HOULTON, Maine — A well-balanced hockey team will take to the ice Saturday afternoon when the puck drops on a new season for the Black Hawks.
Featuring players from Houlton, Hodgdon, Southern Aroostook and Katahdin, the Black Hawks made great strides on the ice last season, improving from a 1-16 record in 2015-16 to an impressive 9-8-1 record and a spot in the playoffs.
The squad secured the No. 5 seed in the Class B North for the playoffs and travelled to No. 4 Hampden Academy for a quarterfinal clash. The Black Hawks fell 3-0 in that contest.
“We have very good balance throughout the team in offense and defense as well as goaltending,” said assistant coach David Wilson. “We are a fast, hard-hitting team that can capitalize on our opponent’s mistakes.”
This year’s squad is senior laden, with seven players lacing up their skates for their final season. Those seniors are Abe Lorom, Zack Fitzpatrick, Nick Delucca, Garrett Perkins, Drew Marino, AJ Henderson and Brandon Dunn.
“They have been playing together for many years and developed into very good players in the process,” Wilson said.
The rest of the team consists of juniors Alex Wilde and Ian Neureuther; sophomores Jason Collett, Noah Reynolds, Gavin Vining and Nate Delucca; and freshmen Elijah Matheson and Logan Swallow.
“All players have shown in this year’s preseason Thanksgiving tournament that they belong on the ice,” Wilson said. “We won two out of three games with our one loss being a close 2-1 game against Yarmouth. We expect to carry this success into the season.”
The Black Hawks did lose several key players from last year’s team as Morgan Grant, Nate Lilley, Jamie Palmer and Elizabeth Ward and Josh Malone all graduated this past spring.
Still, the coaches are excited about the prospects of the returning players.
“We need to improve our offensive attack through the neutral zone and entry into our opponent’s zone to get more quality shots on net,” Wilson said. “This is nothing new since all hockey teams playing at the competitive level, including the NHL, strive to do the same thing. We will also continue to improve our breakout play with better communication on the ice and involving the goaltender more. We will need to make sure our academics are kept up.”
Old Town/Orono, Brewer and Presque Isle will be the top squads to watch in Class B North, Wilson said, but he hopes the Black Hawks will be right in the mix with those teams.
