Head Coach: Ken DelSanto (7th season)

Last Year’s Record: 9-13-2

Key Losses: Matt Truglio (F), Ethan Gaus (G), Keith Doherty (D), Avery Zaretsky (F) Evan Brignola (F)

Key Returnees: Trent Shanley (Sr. C), Luke Ciocca (Sr. LW), Steve Brennan (Jr. G), AJ Helfenbein (Jr. LW/RW) Aidan Tuffy (So. RW), Alex Sullivan (So. D), Clancy Chichetti (So. D)

Key Newcomers: Austin Mattessich (Sr. RW), Rob Sheehan (Jr. C), Thomas Dunn (So. D), Jake Zuzeck (Fr. D)

Strengths of Team: Goaltending. Brennan, who started most of PV’s 24 games last season, posted an .880 save percentage as a sophomore and took home second-team all-division honors from The Record. “Having Steve back in net is huge. He’s played fantastic in our scrimmages, DelSanto said. “Steve’s going to stop the easy shots, but you have to put people in front of him to help him out this year.”

Weakness of Team: Defense. The Indians return only one starting defenseman from last year in Sullivan. Otherwise, the defensive corps consists either of underclassmen, or players new to varsity. While the plan is to utilize the newcomers to start, DelSanto didn’t rule out the possibility of moving one of either Ciocca or Shanley back to defense. ]

Outlook: PV opens the season against St. Joe’s after falling twice to the Green Knights last year. However, the Indians’ division (Big North Freedom) saw only three teams post records of .500 or better, which bodes well for PV as it takes on its divisional opponents 11 times this season. PV will also be helped by the return of seniors Trent Shanley (20 goals, 17 assists) and Luke Ciocca (8 goals, 5 assists). DelSanto believes that a berth in the state tournament, which PV missed out on for the first time in DelSanto’s tenure last seasons, is a real possibility.

Coach’s Comment: “Our inexperience on defense might inevitably hurt us. But we’ve got strong scoring and strong goaltending, so if all of the pieces are in the right place, then who knows [what’ll happen],” DelSanto said. “As long as those guys that we’re going to turn to can put the puck in the net and the younger guys can step up and minimize the opportunities that other teams will have, we’ll be okay. We could’ve had a bid for the state tournament last year, but we fell a couple of games short, and our goal is to be .500 and gain a berth in the tournament. If we accomplish that, then it’s a successful season.