By Dan Bergan
Editor’s note: Dan Bergan is the head coach of the Robbinsville High School ice hockey team.
The Robbinsville High School ice hockey team is heading into its 10th season. After 4-20-1 inaugural campaign, the Ravens have gone 113-62-14 for a composite 117-82-15 overall record, including two Patriot, one Valley and two Colonial Division Championships over the last eight years.
Starting with the 2011-12 season, Robbinsville and Allentown High School have been a co-op squad. Three players—Mike Piet, Kellen Anker and Logan Fredericks—have earned Colonial Valley Conference Player of the Year honors, and the team took -threetime defending state champion Randolph deep into OT before losing 3-2 in the Group A State Tournament quarterfinals in 2012-13.
This year’s schedule includes challenging non-conference games against some Top 20 public projections like Montclair, Kinnelon, Wall, Roxbury, Ocean, Governor Lingston, Monroe, River Dell, Paramus and Edison. We hope to continue our run of eight straight years of state tournament eligibility and win at least one round in a states home game this year with the potential to go further. We will strive to be the top performing public school in Mercer County.
Last year, the squad went 10-9-3 and advanced to the first round of the state tournament, where it lost to Freehold Township. While most high school teams run in four-year cycles, the Ravens have been fortunate to be able to have a sustained run moving forward for seven consecutive seasons before hitting a re-load season in 2014-15. With the graduation of three important seniors, we are looking for incremental progress for the 2015-16 campaign.
At forward, the team has a mix this year that remains relatively intact, other than the major losses of Anthony Pluchino and Dom Rubino to graduation.
Highly skilled senior captain John Francis will anchor the offense with support from seniors Matt Kalczynski and Ben Solomon. Junior Shawn Camisa takes on a big role and will be expected to be a go-to scorer for us again this year. Junior Aidan Fredericks looks like an important contributor this season after two years of development. In addition, newcomer Josh Rosenbaum joins the team with several seasons of travel hockey under his belt. Joe Pontrelli stepped in to provide big minutes as a freshman last year, joining the ranks with promising sophomore Brian Eider looking to anchor his own line this season and become a major cog in the forward lines.
We are excited to welcome aboard skilled freshman prospect Liam Hartmann. New sophomore tryouts Andrew Laurits and Matt LaPreta show a lot of promise for inexperienced skaters. Freshman Frankie Marra could see immediate minutes on the wing during his inaugural campaign.
Missing from the D line will be CVC All-Star graduate Jimmy Kenna. Fortunately, our defense remains in good hands with senior John Martin, who is coming on very strong in every way and should be a top player in the CVC. Second-year player Ryan Van Duren stepped in a played huge minutes for us as a freshman and has developed into a force at the blueline. Sophomore David Canizares has made big strides over the offseason and has become a dependable member of our Dmen.
Newcomer Ryan D’Auria will convert to the defensive side of the puck and we expect his size and hard work to force his way into the lineup. Freshman Daniel Simone shows potential to contribute down the road.
Our young netminders took a major step up after a trial by fire in 2014-15. Senior Joey Nolan and junior Nick Koch are ready to battle for the starting job and both bring a high level of competence to the nets. We also bring in sophomore goalie Luke Young and freshman Justin Cooper, who begin the journey to become our goalies of the future.
