St. Mary sophomore defenseman Ryan Gendron, right, controls the puck against Turners Falls during the 2012-13 regular season. Gendron was recently named a team captain for his senior season. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The 2014-15 hockey season is less than a week away, and at St. Mary’s that means change is in the air.
For the first time since 2009, there will only be one Goodreau brother on the bench for the Saints. Gone is head coach Mike Goodreau and assistant coach Matt Goodreau, both of whom have stepped aside to spend time coaching their young sons with the start of their hockey careers.
The Saints did not have to look far however for a qualified head coach.
Stepping into the head coaching role is Don Goodreau, the brother of Mike and Matt and one of the assistant coaches for the last five years. Don brings 35 years of experience as a player and a coach to his new role.
When asked about the change, coach Goodreau said, “I’m excited about this new challenge. We have a talented bunch of upper classmen, some extremely solid returners and a large group of newcomers who will help us compete.”
Coach Goodreau has tapped Kevin Chrisanthopoulos to serve as his assistant coach. Chrisanthopoulos has multiple years of experience coaching youth hockey and is currently president of Westfield Youth Hockey.
The newcomers to the Saints are another part of the change.
St. Mary’s recently consolidated the elementary, middle and high school under one umbrella and, for the first time, members of the 7th and 8th grade classes will be allowed to participate. Seventh graders will be able to practice and eighth graders will compete with grades 9-12 for ice time.
Coach Goodreau is excited about the change.
“What a great opportunity for these younger players to get exposure to high school athletics,” he said. “For many young athletes, the years of hard work they put into youth sports culminates with playing high school sports and to get to do this for potentially 5-6 years is amazing for these players. This will only help the program for the years to come.”
St. Mary junior forward Andrew Booth, left, checks an Easthampton player into the boards during a January 2014 regular season game. Booth, now a senior, will serve as assistant team captain this year. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Currently the Saints will have one seventh grader, Reid Hannan, of Westfield, and two eighth graders from Westfield, Wyatt Jensen and Liam Webster.
Incoming freshmen Quinn Powers, Johnny Pitoniak, and Matt Brady, all of Westfield, and Charlie Bonatakis of Southwick also join the squad. St. Mary’s also inherits transfers Jared Rogers (Westfield High), a senior, and junior Colan Rock (Suffield High, Conn.)
With all of these changes, opportunities will abound. The Saints look to rebound from their 5-14-1 record of a year ago.
Returning to the team this year will be 14 players, including seniors Charlie White, Ryan Gendron, and Ashton Bourbonnais,of Southwick, Dominic Ceccarini and Andrew Booth, both of Westfield, and Peter Demos of West Springfield. The returning juniors include Jonathan Spears and Matt Wurster, both of Westfield. The sophomore class includes Reilly Siart, Shaun Gezotis, Kenny Bonney, Sam LaBombard, Mike Neilsen, of Westfield, and Jake Viamari of Southwick.
St. Mary’s has a well-balanced schedule of 20 games, including 10 home games that will be played at Amelia Park.
The Saints will look to play a combination of up tempo hockey and lock down defense during the season. Moving the puck around the ice will be critical for the Saints as they look to have leadership in several key positions for the year. The players all agree that the goal this season is to make the playoffs and see what they can do from there.
St. Mary’s 2014-15 season gets under way Friday against Taconic at Amelia Park at 8 p.m.
Notes: Saint Mary’s culminated its first week of practice by announcing the team captains for the upcoming hockey season. The coaches allowed the players to select captains based on their leadership attributes both on the ice and in the locker room.
Players selected senior defensemen Gendron and White to serve as the captains with senior forward Booth serving as assistant captain. “While we have a strong core of senior leaders on the team, these three young men have done an excellent job of setting the tone for our team already this season” coach Goodreau said. “We will need their leadership for us to be successful this season.”
