While the Boston Bruins have struggled thus far, they are undefeated when playing on the road. Their recent 5-3 win over the Islanders followed a tough loss in Boston to the Philadelphia Flyers, in which the Bruins held a two goal lead going into the third period.

Notable accomplishments that took place for the Bruins this week included Joonas Kemppainen scoring his first career NHL goal. The goal came 16 minutes and 13 seconds into the second period, tying the game at 2.

Another bright spot in the B’s season so far is center David Krejci, who is currently tied for the most points in the NHL. With Krejci surging and the ever-consistent play of Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins have a solid one-two punch at center.

Michael Dwyer / Associated Press

Furthermore, the Bruins powerplay is the number one unit in the NHL, despite the fact that essential powerplay defender Dougie Hamilton left the Bruins to sign with the Calgary Flames this past offseason. Working at a 38.1 percent success rate, the Bruins’ powerplay unit has shed some light on an otherwise disappointing 2015-2016 campaign. Unfortunately, the bads outweigh the goods for Boston so far this season.

One of the more concerning points of focus for the black and gold has been starting goaltender Tuukka Rask. Rask is 1-3-1 this season with a goals against average of 4.40 and a save percentage .854 according to NHL.com. Rask, who won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender just two seasons ago, has many Bruins fans concerned about how he will perform down the stretch.

In the midst of Rask’s struggles, veteran goaltender Jonas Gustavsson is making the most of his first season as the backup behind Tuukka Rask. According to NHL.com, Gustavsson is 2-0 so far in two starts for the black and gold, posting a goals against average of 2.50. While 2.50 isn’t a spectacular goals against average, it’s certainly better than that of Rask, and has been enough for a Boston team whose offense has certainly not been an issue. The Bruins currently sit third in goals per game, putting up an average of 3.86 goals per game as a team.

Between Gustavsson’s early success and Rask’s issues in the crease, we could be seeing a goaltender controversy brewing. If Gustavsson were to begin starting games on a  regular basis, Rask would be getting paid roughly $7 million to sit the bench. Not something you want to see from a goaltender who signed an eight year contract in 2013.

Moving out of the crease and into the defensive corps, Dennis Seidenberg is still sidelined following back surgery that took place during the preseason. Torey Krug, who seems to have earned ‘veteran’ status on a Bruins roster filled with young defenseman, is playing similar minutes per game that captain Zdeno Chara is. Krug is only 24 years old, but has been playing in the NHL consistently since 2013.

Other Bruins defensemen, such as Tommy Cross, Joe Morrow, Zach Trotman and Colin Miller, have yet to play a full season in the NHL. The lack of experience on the back end has created quite a problem for the Bruins.

It seems fairly clear that while Tuukka Rask certainly seems to be a problem for the Bruins, he is far from the only problem. To put things in perspective, Las Vegas odds had Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien being a 3/2 favorite to be the first NHL head coach fired this season, according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com. That has since been proven wrong with the firing of Todd Richards in Columbus, but Julien is still under quite a bit of scrutiny.

Defensive inexperience, goaltending struggles and overall inconsistency has made for a disappointing start to the 2015-2016 season. If things don’t turn around quickly, there could be quite the facelift coming to beantown, players and coaches alike.

Crae can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

Name: Madelaine Nossif 

Photo Editor / Tim Smith

Sport: Volleyball

Madelaine Nossif is a senior from Portsmoutuh, New Hampshire. Nossif plays at middle blocker for the Keene State College Owls volleyball team. Nossif is third in kills among the Owls, as well as total points. Nossif has 180 kills and 217.5 points in 27 matches so far this season. In KSC’s most recent match against Eastern Connecticut State College, Nossif led the Owls in kills with 12, as well as 25 total attacks, as the Owls won 3-0. In the match prior, Nossif had seven kills, helping the team to a 3-1 win over Western New England University.

Crae Messer can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

After getting off to an embarrassing 0-3 start to the 2015-2016 season, the Boston Bruins have bounced back with two wins on a recent road trip out west to give fans a glimmer of hope.

The Bruins’s season opener, a 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, was a display of young and undisciplined players lacking maturity and experience at the NHL level. The two games following were against two Eastern Conference rivals in Montreal and Tampa Bay, which followed suit as the Bruins lost 4-2 and 6-3 respectively. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was off to a less than mediocre start to the season, as he had only given up five goals or more three times in 2014-2015. As if matters weren’t bad enough, Boston’s leading scorer from the 2014-2015 season Brad Marchand left the game against Montreal with a concussion. At this point, the Boston faithful were just about ready to throw in the towel on the new-look Bruins and their 2015-2016 campaign.

