Pascack Valley Hockey looks to rebound from tough season
The Indians will open upon their season on Sunday against St. Joes
(From Left) Rob Sheehan, AJ Helfenbein, Alex Sullivan, and Stephen Brennan. These upperclassmen will all have major roles for the Pascack Valley Hockey Team.
Coach: Ken DelSanto (8th Season)
Last year’s record: 5-17 (1-9 Conference/Division)
Key Returners: Rob Sheehan (Sr., C), Steve Brennan (Sr., G), AJ Helfenbein (Sr., LW/RW) Alex Sullivan (Jr., D)
Key Losses: Trent Shanley, Austin Mattesich, Luke Ciocca
Key Newcomers: Mikey Donofrio (Fr., D)
Strength of team: One of the team’s bright spots this year will star goalie Steve Brennan. Brennan has a lot of varsity experience and will play a major part in whether PV has a successful season. DelSanto explained that his team needs to play strong defense this year. The PV defense is very experienced with Sullivan and Jake Zuzeck, and DelSanto believes that they will be vital to his team’s success.
Weakness of team: There’s an obvious challenge for this team, and that’s how to replace Trent Shanley, Austin Mattessich and Luke Ciocca. The Indians may have a tough time scoring this year, with the loss of Shanley, the team’s leading scorer from a year ago. The potential issues on offense are all the more reason why Valley will have to rely heavily on its defense, as well as Brennan in goal.
Outlook: PV comes into this season after a tough 2016-2017 season where the Indians compiled just five wins. Coach DelSanto made it clear that his team needs to get better offensively and score more goals in order to win games.
“It is going to be hard to replace Austin, Trent and Luke. It may be hard to put the puck in the net, with losing a lot of the key scorers we had last year,” DelSanto said. “Our goal this season is to have at least a .500 record this year and I think it can be done.”
