Former Pride goaltender Evan Ruschil ’19 has had quite the run of success between the pipes, starting from his days here at Trinity-Pawling to where he is now. While a senior at Trinity-Pawling, he was on the team that won a Founders League championship. Now a four-year starter at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Ruschil has proven that he is one of the best Division 3 goalies in the country.
Ruschil was the 2020 NESCAC Rookie of the Year and All-NESCAC second team in 2022. He has also put up incredible numbers while at Williams, another trend he started here at Trinity-Pawling. He has an average save percentage of .934 for his career at Williams, as well as a goals-against average of 2.47 — a feat that recently earned him a spot on the Team USA roster at the World University Games held in Lake Placid, New York.
Ruschil, along with two other goalies and twenty other players from Division 3 college hockey programs across the country, joined to play against teams from 12 nations, including the United States. They split into two pools with the United States, Great Britain, Hungary, Slovakia, and Kazakhstan in Pool B. In Pool A, were Canada, Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Latvia.
The pool play began on January 11, 2023 at Clarkson University, with the medal round moving to Herb Brooks arena in Lake Placid. The United States made it all the way to the championship game where they, unfortunately, lost to Canada. Evan played three games in total and although he only played in the third period of the first two games, he played the full game against Hungary when they won 9-1.
“It was an amazing experience,” Ruschil said. “I can remember seeing the USA jersey with my name on it and thinking how this is something I never thought I would see. Then, to put it on and walk out of the tunnel to 7,000 fans in Herb Brooks Arena chanting ‘USA! USA!’ was one of the better experiences of my life. I even took more time to be on the ice in warm-ups in order to take it all in.”
Ruschil played with other top Division 3 players from around the country, each coming from a different school and different background. Ruschil enjoyed being with his teammates and taking in the full experience outside the rink, just as much as he enjoyed his time in the rink wearing the red, white, and blue. “It was nice that our coaches wanted us to do more than just hockey while we were there. We got to see the ski jump facility at Lake Placid, talk to the other teams, and meet players from different countries, and I also got to meet kids I played against during the year. The whole experience was once-in-a-lifetime and something I’ll never forget,” said Ruschil.
Ruschil is a senior this year at Williams and has a job in New York City waiting for him upon graduation. He will be working at Cowen Inc., an investment banking company where he interned as a junior.
by Kyle Miller ’18