Boston’s early struggles called for Head Coach Claude Julien to make some changes in the lineup as the Bruins headed out west to take on the Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes. One of these changes was giving 24-year-old forward Tyler Randell the start against Colorado, which was Randell’s NHL debut.

Randell scored his first NHL goal on a deflection of an Adam McQuaid slapshot from the point. Randell’s goal was one of six that the Bruins would put up in a 6-2 rout of the Avalanche, giving the black and gold their first win of the season.

Associated Press / David Zalubowski

In Boston’s second game of their brief road trip out west, they took on the streaking Arizona Coyotes, who had won three of their first four games this season. Boston came out firing in the first few minutes, but Arizona scored first giving the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

The Bruins continued their domination throughout the rest of the game though, as the total shot count was 43-23 in favor of the Bruins. Rookie Tyler Randell came to the rescue again, putting the Bruins on the board in the second period, tying the game at one goal each. Boston never fell behind again and beat the Coyotes 4-3.

While Rask’s play was a bit concerning in the first few games of the season, I don’t see it being an issue down the stretch and I have a feeling that most faithful Bruins fans would agree. Besides Rask’s performance, several question marks remain up and down the lineup. For one, Matt Beleskey has only tallied two points so far this season. Beleskey has mostly been playing on Boston’s second line with David Krecji, the NHL’s current leading scorer, and David Pastrnak, who has also been one of the Bruins’s best players thus far. Beleskey’s play has been disappointing to say the least, as he was Boston’s big signing this offseason. Hopefully he will start producing more consistently down the stretch.

Regardless of the doubts within the Bruins lineup, there are certainly things to be excited about. First and foremost, David Krejci is tied for the lead in points in the NHL, having tallied nine points so far. Second, David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner look to be producing, having notched three points each to this point. Patrice Bergeron is also coming up big for the Bruins, like always, with three goals and two assists in his five games this season.

Finally, defenseman Torey Krug looks to have taken on a bit of a leadership role amongst the Bruins and has tallied six assists in the first five games of the season. With captain Zdeno Chara well past his prime, newcomer Matt Irwin recently being placed on waivers and Dennis Wideman on the sidelines after back surgery, Krug is going to have to play some serious minutes on the Bruins blue line. I look forward to seeing what Krug can do for Boston in the long run.

Boston native Jimmy Hayes scored his first goal as a Bruin in the team’s game against Colorado. Hayes also notched four assists that night for a four point game. Also new to the black and gold is Zac Rinaldo, who seems to have toned down his often wild gameplay, but has yet to record a point with Boston. I expect both Rinaldo and Hayes to have a positive impact on the team down the stretch, just in different ways.

There are several things that factor into Boston’s long-term success, including the health of their players. David Krejci and Dennis Seidenberg are both injury prone, but we have seen first hand how impactful they can be when healthy. All in all, the Bruins look to have figured some things out and have shown some life.

Crae can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

Name: Alexis Michal 

File photo / Tim Smith

Sport: Volleyball

Alexis Michal, a senior from Windham, NH, is a setter for the Keene State College women’s volleyball team. Michal leads the Owls in assists this season and also lead the Owls in assists in her first and second years here at KSC. Michal also leads the team in assists per set and is second in number of sets this season. This week, Michal led the Owls to three wins over Plymouth State, Western Connecticut State Oswego State. Michal racked up 115 assists in the three matches, adding to her 491 assists on the season. The Owls take on Eastern Connecticut State on Saturday, October 24, on the road.

Crae Messer can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

Name: Sami Smith

Sport: Field Hockey

Junior forward Sami Smith scored a hat-trick for the Keene State Owls on Tuesday, September 29 in their win against Salem State University. Smith leads the Owls in goals this season with 9, more than twice what the next player in line has recorded this season.

File Photo / Tim Smith

Smith not only leads the team in goals, but also in points, shots, shots on goal and is tied for the lead in game winning goals.

Smith’s first goal of the game came just under twelve minutes into the first half off an assist from Kayla Renaud. Less than three minutes later, Smith tallied her second goal of the game beating the Salem State goalie  after receiving a pass from Haylie Dolan. Smith’s final goal of the game came at the 66:58 mark off of a pass from Erica Stauffer.

Sami’s younger sister Casi, a sophomore defender for the Owls, also scored a goal at the 31:01 mark. The Smith sisters are from Merrimack, New Hampshire and played high school field hockey at Merrimack High School.

