The Pioneers ice hockey club from William Paterson University have a chance at clinching their second-straight automatic bid for the American Collegiate Hockey Association's Division II National Championship Tournament being held March 17th through 20th at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, CT.
During the 2008-2009 season the Pioneers reached the National Championship Tournament for the first time in the club's history, being admitted as the #2 seed from the Northeastern Region. However once they arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan they went 0-3 in the preliminary round of play and were eliminated early.
This season the Pioneers are on-track to return to the tournament, posting an overall record of 22-7 to hold onto the #1 spot in the Northeast Regional standings and not coincidentally the #1 ranking in the regional poll. The WPU club also sits in 1st place in the SECHL (Super East Collegiate Hockey League), with a record of 10-2 for 20 points.
Joe Ballance was named head coach of the Pioneers on January 2nd of this year when the previous head coach Robert Carnathan stepped back to the position of assistant coach, so as to fulfill family obligations without totally leaving the hockey program which he has helped in the building of since the year 2000. For Ballance, a graduate of Montclair State University, this will be his third year of coaching at the ACHA level, having coached the MSU Hawks for 2 seasons as well.
The mid-season coaching change has not negatively affected the team. Oddly enough, the change took place after game #10 in the midst of a 14-game winning streak. The winning streak began back on November 6th of 2009 with a 6-1 victory over Davenport University, the defending ACHA Div. II national champions. It ended on January 29th with a 5-1 loss to Florida Gulf Coast University, the ACHA Div. II national championship runner-up. Not discouraged the least bit, the Pioneers avenged the loss with a 8-6 victory over Florida the following night.
The team has a very talented and young core of players taking to the ice every weekend. Four of the top-5 point scorers are underclassmen, with the club's all-time leading goal scorer John Gomez (27g, 9a) being the lone senior of the group. Gomez is described as having incredibly fast hands, he pulls off unbelievable moves in the middle of the ice, and he finds ways to score; as evidenced by his 27 goals which ties him for the team-lead.
Jason Fortino, a senior from Hawthorne, NJ is the captain of the squad. This season he has contributed not only 9 goals and 17 assists on the ice, but he also provides much leadership in the locker room. An interesting side-note about Fortino is that he has been involved with the New York Rangers as an instructor at youth hockey camps and clinics, working along side Rangers stars Chris Drury, Sean Avery, and Adam Graves.
Junior Albert Campbell leads the team in overall points with 51 (27g, 24a). He has also been very valuable on the power-play, netting 9 goals while the club in on the man-advantage. Campbell, the team's assistant captain, was also the club's leading scorer in the 2007-2008 season with 74 points (35g, 39a).
Equally as important during the man-advantage is Shaun McTigue, who quarterbacks the power-play unit. Known for his great vision and "hockey I.Q.", McTigue has 6 power-play goals on the year and 37 points (19g, 18a) overall.
Also contributing offensively are sophomore Matt Gillen (8g, 28a), freshman Steven Orozco (15g, 15a), and senior Craig Junda (12g, 15a). Gillen is making a comeback from a devastating injury which happened during the 2008-2009 season. In a game against Montclair State University he broke his femur after crashing into the boards awkwardly. With surgery and several months of rehabilitation he just shy of matching his offensive numbers from the prior year, but more importantly it shows how much he and the rest of the team are determined to win.
"One thing about this team is they really stick up for one another and play an in your face style" says Alex Iosiovich, Director of Team Operations and Public Relations. "We used to take a ton of penalties and this year the discipline level has been great and they still play on the edge. There's not one player on the team that isn't afraid to mix it up. Even Gomez, as quiet a guy as he can be, when he's on the ice he'll push back".
The defensive unit is comprised of Anthony Zipfel, Robert Carroll, Chris Wynne, Matt Zeleski, and twin brothers Dan and Chris Moser. The Moser brothers, both seniors, are well-regarded in the locker room and effective on the ice. Dan has arguably been one of the best defensemen on the team for the last 3 seasons. Chris started out as a winger and has adjusted to the position well, but he did miss most of the 2008-2009 season with a knee injury.
Chris Bauer, the freshman netminder from Scotch Plains, NJ has been the work-horse between the pipes this year for the Pioneers. Losing 3 goalies from last season; Charlie D'angelo, Kyle Finnerty, and Matt Deering, had created a void which Bauer has successfully stepped into. Posting a record of 18-6, his goals-against average is 3.86 which with excellent goal-support from the team's forwards, is good considering that he has played the second-most minutes among any goaltender in the ACHA Div. 2 with 1,383. Most collegiate hockey clubs have multiple goalies who share equal time in net, but that practice skews league statistics.
Four games remain on the Pioneer's regular season schedule before they take another shot at the National Championship. This coming weekend they take to the road to battle a pair of SECHL rivals, each for the last time this season. Friday February 5th they head North to play the Marist College Red Foxes (14-7) at the McCann Ice Arena in Poughkeepsie, NY at 9:15 pm. On Saturday February 6th the Pioneers cross over the Hudson River to play the New York University Violets (12-12) at the Sky Rink - Chelsea Piers in Manhattan at 8:30 pm. The following weekend they host the Sacred Heart University Pioneers (3-14) on Friday February 12th at 8:00 pm at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, NJ. On Saturday February 13th they close-out the season versus the Cornell University Big Red (12-6) in a 8:15 pm contest.
Comments
This is pretty cool to see William Paterson in the National conversation.
Well I have to give some credit to Alex Iosiovich for taking the time to convey all of this to me.
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