Preview: 2021 St. Peter's Prep Ice Hockey Team

 St. Peter's Prep Ice Hockey Season Preview

    After many months of uncertainty around New Jersey's winter sports season, the state government and the NJSIAA have decided to move forward with special guidelines and restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. As a result, the Saint Peter's Prep ice hockey team will take the ice for another season with no fans in attendance and only playing in outdoor rinks, with the Marauders playing their home games in Secaucus. It is a young and largely inexperienced group at the varsity level, with the team looking to rebuild themselves back to being a competitive team and a factor in New Jersey's toughest hockey conference, the Gordon. 

    Last year was not one that the Marauders and head coach Ken Such will look back upon fondly, as they finished with a 4-15-3 record, dead last in the Gordon after losing 9 members of a senior class that was a key fixture in the team since they had begun their careers at St. Peter's. This season, they are facing much of the same, with the team graduating 8 seniors last season, who accounted for 67.9% of the team's point total, although this number is down from the previous season when they graduated 9 seniors who accounted for 73% of the team's point total, as well as losing both goaltenders. Although last season was not the one that the Marauders were looking for, they still had some incredible moments last season, scoring 3 goals late to beat Northern Highlands in an incredible comeback, and picking up a 4-4 tie with the eventual state champions in Christian Brothers Academy (CBA), and an 8-2 victory over Ocean Township at the Prudential Center. 

    The team faces a hellacious schedule, opening up on the road against the reigning champions in CBA on January 15th, then travelling to play powerhouse Don Bosco Prep two days later, then playing St. Augustine on 1/19 before playing three games in three days starting 1/24 against St. Augustine, followed  by St. Joe's Montvale, and Delbarton. They face St. Joe's Metuchen on 1/29, then opening February against a resurgent Bergen Catholic program on the 2nd. The Marauders then travel to Pope John on the 5th, Seton Hall on the 8th, return home to play Gloucester Catholic on the 9th, then playing St. Joe's Montvale a second time on the 14th before wrapping up their regular season against Northern Highlands. It will be hard for this team to find wins this season with such a difficult schedule, but they did find ways to stay in a few games that they were not expected to. 

    Although this is a team without much experience, there is still reason to be hopeful for the coming season, as the Marauders still have a few exciting players going into this season. Cory Robinson leads the youth movement for this team, registering 14 points on 5 goals and 9 assists as a freshman, and he will look to build on that going into a season where he will likely be expected to fill a bigger role. Nicholas Centrone and Jake Barrera will also be expected to step up as seniors on this team, both in their production and into leadership roles. 

On the back end, the Marauders return a pair of seniors whose experience at this level will be key this season, with Joseph Brandon and Casey Truppner being two solid blueliners, with Sophomore Matt January also likely being expected to make a big step up after a solid freshman season. St. Peter's will also operate with a goalie tandem, as they have two solid options in net in Aaron Rodriguez and James Gallagher. They'll likely be relied upon a lot this season to keep the Marauders in games, and they will be more than up to the task based on their previous performances. This is a difficult season to plot out for St. Peter's, as they lack a lot of varsity experience, but as Coach Such said in our interview with him for our podcast, they will take this season one game at a time. And as fans, we should do the same. 

-Chris Amaral