The St. Joe’s Marauders come into the 2016-17 season fresh off of a NYSCHSAA championship and school best 26-2-1 record.
With a championship comes high expectations especially at the hockey crazed collegiate. “Given the school we go to and the success we’ve had, I think we’re expected to win every year,” said senior assistant captain Michael Greco. “The Seniors want to be leaders and we’re going to do everything we can to go out on top this year.” Greco also added that “it’s important to take one game at a time and be confident in our plan and knowing if we execute, everything will take care of itself.”
The Marauders will look to many new faces this season to fill the roles of the 11 graduated seniors. Players filling key roles include but are not limited to Luke Pierce, Dominic Miceli, Jimmy Grable and David Mathew; all of which played on the St. Joe’s club A team.
In addition to the graduated seniors several underclassman left the program to explore other opportunities. Most notably is goaltender Dan Mikolajczak who was dominant in net last season.
Replacing Mikolajczak will be junior Ben Weppner and senior Donovan Boshier. Senior Jeremy Ienco spoke about the importance of helping both goalies transition into their new roles saying “we need to help them out a little the first couple of games and let them catch their grove. Once they do I believe they are as good as, if not better, than anyone in the league.” In Friday’s scrimmage carnival Weppner allowed 0 goals in all three of St. Joe’s matchups.
This season the Marauders will have a deadly combination of speed and grit. “The style of our team will be whatever it takes to win,” said third year federation player and senior Trevor Conschafter. “To win certain games we need lots of different styles. Mainly we will be getting pucks deep and doing our best to outwork our opponents.”
Although the season has just begun the Marauders believe they have found the right group to repeat as Catholic State Champions. “I think we have all of the keys to be successful, everyone on our team is willing to make sacrifices and put in extra time to be a championship team,” said senior defenseman Seth Glanowski.
Joe’s has a massive challenge ahead of themselves this season but the Marauders believe through hard work anything is achievable.
The Marauders road to repeat as NYSCHSAA champions begins on December 3rd vs. Niagara-Wheatfield at the Northtowns Center, face-off scheduled for 3pm.