A new season means another competitive year ahead in the NCHA. St. Norbert was the only team that didn’t play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Green Knights are back and ready to compete for a championship.
Adrian is poised to be a contender as well and won the title two years ago. And Marian enters the year as the reigning league tourney champ. The Sabres seem to have the talent in place for another run.
MSOE should be in the title hunt as well after finishing as the tournament runner-up last year.
The Bulldogs are the favorite going into the season and St. Norbert is picked as the runner-up. but in a league that is a grind night in and night out, anything is possible.
Adrian (16-6-1, 8-0 NCHA)
The Bulldogs are ready to contend for a title once again and have the talent to do it.
Several key players return, including Zachary Heintz, who is back this season after sitting out last year for medical reasons. He was the NCHA Freshman of the Year in 2019-20. He’ll add a lot ot the offense as he tallied 14 goals and 19 assists two seasons ago for the Bulldogs.
Alessio Luciani, Cam Gray, Jaden Shields and Sam Ruffin also return. Luciani was the top scoring threat on the team last season after racking up 14 goals and 22 assists.
Jaden Shields came through with four goals and finished second on the team in assists (17) while Sam Ruffin finished his season with 10 goals and nine assists.
Cam Gray will be counted on in goal after fashioning a 12-5-1 record last season and four shutouts. He made 466 saves.
Adrian has added several key newcomers, including Marion transfer Ty Enns, who tallied 47 points in 45 games. Hunter Wendt comes in from Ferris State and Aydo Adeniye is a transfer from Alabama Huntsville. Matus Spodniak is a transfer from AIC.
“We’re really excited to get going. The culture that is in place is the best it’s ever ben during my time at Adrian,” head coach Adam Krug said. “There is a ton of talent, too, but that doesn’t mean much unless we’re all bought into our roles, into our team identity.”
Aurora (5-4, 4-3 NCHA)
The roster for the Spartans is going to look familiar to last season as they lost only one player. Co-Captains Josh Boyko and LA Grissom will lead the way for Aurora as they both return for a fifth season.
Boyko finished with a 3-3 record last season and allowed 23 goals while tallying 232 saves.
The Spartans also return their top three scorers in Brayden Sampson, Jack Yaunich and Adam Keyes. Sampson finished last season with four goals and a team-best nine assists.
Jaunich tallied five goals and three assists and Keyes racked up four goals and four assists. The goal total for Jaunich was the highest on the team.
Riley Donyon was also productive on offense last season as he came through with three goals and three assists.
A cast of talented newcomers should help bolster the depth of the Spartans, including a pair of Division I transfers. . Simon Boyko transfers in from Vermont while Andrew Lane is a transfer from Alaska Anchorage.
“I’m very excited about this group,” head coach Jason Bloomingburg said. “They’re hungry and determined. It is a relentless group with a very high work ethic and skill set. We’ve set some lofty goals that we believe are realistic of achieving.”
Concordia (9-12, 6-2 NCHA)
The Falcons gear up for a new season knowing they will hae some experience on their side. Cory Dennis is among the key returning players. He’s coming off a season where he scored four goals and dished out 12 assists.
Thomas Dyball also returns for the Falcons. The standout defenseman tallied a goal and five assists last year.
Michael Makarenko also returns and played a key role offensively last season. He finished with four goals and three assists during the 2020-21 campaign.
The Falcons will also have experience in goal as Bo Didur returns for another year. The senior standout started 10 games last season and racked up 428 saves. He stopped nearly 90 percent of the shots he faced.
Finlandia (1-7, 1-7 NCHA)
The Lions hope to bounce back after a tough 2020-21 campaign in which the they won only one time and dropped their final four games of the season.
Second-leading scorer Tyler Perkins is among the returning players for the Lions. He scored a goal and dished out five assists.
Marcus Gloss is back as a goalie for the Lions. He started four games last season and made 105 saves.
Lake Forest (1-5, 1-5 NCHA)
The Foresters have a new head coach in Sean O’Malley, who spent the last seven years as an assistant coach.
Lake Forest has three of its top players back off a team that only played six games last season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Josh Giacomin scored 24 goals in his first two seasons with the Foresters, including 15 two years ago, and is looking to return to that form in a season with more normalcy.
Will Lebel tallied 10 goals and seven assists two years ago. Scotty Nicholson also returns and brings experience to the table and will be one of the team’s top playmakers. He came through with 10 assists last season.
O’Malley likes the way his team looks heading into a new season.
“We have a good mix of veteran leadership along with a solid group of young players who are meshing well,” O’Malley said.
Lawrence (4-5, 4-4 NCHA)
There isn’t a shortage of experience for the Vikings as they head into a new season. A total of 24 letterwinners return.
Davis Kirkendall is among the list of key returnees after tallying four goals and three assists. He was an all-conference pick last season.
