The 2014-15 season was one of the most successful for the SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team in several years. The Bears posted a 12-11-3 overall record and an 8-6-2 SUNYAC mark for the program’s first winning season in 12 years. The Bears defeated three ranked opponents including their first ever win over a top-ranked team in Oswego State on Feb. 21. A team that had struggled on the road in recent years, posted a 5-1 road record to end the regular season and clinch its first home playoff game since 2007.
Heading into this season, Potsdam is excited to continue to move forward. They will need to fill the shoes of departed Ken Simon, Trevor Cope, Zach Blake, Eric Ware, Shane Talarico and first team All-SUNYAC goalie Jon Hall. Eleven freshmen will put on a Bears jersey for the first time this season, but seventh-year head coach Chris Bernard likes what the newcomers bring to the team.
“I think there’s a real energy, a real enthusiasm,” said Bernard. “We do have a lot of young guys and they’re thrilled to be a part of Potsdam Hockey. What you get from new guys is energy. They come in, they’re wide eyed and really happy to be part of everything that we have going here. They bring a lot of ability for us to shape and mold. It helps us as a staff and I think it helps our veterans to say to them ‘This is who we are. This is how we do things.’ I think that reaffirms it to everybody who’s communicating to them the full identity of what we want our program to be.”
Despite so many new faces, Potsdam’s captains are familiar ones. Senior forward Todd Thomas (Davidsville, Pa./Hartford Wolfpack) will serve as team captain for the second straight year and senior defenseman Brad Campagna (Monroe, N.Y./New York Bobvcats) will wear the “A” again.
“We’ve really been fortunate for a long time throughout my history here to have good captains and leaders,” Bernard said. “Todd Thomas just does everything the right way. He has the total respect of his teammates. He has the trust of me and my staff. Brad Campagna’s work ethic and preparation are second to none. Then the guys we have in our senior class like Billy Pascalli, Matt Thompson, Jake Rivera, they get it. They understand what the standard is here on and off the ice. They want to try to establish new heights for the program over the course of their final year.”
Forward
The Bears are experienced offensively with the bulk of their scoring returning, but Bernard expects there is a lot of room for improvement.
“I think we need to continue to develop offensively,” said Bernard. “Since I’ve been here historically, we haven’t been a juggernaut in that category, but we continue to emphasize scoring in practice. We return five double-digit scorers and seven of our top-10 scorers this year. So we’re going to count on a lot of guys to try to amplify our ability to put the puck in the net.”
Of the 15 forwards the Bears have on their roster, 11 are returnees. The Bears will be led offensively by sophomore Dylan Vander Esch (San Jose, Calif./Hartford Wolfpack) and seniors Billy Pascalli (Deer Park, N.Y./New York Bobcats) and Thomas. Vander Esch led Potsdam in scoring last season with 15 goals, including a team-best five on the power play, and seven assists for 22 points. He caught fire over the last half of the year, recording 21 of his points in the final 13 games. Vander Esch was named the SUNYAC Rookie of the Week four times during his freshman campaign.
Pascalli was healthy last season, playing in all 26 games and racking up 21 points on six goals and a team-high 15 assists. Thomas had a career-year with five goals and 14 assists for 19 points. He scored arguably the biggest goal of the season in the game-winner that beat Oswego and clinched Potsdam a home playoff game.
Seniors Jake Rivera (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Hartford Wolfpack) and Matt Thompson (Anchorage, Alaska/Kenai River Brown Bears) are back as well. Rivera had five goals and four assists for nine points in 23 games and Thompson contributed six goals and five assists for 11 points in 21 games.
Juniors Tommy Telesca (Selden, N.Y./New York Bobcats), Vinny Caligiuri (Shoreham, N.Y./Hartford Wolfpack), Alex Goodhue (Traverse City, Mich./Atlanta Jr. Knights) and Logan Brown (North Woodstock, N.H./Boston Rangers) make up the rest of the returning upperclassmen. Telesca totaled five goals and four assists for nine points in 20 contests. Caligiuri hit the ice in 24 games, scoring three goals and adding five assists for eight points, while Goodhue had three points (2g-1a) in 19 games. Brown recorded a goal and a helper in 15 games.
Joey Gilhooly (Brooklyn, N.Y./New York Bobcats) is the other returning sophomore. He scored three goals in nine contests during his rookie season.
