Relkoff receives honors for outstanding play
Courtney Cook, '11 | Staff Reporter
Issue date: 12/4/09 Section: Sports
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Caylin was named Athlete of the Week back-to-back weeks, Oct. 19 and 26. Caylin was also named SUNYAC goaltender for the week of Oct. 26. He was named Athlete of the Week for his overall performance and helping aid the Mustangs to upset the nationally ranked Elmira; where he had 57 saves out of 58 shots. He had a 98.3 save percentage for the game. Longland said Caylin stops almost everything that comes at him.
Caylin is a junior at Morrisville, majoring in Human Performance and Health Promotion. After school he plans on either attending Graduate school or playing professional hockey. Caylin's favorite team in the National Hockey League is the Montreal Canadians, and former goalie Patrick Roy is who first inspired Caylin to become a goalie when he was a child. Besides Roy, Caylin said, "I liked the equipment when I was little." As for coaching in the future he said, "I wouldn't mind it, but not head coaching. Maybe assistant specifically working with goaltenders."
Caylin has been playing hockey since the age of six and was goalie since he was 13. His favorite part of playing the game is, "making the saves that keep the team in the game." Fellow teammate Bobby Cass said that Caylin is always intense and extremely competitive, and "even when he gets scored on in practice he gets upset," Cass said.
Caylin, however, doesn't feel that there is any pressure to keep up the work; he said it's his third-year and the team has improved every year. "He leads by example, he works hard so the rest of the team works hard," Longland said. This year alone, Caylin has made 271 saves with 305 shots and only 36 goals scored on him.
Making Longland and the rest of the defense's job easy. With 45 games played and 1,429 saves in his career, "he never gives up on a puck," Cass said.
Caylin has an 89 percent save-rate this year, and an 88 percent save-rate in his career. When asked if there was a standout player on the team this year, head coach Brian Grady replied with, "everybody contributes," he also added that the game starts with defense and the team plays defense until they can capitalize on the other end of the rink. "Caylin is the backbone of our team," Grady said.
 | Caylin Relkoff prepares to make a save during the Mustangs' game against SUNY Fredonia last February. Relkoff has a save percentage of 89 percent so far this season.
Photo by Steve Samoyedny of Four Seasons Photography, Clark Mills. |
On Nov. 20 Caylin made 23 saves in the loss against Cortland State. On Nov. 21 he had 25 saves in the loss against Oswego State. Morrisville's next two games are home against Buffalo State College, on Dec. 4, and SUNY Fredonia, Dec. 5. The puck drops at 7 p.m.