Kyle Gierman also returns. He earned a spot on the league’s all-freshman team after coming through with eight assists last season.
Charles Stewart will provide a boost to the team as well. He was the Vikings’ leading scorer last year with four goals and five assists. Matt Meinger returns as well and is a fifth-year senior as well asa team captain.
Lawrence should be solid in goal as well with Brian Tallieu and Alex Mosquera both returning to the team. Tallieu started five games and went 2-2. He racked up 132 saves. Mosquera made four starts last season and tallied 129 saves.
This Vikings squad will be one of the largest in school history as 30 players are on the roster.
“Our team will compete every night and be a team that is difficult to play against,” head coach Mike Szkodzinski said. “Our core principles of pride, passion and purpose will be on display every time we play.”
Marian (12-7, 5-3 NCHA)
The Sabres won the Harris Cup last season to cap a challenging season on a high note. They are hoping to add another trophy to their collection this season.
Colby Muise is among the key returning players. He went 11-4 with a 2.31 goals against average while saving more than 92 percent of his shots. Muise was also the league tournament MVP.
Parker Colley is coming off a year where he finished with eight goals and 10 assists, with half of those goals and assists coming over the final six games.
Gianni Vitali racked up three goals and 12 assists last season. He led the team in assists.
Marion has added several newcomers to the roster as well, including BRady Lynn from the University of Ontario. He should be one of the better scorers on the team after managing 16 goals and 23 assists during the 2019-20 BCHL season.
Nick Cherkowski originally committed to Merrimack but is now with the Sabres while Alex Rondeau is a transfer from Alaska Fairbanks. First-year player Jordan Simoneau should also make an impact.
The Sabres enter this season with high hopes and look to repeat as Harris Cup champs for the first time since doing it in 2001 and 2002.
“My expectations for the team this year are very basic. I want the players to give their best effort daily on the ice, in the classroom and in their personal lives,” head coach Zach Gaynor said. “I want them to play with pride for each other and with honor for the crest in front of their jersey. I believe if they are willing to do those things they will have a chance to go 1-0 every night.”
MSOE (10-7-2, 3-4-1 NCHA)
The Raiders played for the NCHA title last season, finishing as the runner-up to Marion, and are ready to make another run at the championship this year.
Among the players set to help try to make that goal a reality are Jack Nickels and Garrett Gintoli. Nickels was an all-conference selection as a defenseman and Gintoli earned all-conference honors at forward.
Nickels scored two goals and dished out 10 assists while Gintoli paced the offense with eight goals and 13 assists.
Finding a goaltender will be key. All-conference pick Logan Halladay is gone but newcomers George McBey and Darius Bell will compete with returning player Nick Stofcheck for the starting job. McBey is a transfer from Alabama Huntsville.
The Raiders are looking forward to a more normal year and one of their schedule highlights will be an outdoor game against Adrian on Jan.2 at Fifth Third Field in Toledo.
“This season will provide us with a lot of great opportunities, something we know not to take for granted,” head coach Graham Johnson said. “We hope to build off some success we had last year with a veteran team, but this conference is grueling on a nightly basis.”
St. Norbert (17-10-2, 11-7-2 in 2019-20)
The Green Knights are always a contender both in the NCHA and nationally, and they are ready to return to the ice after they didn’t have a season last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 20 letterwinners return from the team that took the ice during the 2019-20 campaign. That group includes leading scoring threat Peter Bates, who finished that season with 19 goals and 25 assists.
Peyton Frantti also returns for the Green Knights. He was third on the team in scoring two seasons ago, tallying 15 goals and 19 assists for a team that was the league tourney runner-up.
Tim Nicksic will also play a key role offensively after coming through with six goals and 15 assists. Ben Schmidling is also back. He tallied 12 goals and eight assists in 2019-20.
St. Norbert is in good shape defensively heading into the new season as Colby Entz will be back in goal. He won 12 games two years ago and owned a 1.88 goals against average.
Trine (5-10-1, 3-4-1 NCHA)
Trine is coming off a year where it did reach the conference tournament and the Thunder is taking aim at having the kind of season it did two years ago when it won 13 games and made it to the semifinal round of the NCHA tourney.
Brenden Pappas will help in that cause as he is coming off a year where he tallied five gaols nine assists. He was the team leader in points.
Garrett Hallford was the top goal scorer last season for the Vikings as he racked up seven.
Shane Brancato played in 12 games last season, starting 10 of them, and he finished with 297 saves. He saved just over 88 percent of the shots he faced.
“We are looking to build on the success of our 2019-20 season and our ability to play last year,” head coach Alex Todd said. “Looking back on our last full season (two years ago), we posted a strong finish and made a splash in the NCHA Harris Cup tournament. Last season, just getting the opportunity to play throughout the year should be a great advantage going into this campaign.”
