Salem State skaters gearing up for another successful season
November 21, 2008
By Jean DePlacido, Salem Evening News Correspondent
SALEM - The defense and goaltending are rock solid, and there's plenty of scoring punch up front.
It all translates into veteran head coach Billy O'Neill feeling good about his Salem State College hockey team, which opens its season tonight on the road against St. Michael's College (7 p.m.) in Vermont.
"I'm optimistic because we've had a lot of these guys for the last three years," said O'Neill, whose team reached the ECAC East tournament final last season, finishing the year 16-11-0. "It all starts with goaltending and defense. We have a large nucleus back, and right about now they are very anxious to get going."
Under O'Neill's direction, Salem State has made 24 ECAC appearances, went to the NCAA Division 3 tournament six times, won three ECAC East playoff titles, and has copped 19 MASCAC championships. This winter, they are once again the team to beat in the conference.
Senior goalie Ryan Hatch returns for his third year in goal for the Vikings, who can expect to play the lion's share of games. He has a pair of strong backups in former UMass Lowell stopper Vinnie Monaco, as well as James LeCour.
Now in his 28th season, O'Neill plans on carrying eight defensemen, almost all of whom have plenty of experience. Senior Billy Glynn, juniors Brett Noll, Kevin Hughes and Matt Davis, and sophomores Kevin Huinink, Sam Cannata, and Nicholas Jillson provide depth.
O'Neill is also high on freshman Colin Young, who played prep school at St. Sebastians before beefing up his game in the Eastern Junior League.
Offensively, the Vikings' explosive first line consists of three of the leading scorers of a year ago. That trio is led by sophomore center Justin Fox of Canada, who had 40 points and was named ECAC East Rookie of the Year last season. Juniors Chris MacInnis of Waltham at left wing and Jeffrey Tellier on the right side round out this formidable unit.
Junior co-captain Damen Nisula centers the second line with sophomore left wing Mike Genovase and junior right wing Aaron Blades of California (who, like Nisula, played at Cushing Academy). Slovakian Alexander Molnar, co-captain David Pazzaglia at center and senior Zachary Doyen on the right make up the third line.
"We have three senior forwards in Pazzaglia, Doyen and Jason Rexinis (from Lynn/Tilton Academy)," said O'Neill. "Overall, I think we're pretty balanced with eight good freshmen. Most of the kids are from junior hockey and played in the best leagues in the country, while some are out of prep schools."
O'Neill has been impressed with Canadian Justin Roy, Matt Genovase (Mike's younger brother), and local product Ryan Pezzulo, who came up through the Salem/Swampscott Blades Youth Hockey program when he lived in Salem and later played for Triton Regional.
Another good looking addition is sophomore transfer Matt Johnson, a forward who played at Lynn English and Tilton Academy before going to Norwich and Providence College.
Salem State plays its home opener Monday, Dec. 1 against Worcester State before facing Middlebury and Williams the weekend of Dec. 5-6 at the Rockett Arena in Salem.