Siwiec Named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week
November 17, 2003 | Men's Ice Hockey
BOSTON, MA-Sophomore goalie Stephan Siwiec, whose first game action in almost a year resulted in a 30-save 2-1 win over Merrimack on Saturday night, Nov. 15, has been named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week.
The win improved the Terriers' overall record to 3-2-2 while their league record is now 2-2-1 and put them in sixth place in the weekly standings.
"This is a terrific honor for Stephan," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said of the league award. "He played very well against Merrimack. He showed a lot of poise and confidence and made a lot of good saves."
Siwiec was busiest in the second period when he stopped 15 of Merrimack's 16 shots. The only goal he allowed came midway through the period when he was screened on a shot down low. By that time, the Terriers, who scored four times in the first period, had jumped to a 5-0 lead.
"I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates," offered Siwiec. "They played very well in front of me, and, as a result, I didn't see a lot of quality shots. Also, I felt stronger as the game went on."
Prior to the Merrimack game, Siwiec had not seen game action since November 30, 2002 when he started the Cornell game. He had 25 saves and allowed three goals in a 4-1 loss to the Big Red.
From that game until Saturday night, the Terriers had played 35 games and senior Sean Fields had not only started every one of them, he played in every minute of every game.
Then, early last week, Parker made the decision that Siwiec would play one of the two Merrimack games over the weekend.
"I knew that once we got into playing back-to-back games, Stephan was going to see some action," said Parker. "I just wanted him to be comfortable out there."
"During the week, Coach Parker had told me that I would probably be playing this weekend," said Siwiec. "But, I didn't know until Thursday that I would definitely be playing on Saturday night. So, I had a chance to see Merrimack play Friday night (a 2-2 overtime tie with the Terriers) and see what they did.
"I felt a little extra pressure because I wanted to show how well I can play," he went on. "I know I am a good goalie, but I wanted to show it to Coach.
"I came to practice everyday and worked hard to get better," he said. "Anything can happen, and I just wanted to be ready when I got my chance to play. I got ready on Saturday just as I would on any game day except I was a little more nervous. But, I was able to deal with it."
He more than dealt with it as he won the first award of his collegiate career.
