This is the 19th entry of The Morris-Sussex Hockey Report’s 27 teams in 27 days, where each day 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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MORRIS CATHOLIC-ST. ELIZABETH
Head coach: Chris Foer, third year
Division: Charette
NJSIAA Classification: Non-Public
Last year: Morris Catholic-St. Elizabeth finished 3-17-2, with a 1-6-1 mark in the Charette division. It qualified for the Charette Cup, where it fell to eventual champion Montville in the semifinals.
Key losses: Morris Catholic-St. Elizabeth graduated four seniors, including three All-Charette selections. Goalie Danny Mark (.890 sv%) and forward Declan Norton (19 g., 14 a.) were First Team picks, while forward Aiden Domenick (11 g., 14 a.) was on the Second Team.
Top returners: It will be led up front by junior Mercer Acuna, who posted four goals and 12 assists in 2022-23. Sophomore Christian Iacuzzo, senior Mia Foer, junior Tyler Raucci, and junior Kristina Herman are all returners who figure to provide some scoring ability.
Sophomore defenseman Michael Najjar will look to build off a 10-goal, seven-assist freshman year on the blue line. Junior Colin Shepard (4 a.) will also be back defensively.
Potential impact newcomers: Morris Catholic-St. Elizabeth will have high hopes for four incoming freshman forwards in Brady Baxter, Michael Hugues, Ryan Keller, and Cameron Westrick. Junior goalie Jack Wilson along with Joey Rubino will be counted on to take over in goal this season from Danny Mark.
Burning question: How will this program adjust after graduating its two top scorers and goaltender?
Norton, Domenick, and Mark are a trio that continually got better through their high school careers, with each of them posting career highs at their respective positions last season. Mark, specifically, played almost every game for this team for the past two years and his steady presence in goal kept this team in a lot of games. Replacing a pair of big time scorers will also be a big challenge.
Outlook: As much as this program has struggled for the last two seasons since winning the Charette division in 2020-21, it has been able to hang its hat on the fact that it has managed to finish in the top four in the division to qualify for the Charette Cup each of those seasons.
Getting back to the Charette Cup figures to be the goal for this team as it looks to continue developing with some promising incoming forwards. It has some nice returning talent in Acuna and Najjar returning, and if those two continue to develop at the rate that they have, it should make the players around them even better. Look for this team to be a tough out throughout the season in what figures to be a competitive Charette division.
Check back Wednesday for a preview of the Chatham girls team
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 