PITTSFORD, N.Y. — St. John Fisher University will add men’s and women’s ice hockey to its athletic department next academic year.

Naturally, the next 12 months for the two first-year head coaches will be recruiting and filling a team. St. John Fisher has a deep legacy of excellence in athletics.

“The reputation of the school, the academics of the school, really kind of sell itself,” said men’s ice hockey coach Reid Lesswing. “All the other sports are really successful here.”

From now until next October, it’s just about assembling a team for Lesswing and Scott McDonald, the women’s ice hockey head coach.

“You can’t fake recruiting,” McDonald said. “You have to get on the ground and get in the rinks and talk to these student-athletes and parents and programs and start piecing it together that way.”

The Cardinals have a unique challenge, recruiting on a blank slate.

“It’s all kind of how I think the culture is going to be,” Lesswing said. “How I want to build the team, what Fisher thinks, what Fisher is providing. So it definitely has its own challenges.”

Both Reid and Scott have plenty of experience coaching already. McDonald served as RIT’s head coach and still holds the record for most wins by a coach. Lesswing came up as an assistant and has spent the last five years at SUNY Plattsburgh.

“I knew exactly where I want to go,” McDonald said. “The teams I wanted to talk to, kids I want to identify and started going after.”

The Cardinals will play at the Rochester Ice Center and compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference, a league that features Brockport, Geneseo, Utica, and crosstown-rival Nazareth.

“We have Naz that’s basically a cross the street, our two daughters [Nazareth head coach Chris Baudo] play on the same team growing up. So that’s been interesting. I’m sure we’ll develop a little rivalry right there,” McDonald said. 

Until then, Scott and Reid have plenty of work to do.

“Really excited to get going and get on the ice, but really focused on the right here, right now,” Lesswing said.