RANDOLPH RAMS
Head coach: Rich McLaughlin, 32nd season (506-203-77 career record)
Division: MCSSIHL-Mennen
Last year: Randolph put together perhaps one of its best regular seasons ever, as it finished the year 22-1-1. It went undefeated in the Mennen Division and won the Mennen Cup, and reached the North, Public sectional final, where it suffered its only loss of the year- an 8-3 defeat to eventual Public state champion Northern Highlands. The Rams outscored their opponents 155-48 over the course of the season.
Key losses: Randolph graduated just two players from last year’s team, but both were critical parts of that team. Defenseman Ashton Feinberg was a mainstay on the blue line for the Rams over the previous three seasons, earning First Team All-Mennen Division honors last winter. Goalie John Krynicki, in his first season playing the position, posted an .884 save percentage with five shutouts while playing every minute of every game en route to First Team All-Mennen honors.
Forwards: This is a forward group that is absolutely loaded with firepower, and if it can stay healthy, it could be right on par with or even better than what it was able to accomplish last season. Senior Jase Zangara, last year’s Mennen Division MVP, had the best season of his career to date with 36 goals and 34 assists, and is 57 points shy of 200 for his career- a number he could very well hit this season. Senior Andrew George also had a big year last year with 25 goals and 27 assists, and also earned First Team All-Mennen honors. Vincent Crisafulli (14 g., 22 a.), Daniel Sharkey (17 g., 27 a.), Shane Melly (20 g., 15 a.), Keegan Melly (15 g., 12 a.), and Ryan Thomas (11 g., 13 a.) make up an incredibly strong junior class, while senior Jacob Campbell (9 g., 12 a.) is also a key contributor. This team should be able to roll three threatening scoring lines throughout the year, creating a nightmare for opposing teams to have to match up with, much like it did in 2023-24.
Defense: Seniors Brian Cislo (1 g., 10 a.) and Ryan Potanovich (5 a.) will lead the way defensively for the Rams and figure to be the top pairing on the blue line. Juniors Jack Murphy, Logan O’Malley, and sophomore Bryson Findling (1 g., 9 a.) all figure to play key roles as well.
Goaltending: This is the biggest question mark going into the season for the Rams. As mentioned above, it relied on John Krynicki, who had never played the position before, to carry the load last winter, and after his strong senior campaign, it is unclear who is in line to take over in the crease.. We will likely have to wait until the team’s season opener on Dec. 7 against Morristown to have an answer on that.
Outlook: Make no mistake about it, this Randolph team will be able to score with the best of teams. This team has as talented and deep of a forward group as you will find in not just Morris County, but in the entire state of New Jersey. That alone should vault this team into the conversation for Public state title contenders, if it isn’t considered the favorite. The biggest X-factor for this team will be who takes over as the goalie this winter. If there is a suitable replacement to Krynicki, this Randolph team will have all of the ingredients to capture another Mennen Cup title as well as its first state championship since 2020. Not to mention, this is a team that suffered the sting of the sectional final loss to Northern Highlands last year, and will be even more motivated to finish the job this winter.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 