The Keene State Owls field hockey team takes on Bridgewater State University on Saturday, October 10.

Crae can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

Name: Promise Kpee

Sport: Men’s Soccer

In a game where Keene State College defeated Green Mountain College 13-2, KSC forward Promise Kpee scored five goals for the Owls.

Not only did the 13 goals tie the KSC record for team goals in a game, but Kpee’s five goals broke the record for goals in a game by one player, a record that had been standing since 2003.

Three of Kpee’s goals came in the first half, the first of which only occurred

Photo Editor / Tim Smith

46 seconds into play. Kpee followed it up just over two minutes later by netting his second of the game.

Kpee was far from done, as he tallied his third goal of the game at the 12:01 mark of the first half.

Kpee wasted little time in the second half as well, as his fourth goal of the game came only 55 seconds into the frame.

Kpee’s fifth and final game came at the 55:09 mark of the second half, giving the Owls a commanding 9-1 lead.

Kpee, a sophomore from Manchester, N.H., was the LEC Rookie of the Year last season, as he scored seven goals in eight games.

Crae Messer can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

College students often find themselves struggling to balance classes, a social life and sometimes a job. Mix in athletics, and you’ve got one busy schedule.

Keene State College student athletes are some of the busiest students on campus due to the time-consuming schedules of their respective sports. Between practices, games and social team events, it can often be difficult for athletes to find the time to get their school work done.

After all, they are students first and schoolwork is most important. For this reason, student athletes are given the chance to go to study hall hours in the library.

The purpose of the study hall hours is to help athletes maintain a successful academic career, which is

Art Director / George Amaru

important for several reasons. One of which being that failure to succeed in the classroom could lead to academic ineligibility for student athletes, meaning they can’t participate in any sort of game, match or event.

Depending on the sport, each coach has a different set of criteria for which players are required to go.

For example, Keene State Field Hockey Coach Amy Watson is in charge of the study sessions. Watson requires all of her first-year players to attend the study sessions, which run Sundays through Thursdays from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Mason Library.

While Watson requires all first-year students to attend, she also requires anybody with a GPA of 2.25 or lower to go to the study sessions.

“What I like about it is that it sort of establishes a routine,” Watson said.

KSC senior baseball player Keith Simpson concurs with Watson on that aspect of the study sessions. Similar to Watson’s field hockey squad, the baseball team also requires first-year students to attend the study sessions. Simpson said that he made it part of his routine because it was an allotted time where he would sit down in the library and get work done.

“It’s mainly at night you go, and just try to get two hours in here and there,” Simpson said.

Another coach who plans to take full advantage of the program is Interim Head Coach of the KSC Men’s Basketball team Ryan Cain. Cain said that as a student athlete you have a responsibility is to be a student first.

“You need to make sure that you put academics first and do what you need to in the classroom. Then from there be the true student athlete and put basketball aside until you figure your stuff out in the classroom,” Cain said.

Watson said that she gets a list of all of the athletes who attend the sessions and sends it back to coaches, so there is no debate over whether or not students are attending.

“Some coaches are pretty strict about it with their teams, and there are penalties if kids don’t get their hours in,” Watson said.  She continued, “The premise of it is to give our athletes opportunities to get in good study habits and get the support that they need.”

Simpson said that attending the sessions is absolutely beneficial and that he would recommend them to athletes regardless of their academic status. Simpson also said that attending the sessions can create a bit of a domino effect.

“It helped me stay on top of school, so then I had time for sports because I wasn’t falling behind in class,” Simpson said. “So, therefore I didn’t fall behind in athletics.”

When asked if there is any evidence that shows whether or not the mandatory study sessions are working, Watson explained how coaches can see the results.

“There’s nothing formal,” Watson said.  She continued,“But I think most of the programs who utilize the study halls have noticed that they have fewer students that are ineligible.”

Crae Messer  can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com

Name: Kayla Renaud

Sport: Field Hockey

Kayla Renaud, a junior from Somers, Connecticut, scored two goals in a recent game for the Owls against Worcester State University.

File Photo / Kyle Bailey

Renaud’s two goals propelled the Owls to victory over Worcester State, 4-1.

Renaud has three goals on the season so far in five games. Renaud finished last season with eight goals in 24 games, and is already on pace to beat that this season.

In Renaud’s first season as an Owl, she recorded 28 points, last season she recorded 20 points, and will be looking to set a new career high this season in the goals and points department.

Crae Messer can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com