Six months after playing in its first ever American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I tournament, the Stony Brook club hockey team was back on the ice prepping for another grueling season.
The club’s first season at Division I ended with a close loss to the #2 nationally ranked Lindenwood Lions. This team returns much of the offensive fire power, but will have new faces patrolling the defensive end and a new man in goal.
Three of the club’s top six defenseman, Dan Kentoffio, Ben Breiterman, and Peter Marek will not be returning. Marek, the former team captain, will now serve as the teams director of development.
‘It’s a huge blow to our defense,’ General Manager Chris Garofalo said at the teams first ‘captains practice.’ ‘Guys like that are hard to replace,’ he said.
‘But we brought in some new guys who I hope can step up,’ he said approaching the situation from a positive angle. ‘It opens up some more spots, but these guys are really hard to replace.’
When mentioning those who he hoped to step up in place of the departed defenseman, Garofalo prominently mentioned the name of Pete Zarella, a freshman from Staten Island.
Another question facing the team is who will be starting in goal. The graduation of Drue Santora, who has logged major minutes the last two years, leaves the Seawolves goaltending situation to be battled over by Jack Dagnese and Derek Stevens.
Stevens saw more work the last two seasons, playing over 800 minutes last year and picking up two shutouts while posting a 2.73 goals against average. In just over 148 minutes Dagnese had a 2.02 goals against average last season.
‘It’ll come down to who wants it more,’ Garofalo said. ‘Whoever is playing better.’
Up front the Seawolves return a plethora of offensive weapons, including Angelo Serse and Ryan Hodkinson. In 26 games last season Serse scored 28 goals and had 10 assists. Hodkison played in 29 games and had 19 goals to go along with 19 assists.
‘Serse and Hodkinson will be looked at as leaders,’ Garofalo said. Garofalo also mentioned freshman Chris Ryan as a forward who ‘should make a huge impact.’
The season begins on the weekend of Oct. 4 and 5, as the Seawolves host #4 nationally ranked Liberty on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The Seawolves were ranked #12 in the Colleghockey.info preseason ACHA poll released last week.
The Seawolves tough schedule also contains games against #5 Delaware, #6 Rhode Island, #8 Iowa State, and conference rival and #10 ranked Westchester.
This year’s national tournament starts on Mar. 14 in Gate Mills, Ohio.
