The South ice hockey team opened its season on a positive note with a win over Toms River East, 7-2, on December 1.##M:[more]##
With five key returning seniors — Keegan Martel, Mike Nestel, Matt Bright, Junichi Hara, and Trent Hanafee — on the roster this season at South, coach Brian McGurney says leadership should not be an issue. And the underclassmen have also been playing well and adding to the team’s depth, he says. “Overall, we’re deeper than we’ve been for the last several years.”
Last year the team went 11-10-3, but missed out on the state tournaments, and the team’s immediate goal is to get back into the states and to have a strong showing in the Mercer County Tournament, he says. “I’m not going to set too many specific goals,” McGurney says.
The strength, though, is definitely in the senior class. “They’re all very good players, each of them capable of doing their own thing. That’s going to be one of our biggest changes from last year,” McGurney says.
He says he would like to improve the team’s defense this year. “Last year, it wasn’t out of the ordinary to have 40 to 50 shots against us,” he says. “Our defense has improved since last year. But I’d like to tighten that area up.”
Leading the team as captain this year is Keegan Martel. McGurney hopes to name another soon..
With a 17-6-2 record last season, North’s team — last year’s Patriot Division champions — is also returning a lot of talent, including seniors James Komianos, Scott Litwack, Scott Martin, and juniors Andrew Washuta, Marc Raziano, and Andrew Lalli, despite the fact that the team lost Chris Keresztes, who graduated in June.
