Every year Benilde-St. Margaret’s graduates student-athletes that play their respective sports at the next level. BSM hockey exemplifies this pretty well, considering every year since 2010 there has been at least one player from each class that has gone on to play college hockey. This year is no different, with team members Joe Collins and Nate Clark playing junior hockey next year.

Collins sat down with the Knight Errant to discuss his future on the ice. “I have been looking forward to playing Juniors throughout my BSM career, and while high school hockey was fun, I think the next level will be even better,” senior Joe Collins said.

Collins has always dreamed of playing hockey after high school, and he is excited about the next step in the path of his hockey journey. “Ever since I was a little kid in Pee Wee’s, my goal was to play hockey after high school, and it’s kind of surreal that it’s finally happening after all these years,” Collins said.

Next season he will be playing for the New Jersey Titans, who finished second in the eastern division last year. The Titans made a fairly deep playoff push as well, and Collins looks forward to contributing to an already first-class team. “The team I’m joining already has a good roster, so I don’t expect to put up a lot of points right away, but I think I can make a difference next season,” Collins said.

Collins will also be facing some friendly faces in the Nahl next season, as former Red Knights Auggie Moore (‘16), Nate Clark (‘18), and Jacob Holmers (‘16) will all be competing against each other. “It will be fun to go up against some of my old teammates, especially since both Nate and Auggie are in the same division as me, so I will be seeing a lot of both them,” Collins said.

Holmers’ team the Mudbugs won the championship this year, and Moore tallied twenty-six points last season, which shows Collins has a tough act to follow. “It’s cool to see your friends go on and succeed at the next level, you know you’ve been playing with and against the same guys throughout all of youth hockey and it’s nice to see people continue to play juniors and in college,” Collins said.