Flying Dutchmen
When Al MacCormack came to coach hockey at Lebanon Valley College, he had his work cut out for him.
After all, it’s not easy recruiting players for a team that doesn’t even exist.
Four years later, MacCormack’s job is a lot easier. His Flying Dutchmen have become an NCAA Division III powerhouse, winning the regular-season conference championship in the ECAC Northeast and clinching home ice in their bid for a second-consecutive NCAA tournament berth.
That’s a far cry from where MacCormack started. When he left a successful program at the State University of New York, Cortland, MacCormack came to a school with no tradition to sell, no club team to build from, not even a campus ice rink.
The Dutchmen play at Hersheypark Arena, about six miles from their Annville campus.
“No one heard of Lebanon Valley College in the hockey world -- it was a very difficult sell,” MacCormack said. “There were a lot of skeptical people when I first started this, a lot of wrinkled faces when I first mentioned it. There were nights when I was worried I wouldn’t get enough people for a team.”
But MacCormack found them, recruiting a core of freshmen--including forwards Jamie Taylor and Dan Fox and goaltenders Lincoln Matlock and Kevin Block--that would quickly develop into one of the nation’s best teams.
The Dutchmen went 16-8-1 in 1998-99, their first season, improving to 19-6-1 in 1999-2000.
“In our first practice ever, you could see it. There were guys who had just tons of talent--we just needed to put it together,” said Greg Kutchma, a senior forward from Johnstown. “The first year, we were still feeling everything out. The second year, the third year, we knew we could do something and put this team on the map.”
Last year, Lebanon Valley upset defending ECAC Northeast champion Wentworth to claim the league championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Dutchmen finished 18-9-2 after losing in the first round to Rochester Institute of Technology.
“If we get to the first round of the NCAAs, we definitely want to make some noise,” said junior forward Brian Yingling. “We don’t want to do what happened last year--that was embarrassing to us. I think in some ways we were happy to be there, and we can’t play like that.”
Lebanon Valley got off to a slow start this year, losing their first two games. But they responded with a 17-game winning streak, finishing the season 21-3-1 after a 10-0 rout of Western New England College.
That win sealed the first regular-season conference championship for the Dutchmen, who will get home ice throughout the ECAC Northeast tournament. Plymouth (N.H.) State comes to Hersheypark on Sunday for the quarterfinals.
And it’s not just the home crowd that gives Lebanon Valley an advantage. Hersheypark Arena is warmer than most other league rinks, and visiting teams often tire late in a game.
But more than travel or warm ice, MacCormack believes his players’ success comes from their balance and their work ethic.
The Flying Dutchmen were ranked No. 10 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll this week. More important, they are ranked No. 3 in the Pairwise rankings, a computer ranking that mimics the system used by the NCAA selection committee. That means even if the Dutchmen lose in their conference tournament, they have a good shot at one of three at-large NCAA bids.
Once there, the Dutchmen are determined not to get bounced in the first round this year.
“We have the talent to play with anybody,” Fox said. “When you get that far, everybody is great, so you’re going to have to get a couple lucky bounces and not make mistakes. But if we get those bounces, I think we can play with anybody.”