SEASON PREVIEW
W
MARIAN HOCKEY
ith one year under his belt, Men’s Hockey Head Coach AJ Aitken has his
squad set to run the gauntlet, a full-bodied schedule won’t give any breaks to
the Sabres. The team will
kick off their season this
Saturday at UW-Stout, a squad that
finished 10-15-2 last season.
The league not only under went
a name change, but the Northern
Collegiate Hockey Association added
two new members as St. Norbert and
St. Scholastica join the conference
formerly known as the Midwest
Collegiate Hockey Association. The
Sabres were winless against both
teams last year, losing to St. Norbert
3-1 and St. Scholastica 2-1. However,
Aitken feels confident that his team
Junior defenseman Thomas Nosella
will be ready.
“We’ve improved our depth. Josh
Baker can be an All-Conference goaltender,” Aitken said. “I think we can compete with the
top end teams in our conference.”
The end of the 2012-13 season brought with it the departure of a number of key
seniors in the hockey program, notably Mitch Kriz, Dakota Dubetz, Brendan Roberts, and
Andy Kuechler. With the addition of some new faces, Aitken believes that his team can
make a run.
“We lost two captains in Dakota and Brendan, but since then we’ve added a lot of
depth. We have six full lines now and a lot of roles for guys to grab onto.”
Of the newcomers include transfers Rjay Berra (SUNY-Oswego), Ian Harvie (Williston
St.), and Ben Morgan (Norwich). Berra, who had a successful career in junior hockey,
struggled to find consistent playing time in his first two seasons at Oswego, hurting his
offensive production.
“Rjay is a skill forward with high end stick skills and has great vision on the ice,” Aitken
said. “We’re looking for him to chip in
offensively this year.”
Harvie captained the 2012-3
Williston State Tetons to a NJCAA
National Championship. A Cochrane,
Alta. native, he scored 21 goals and
added 24 as sists over his two-year
career at Williston State.
“Ian brings great leadership to
our team after leading Williston to
a National Championship,” Aitken
added.
Morgan, who had a successful
career in junior hockey, joins the
Sabres from Norwich University. While
Senior defenseman Tanner Burton
playing for the Notre Dame Hounds
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