When the Owls ended their last practice of 2014-15 Feb. 16, a few players remained out on the ice.
As their teammates retreated to the locker room, then-freshman forwards Devon Thomas, Eric Graham, Alex Kempinski and freshman defenseman Ryan Dumbach lingered at the Flyers Skate Zone.
“It sounds cliché, but it’s definitely something winners do,” Kempinski said. “It’s something the best players have lived by the old saying that says, ‘Five minutes extra before the game and five minutes extra after the game adds up over a season.’”
Now sophomores, Thomas, Graham, Kempinski, Dumbach and forward Joey Powell have seen the extra work pay off this season, as each of them has either surpassed or matched their 2014-15 goal total halfway through this year.