This is the ninth entry of The Morris-Sussex Hockey Report’s 27 teams in 27 days, where each day (except for Thanksgiving) there will be a team preview of each area team (boys and girls) leading up to Opening Day on December 7.
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PARK REGIONAL (Hanover Park-Whippany Park co-op)
Head coach: Tom Levis, 29th year- earned his 300th career win last season.
Division: Haas
NJSIAA Classification: North, Co-op
Last year: Park Regional finished 9-11-3 overall with a 3-5-2 record in the Haas Division. It took down top-seeded Bernards-Somerville-Middlesex in overtime in the Haas Cup semifinals, before falling just short to West Morris- also in overtime- in the final. Its season ended with a 4-0 loss to Howell-Matawan in the Public C state tournament.
Key losses: Park Regional will have to replace five seniors who all played major roles in the team’s run to the Haas Cup final last season. It lost a pair of First Team All-Haas picks in forward Mike Monahan (23 g., 15 a.) and defenseman Wyatt Lieto (1 g., 17 a.). Forward Stanley Gelman (8 g., 11 a.) and defensemen Mat Lasota and Jason Harty also will need to be replaced.
Top returners: It returns one of the more exciting young players in the division in sophomore Chase Olszewski, who posted 26 goals and nine assists as a freshman. He’s joined by fellow sophomore Mike Capozzi (14 g., 13 a.) who also had a big freshman season and figures to be even better.
Junior Matthew McDermott (4 g., 9 a.) will be counted on for leadership up front, while sophomore Colin Mullooly (3 g., 4 a.) should also have a big role.
On the back end, sophomore Andrew Steinberg will be counted on to lead the blue line after playing a lot of minutes as a freshman. Junior Dominic Perello, plus freshmen Frank Scrocco and Joe Vitale should also see minutes.
It will be able to count on a pair of goaltenders in juniors Dylan Marion and Anthony Perrello, who both should continue to improve after each had a solid first year of varsity experience.
Potential impact newcomers: Sophomore forward Dylan Aker transfers in from Seton Hall Prep. Seniors Patrick Mulligan and Ryan Munsey are the team’s only two seniors, and figure to have a role this year. Sophomores Giovanni Bruno (D/F), Brendan Burt (F), and Sean Breen (F) are all players Levis expects to have big years. Freshman defensemen Frank Scrocco and Joe Vitale should slot in on the blue line. Freshman Mason Hawkins is another player that could have a role. Freshman goalie Kiera Swartz gives the team depth behind Marion and Perrello.
Burning question: How will a young team navigate the Haas after big graduation losses?
Any time you graduate a senior class like Park had last season, it’s a challenge. Even though it was only five players, it’s a group that included two First Team All-Haas picks, in addition to the team’s third-leading scorer. That’s going to be difficult to replace, but this program does have some promising players coming in, and how the team adapts will be interesting to follow along.
Outlook: Park Regional is a program that you can simply never count out.
This team needed a tiebreaker to go its way just to get into the Haas Cup last season, and had the task of facing the top seed in an extremely talented Bernards-Somerville-Middlesex squad in the first round. Few would have given this team a chance, but it found a way to get the win in overtime, and ultimately was just one goal away from claiming a seemingly unlikely Haas Cup title as the fourth-seed. It’s a group that no matter who its playing, is always going to work hard and put in a representative effort on a nightly basis.
This group has some really talented players, highlighted by Olszewski who had a massive year as a freshman, along with Capozzi. Dylan Marion stepped up down the stretch and played well for this team in its run to the Haas Cup final. This may be a relatively young team with only two seniors, but its one that has talent and should only get better as the season goes along. It’s always hard to predict what’s going to happen in the Haas Division on a yearly basis, but it would certainly be a surprise if Park Regional isn’t in the mix come Haas Cup time.
Check back Saturday for a preview of Madison
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
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