The five new additions to the forward ranks consist of one sophomore and four freshmen. Canton native and sophomore Oswego State transfer Trent Durocher (Canton, N.Y./Oswego State) brings his 6-5 frame to Maxcy this season after playing one game with the Lakers as a freshman. Pennsylvanians Mike Sweeney (Pittsburgh, Pa./PAL Islanders) and Ben Mariano (Harrisburg, Pa./Hartford Wolfpack) head north to follow in the footsteps of Thomas and Talarico. Tom Plese (Orange County, Calif./Salmon Arm Silverbacks) becomes the third player from the Golden State to suite up for Potsdam and Tyler Donaldson (Northumberland, Ontario/Trenton Golden Hawks) is the lone Canadian to join the team this year.
Defense
Five of the Bears’ 10 blue liners have yet to play in a collegiate contest, but Bernard is confident that his veterans can get the new guys on the same page quickly.
“If you’ve got a solid back end, with your goaltender first and foremost, and your defensive corps, you can be in a position to win some games,” said Bernard. “I think the guys that we do have returning in Campagna, Kacerosky, Thacker, Butler and Casacci have played key minutes for us and have the ability to manage the game. The new guys that we bring in, we’ll try to work into the fold. They all bring something specific to the table that we think can help us get better. Whether that be physicality, a steady stay-at-home defender, a puck mover or a guy that can gain you zones with his skating. We have different elements and that’s what I’m most excited about, those diverse pieces.”
Campagna will anchor the defensive corps for Potsdam this season. The assistant captain played in all 26 games in 2014-15 and has played in 66 in his career. Sophomore Kyle Thacker (Mississauga, Ontario/North York Rangers) earned his way into 23 contests as a freshman and scored two goals and added five assists for seven points. Junior Jake Butler (Atlanta, Ga./Smith Falls Bears) successfully transitioned to defense last year and emerged as a playmaker, totaling 10 assists to go with a goal for 11 points in 23 contests. Junior Nick Casacci (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Connecticut Oilers) saw action in 22 games and registered three goals and three assists. Sophomore Sean Kacerosky (Kendall Park, N.J./New York Bobcats) hit the ice in four games last season.
The freshmen defensemen also show the geographic diversity of Potsdam’s hockey program. Norfolk native Brandon Short (Norfolk, N.Y./Syracuse Stars) joins the team along with fellow New Yorkers Trevor Dennis (Rochester, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) and Sean Phillips (Latham, N.Y./Islanders Hockey Club). John Ryan becomes the first Bear from Tobacco Road (Wake Forest, N.C./Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights) to don a Potsdam sweater and Dom Horvath (Toledo, Ohio/Brantford 99ers) replaces graduated Dan McCamey as the resident Ohioan on the team.
Goal
One of the biggest challenges the Bears will face this season is replacing Jon Hall between the pipes. Of the three goaltenders on the roster this year, only sophomore Brendan McMenimen (Merrimac, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) is back. He joined the team during the second semester last season, but didn’t see any action as Potsdam rode red hot No. 32 into the SUNYAC Playoffs. He is joined by freshmen Nate Skidmore (Syracuse, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) and Trever Ralph (Middletown, N.J./New Jersey Titans).
“Jon Hall had a record setting year here at Potsdam,” Bernard said. “We were excited about what he could do every single night knowing that you’re going to get top notch goaltending. That’s certainly a relief for the coach when you’re filling out the lineup card. It gives the guys a lot of confidence as well. He’s transitioned on into a career in law enforcement and we’re happy for him. So we have three new goalies. Whoever starts for us on Friday night against Morrisville, it will be their first college start. So I think to say we know exactly what we’re going to get throughout the balance of the year would be overstating it. What I do know that we’re going to get from those three guys is just a total competiveness. They don’t like to be scored on. They battle every day in practice. They bring in a superior work ethic as a group. They’re great teammates to each other. We feel like developing all three of them is going to be critical to our success. If we’re able to meet the goals and objectives we’ve set for them and trying to enhance that every day, then we’re going to be rock solid in net for years to come.”
Schedule
The State University of New York Athletic Conference is one of the best and most challenging leagues in the nation and this season is no different. The Bears will have to battle through a difficult 16-game SUNYAC schedule, including four contests with perennial powers Plattsburgh and Oswego, to be one of the six teams to reach the postseason. In addition, the Bears will resume nonconference rivalries with Manhattanville, Skidmore, Elmira, Johnson & Wales, Curry, Western New England and Utica and play a home-and-home series with Canton.
The Bears open the season in the friendly confines of Maxcy Ice Arena this Friday when they host the Morrisville State Mustangs at 7 p.m. in a conference battle.
