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The Falcons are featured in The Cranbury Press this week. Below is the article, courtesy of The Cranbury Press.
Young Falcons hit the ice
The Monroe Township High School ice hockey team has new faces, but still plenty of ability, as it embarks on the 2009-10 season.
Last year, the Falcons finished 8-10-2 in just their third season as a varsity program. Monroe lost its top three scorers from last season, but is brimming with young talent — with more on the way.
Monroe is 1-1, having lost to Marlboro and defeated Red Bank Regional. The Falcons next games are today against South Brunswick and tomorrow against Jackson Liberty.
”It’s always nice to have the first win under your belt,” said Falcons coach Jerry Minter, who has guided Monroe to a 31-27-4 record and one state playoff appearance since it became a varsity program. “We’re young. We still have some top players that can lead our team, but there will be a lot of learning this year.”
Stan Monak is the team’s top returning scorer, having registered 14 goals and eight assists last season as a freshman. In the two games this year, Monak has five goals and two assists. He had a hat trick against Red Bank. Ed Stulak, another sophomore, has three goals and one assist this year.
Captain Brandon Domilici is one of just three seniors on the roster, along with defenseman Dominick Micciulla and Harry George.
Nick Modugno, a defenseman, is among only a handful of juniors that includes goaltenders John Carroll and Justin Pieron. Conor Ciulla and Alex Van Driesen also are juniors.
Freshman goalie Roger Ezri, who made 43 saves against Marlboro and 24 against Red Bank in getting his first win, started the first two games and classmate Brandon Caccavale totaled two goals in the opening two games.
”We’re going to need our top guys — Stan, Ed and Nick — to carry a lot of the defense and scoring load,” Minter said. “We need to stick to our systems and work hard and fight hard for loose pucks.
”Roger has been playing real well for us,” the coach added. “Goalie is a strength for us. It’s fortunate for us, but unfortunate for them because only one can play. We can play whoever is playing best.”
In addition to the young players on this season’s roster, the Falcons have several strong players that should join the team as freshmen next year. Monroe, which has 29 players in its high school program, does not have a middle school program, but its players compete with travel teams.
”Our strength is that we’re young,” Minter said. “We’re going to have this whole core back next year plus we have a pretty good group coming up next year. We’ve always had talented players to build the program. It’s just a matter of time.”
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