Coach Matthew Gualtieri knows that it will be an uphill climb for the 2009-'10 season, but he sees a bright future for the neophyte Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School ice hockey program.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School ice hockey is only five years old and with any newbie program it is going through its dips in numbers while ice hockey in the lower grades continues to grow.
There are 15 skaters on the varsity ice hockey team this year (there were 24 students last season), but Gualtieri points to the 14 eighth graders playing hockey who are expected to bolster the program starting in 2010-'11.
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"We don't have high expectations and we know that we are rebuilding," said Gualtieri, whose team was 4-18-1 last season. "We know that we are getting better... The last couple of years we have started a buzz."
The lone SP-F All-Union County player last season was senior Chris Bauer, who was a second-team honoree and is now plying his craft in goal at William Paterson University.
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"It's a huge loss for us," Gualtieri said.
Filling those shoes will be a tough task and it falls to either or both freshmen Patrick Foti and Jason Breit. While neither have varsity experience, they both have played club hockey.
In the first scrimmage against Wall last week, Gualtieri saw some nice things.
"We were pleasantly surprised on how we did," he said.
Unlike other Scotch Plains-Fanwood sports teams, ice hockey players have to contribute the costs for equipment. But, the program continues to grow and Gualtieri sees it growing even more in the next few years.
While in the first years of the program, some of the players were just starting out with hockey for the first time, Gualtieri is now getting more and more players who have played club hockey while in middle school and before that.
Offensively, Gualtieri will need to replace his most potent scorers in graduated-seniors Jeremy Kaufman and Danny Jones, who combined for 35 goals last season.
The two players that Gualtieri foresees as making up some of that scoring are junior Ed Logie and sophomore Andrew Skoog, who both return this season after playing plenty of minutes on the ice in 2008-'09. The pair only had a handful of goals the last couple of seasons, but should break out in 2009-'10.
The other top forwards include Foti's brother, John, a junior, along with seniors Shawn Zambri and Adam Terry. A pair of sophomores, Stephen Rachko and Alex Markovits, will also see ice time. Zambri could be another top scorer for the Raiders.
The defense is led by junior Terrence White and sophomore Jonathan Tomasulo. Both blue liners could give the Raiders some scoring. Two other players who saw ice time last season and are expected to contribute extensively are junior Kyle Douglas and sophomore Kevin Lewis.
In the early going, Scotch Plains will have tough competition against three of the top teams in the Union County League—Westfield, Summit and Johnson. The Raiders start the season against Westfield at Warinanco Park on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood Ice Hockey
Dec. 1 — Westfield, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 4 — at Summit, Union Sports Arena, 4:10 p.m.
Dec. 8 — at Johnson, 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 10 — Cron Tournament, Warinanco Park, TBA
Dec. 14 — Cron Tournament, Warinanco Park, TBA
Dec. 15 — Cron Tournament, Warinanco Park, TBA
Dec. 16 — Cron Tournament, Warinanco Park, TBA
Dec. 19 — Woodbridge, Union Sports Arena, 6:20 p.m.
Dec. 22 — Cranford, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 2 — at Governor Livingston, Union Sports Arena, 2:10 p.m.
Jan. 5 — John P. Stevens, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 8 — at Woodbridge, Woodbridge Community Center, 7:45 p.m.
Jan. 13 — at Westfield, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 15 — Dayton, Union Sports Arena, 9:10 a.m.
Jan. 19 — Colonia, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 24 — Summit, Union Sports Arena, 6:40 p.m.
Jan. 25 — at Cranford, Warinanco Park, 6 p.m.
Jan. 27 — Governor Livingston, Union Sports Arena, 5 p.m.
Jan. 29 — at Colonia, Woodbridge Community Center, 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 1 — at Dayton, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 2 — Johnson, Warinanco Park, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 8 — at Morris Hills, Mennen Arena, 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 12 — at Bayonne, Korpi Ice Rink, 7:15 p.m.
Feb. 17 — at Johnson, Warinanco Park, 6 p.m.
Feb. 22 — at Union County Tournament, TBA
Feb. 24 — at Union County Tournament, TBA
Feb. 27 — at Union County Tournament, TBA
