on the road. 

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to compete. I think it’s the best part of this job, and the best part about being here. 

We feel like we can go toe-to-toe with anybody, and you have all six months of the summer to think about that,” Hynes said. 

An ever-important offseason saw the Colonels bring in 14 new players, with 13 of them being freshman. Acclimating the new blood to the team may be difficult, but Hynes said it’s been important. 

“It’s been a huge focus of ours early on here before we’ve gotten into it. It’s been something we’ve been trying to do, to bridge those two sides to make sure that it isn’t you know, returners and new guys, but rather one team of Wilkes Colonels.”

The Colonels feature a huge number of returning players, including Matt Carlson, Carter Jordan, Mason Vonk, Cam Perez, and potential new starting goaltender, Duncan Rolleman. After graduating a big chunk of players last year, the Colonels enter 2025-26 with some questions to answer. 

However, it doesn’t seem that players are too worried about the new faces. Senior forward Matt Carlson stated that the newcomers will all contribute. 

“They’re all very, very good players. All these players are capable of doing what those guys did in the past. I’m excited to see what they can do, how they can contribute, and I bet you, it’s going to be a lot of good, because we got a great group,” he said. 

Senior forward Carter Jordan said being a leader is something he’s looking forward to this season

“I think looking forward to the season, I would say, just enhancing our culture, really building on what we’ve been taught through my first three years, and leaving this place in a better spot than when I came in,” he said. 

“Just really being in a leadership role kind of, teaching these younger guys, since we have so many, what Wilkes Hockey’s all about, and just setting them up for their future.”

With less than two weeks to go until the season officially begins, the Colonels will continue to gel, and look forward to the road ahead. 

Recently, the Colonels were ranked second in the MAC coaches preseason poll. 

However, understandably so, the team’s aspirations are to grab a championship win. 

“The only thing that’s really going to satisfy this team is winning a championship. Otherwise, it’s another year that we wanted a championship and didn’t get it,” Carlson stated. 

“The goal is a championship win, and we’re not gonna settle for less.”

The road towards a MAC championship begins on Oct. 31, when the Colonels host Manhattanville University in a non-conference matchup. Puck drop is set for 4:50 p.m. from the Toyota Sportsplex. 

MAC play officially begins on Nov. 7, when the Colonels take on cross-town rivals King’s College. Time can only tell if the Colonels can get the MAC title they desire, but with the players they have, it’s certainly possible.