It’s that time of year again–BSM boys’ hockey has started up and is preparing for another very successful season. Coming off of a 25-1-1 record last season that ended in a tragic loss to Cretin-Derham Hall, the boys’ hockey team is fired up and ready to avenge that loss this season.

The team has been practicing for months to redeem themselves this coming season. From Summer Training Program (STP) all summer long to captains’ practices and playing in other off season leagues, the team has done a lot in order to prepare for this season’s tryouts. “During the summer we had STP five days a week and workouts every other day, but everyone is expected to do more than that,” senior captain Nick Sims said.

The team is determined to have another successful season despite the loss of thirteen seniors and two juniors, Connor Mayer and Ryan Bischel, who left BSM a year early to play in the United States Hockey League (USHL). “Although we lost many seniors who played key roles making last season so memorable, we have a great group of younger guys who played on the JV team last year. Therefore, we have a good group of juniors moving up this year to fill those spots left behind and contribute to the team,” senior captain Peter Moran said.

The team wouldn’t be the same without head coach Ken Pauly and assistant coaches John Russo and Tom Klein. “Coach Pauly tells us what he wants out of us not only as a team, but also as individual players.  Coach Russo is very straightforward with his players and always expects 100% of their effort, and Coach Klein is the biggest jokester on the team, and keeps the team’s attitude positive throughout the season,” Moran said.

Sims agrees that the coaches do the best job possible of leading the team.  “The coaches all want what’s best for the players, whether that be giving us guidance or getting us fired up for the game,” Sims said.

The team may have lost a large number of players from last season, but they have plenty of new talent coming in to fill those major roles and help the team be successful again this season. “Our team will be inexperienced in the defensive zone at the start of the season. We will need to see younger guys like [junior] Nate Clark and [junior] Michael McNeil step into that role and improve as the season progresses,” Moran said.  “On offense we are going to primarily rely on [returning players] from last year’s team, while younger guys like [junior] Joe Collins and [junior]Dylan Hoen will also be expected to produce [offensively].”

Not only will they need their skaters to step up, but the team will need to be strong in net as well.  “We are also going to need our goalies [seniors Peyton Melin, Alex Brigino, and Zach Everett] to step up this year to give us a good foundation to feed off of, and also raise our team’s confidence level and build momentum,” Sims said.

The BSM boys’ hockey team is pumped for this season; they are hopeful and determined to not let last year’s disappointing end get into their heads.  They instead want the loss to Cretin-Derham to encourage them. “[We want to] win games and finish what we started last season,” Moran said.