The University’s club ice hockey team is currently 5-8-1-1 in the season with one overtime loss and one overtime tie. The team competes in the Colonial States College Hockey Conference along with The Col-lege of New Jersey, The University of Pennsylvania, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Millersville, Princeton, Seton Hall, and West Chester.
“The season has been going pretty well so far. We have started out the season with a lot of road games and have played many of the top teams in our conference and region,” senior center and team captain Kyle Blazier said. “We’re a young team and it definitely takes some time to adjust to the speed of the game at this level, and thus far our young guys have been doing a good job of elevating their play under the upperclassmen leadership of alternate captain Anthony DeFede, alternate captain Tal-on Ribsam, senior Nick Tarquini and myself.”
The team plays at Jersey Shore Arena which is located in Wall. The rink is about 15 minutes from cam-pus and their home games are typically played on Friday nights at 8:45.
The tryout process for the team is always open and the team is always looking for interested players.
“The team typically has four skates over the summer starting in August to get everyone on the ice and playing together as much as possible,” Blazier said. “As soon as we get back to school in September, tryouts begin. Over the course of one to two weeks of practice and a practice scrimmage, the coaching staff picks a roster of about 27 skaters. Additionally, we have three solid goaltenders this year, which is very fortunate for us.”
The season for the team begins in the middle of September and goes through early February with playoffs beginning in the middle of February.
Some of the key players on the team in addition to Blazier are senior right wing and alternate captain Anthony DeFede, senior defender and alternate captain Talon Ribsam, senior defender Nick Tarquini, juniors right wing Allen Zak and defender Wil Parsons, sophomore left wings Mike Frade and Chris Zar-iello, and freshmen centers Mike Termine and Vincent Tomasetti and goaltender Noah Goldberg.
The Hawks will take the ice again on Saturday, Dec. 3 against Millersville University. The puck will drop at 8:45 p.m. at Wall Sports Arena. That game will be followed with a trip to Scranton University the fol-lowing day. Their next three games after that will all be at home: Friday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. against The College of New Jersey, Sunday, Dec. 11 at 8:45 p.m. against Princeton and Friday, Dec. 20 at 9 p.m. against Saint Joseph’s.
For more information, fans can check out the team’s website or follow them on Twitter @MonmouthHockey.
PHOTO COURTESY of Anthony Trilli
