As comfortable as defenseman Austin Rook (Shrewsbury, Mass.) looks on the ice for Skidmore College, he’s even more comfortable in the locker room.
And why not? He can’t go three stalls without running into someone he played juniors with on the South Shore Kings.
“It’s a running joke in the locker room when more and more Kings guys come in,” said senior forward Owen Campbell (Foxboro, Mass.). “It’s like, ‘The Kings have a college team now.’ ”
A pretty good college team, too.
Located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Skidmore consistently has been looking up at the iron of the New England Hockey Conference — perennial national title contender Norwich, Hobart and UMass Boston teams that are coming off NCAA tournament seasons, and Babson.
Coming out of the semester break, the Thoroughbreds were 7-4-4 and were among the teams receiving votes in the USCHO.com top 15 poll.
“I think we’re playing some real good hockey,” said fifth-year coach Rob Hutchison. “We’ve also made plenty of mistakes. It’s a matter of correcting those mistakes for us.”
In a sense it’s like a chess game, and this team has the pieces: a bunch of Kings and a really good Rook.
An impact freshman last year, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Rook is now one of the leaders. He was named to the All-NEHC second team after scoring seven goals and 19 points, a total that ranked second on the team behind forward Matt Muzyka (Cheshire, Conn.) and fourth nationally among freshmen defensemen.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I knew it was going to be challenging. My defense partner, (senior) Corey Morgan, helped a lot. I just tried to help the team however I could.”
A right-handed shot, this year he leads the team in scoring with a 3-8-11 line.
“Austin’s an incredible player,” said Campbell. “The way he plays, he thinks the game really well. He brings a lot to the table for what we need on the back end with his offense.”
“Real high hockey IQ,” said Hutchison. “He’s got great compete. He sees the ice well and can make some plays. He doesn’t have the quickest feet, but he gets around the ice real well.”
Rook and Campbell are two of five South Shore Kings alums on the roster. That group also includes junior forward Brandon Borges (Providence, R.I.) and sophomore twins Will and Avery Steele (Colchester, Vt.).
“It’s a little bit of a coincidence,” said Hutchison. “But that league, that proximity, has been good for us. … The style of play that they come from in that organization, kids are tough and hard-nosed. They’ve got a blue-collar ethic that we prize. And they’re team guys.”
Rook and Campbell, who overlapped for one year with the Kings, credited coaches Scott Harlow and John Gerskis, and also Brian McDonough, whose Edge Performance Systems is housed in the same Foxboro facility and gives players access to elite strength training and conditioning.
“Every day there you have to go to work,” said Campbell. “Making hard work the norm really translates well to college.”
When Rook’s career hit its low point nearly two years ago, he leaned on the Kings.
A big defenseman who skates and sees the ice well, Rook was all set to play Division 1 hockey at Army West Point, where he’d been committed for a year and a half.
In May 2018, just two months before he would report, he got a call from coach Brian Riley, informing him that he had not passed the academy’s medical exam. A shoulder surgery and some past concussions were the reasons.
“I had my acceptance letter and I was ready to go,” said Rook. “It was surprising and kind of a shock.”
Suddenly, a decision he’d long filed away had to be made all over again. He liked the coaches and the business program at Skidmore. Also the familiar faces.
“Honestly, it was a big part of my decision,” said Rook, who prepped at Rivers School. “I wanted to surround myself with guys who were good guys. All the guys I knew that were here or coming here were guys that were going to move the bar higher.”
The Thoroughbreds went 5-17-4 in Hutchison’s first year. They upped their win total by five in his second year and, last season, won 13 games, marking the program’s best season in a decade.
Now, Rook’s hoping to lead them to the next level.
“Phenomenal kid,” said Hutchison. “Hockey aside, he brings it to everything he does. Exceptional academics. Exceptional community member. Exceptional teammate. He brings it all.”
His supporting cast of Kings are doing their jobs, too.
Campbell is a seen-it-all senior, a self-described “Swiss army knife” player who can contribute on the power play and penalty kill and takes pride in where the program is now compared to where it was when he joined it.
Avery Steele has collected two goals and eight points so far, and Will Steele and Borges are battling to make their roles greater.
It all adds up to a locker room fit for a King.
“It was funny,” said Rook. “When I first got up here, I was looking around the locker room and there were a bunch of guys I’d seen in the locker room two years ago. When you see familiar faces, it makes it that much easier to adjust to college.”
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