MOUNTAIN LAKES-BOONTON
Head coach: Clint McDonough, eighth year
Division: MCSSIHL-Haas Charette
Last year: Mountain Lakes-Boonton finished 5-14-1, and did not qualify for the Haas Cup. However, it did make the NJSIAA North, Public Co-op tournament, where it lost to Park Regional in the play-in round.
Key losses: It lost some key contributors to graduation from last year’s team. Defenseman A.J. Wenzel (Second Team All-Haas, 14 g., 6 a.), forward Benji Forman (14 g., 6 a.), forward Jonathan Garibaldi (9 g., 8 a.), along with Tristan Forrest and Jack Fitch will all need to be replaced.
Forwards: Mountain Lakes-Boonton will be very young up front, and will turn to senior Scott Soukup (2 g., 7 a.) to be the leader. Junior Anthony Maclaren (3 a.), junior Andrew Wilmot (1 g., 3 a.), sophomore Eli Forman (6 g., 1 a.), and Laird Harvey will all be counted on to produce as well.
Defense: It will have one of the top up-and-coming defensemen in the division in sophomore Lawson Fagan, who finished with five goals and 15 assists last year. Junior Kyle Wenzel had identical statistics last season, so those two figure to anchor this defense.
Goaltending: Junior goalie Cody Roller was the team’s full-time starter as a sophomore and figures to play that same role again this year after posting an .842 save percentage last year. Freshman Ethan Scanlon also is expected to see some time this year.
Newcomers: Colin Barrasso, Scarlet Harvey, Ethan Krystynaik, Aiden Taylor, and Luca Scerra are all newcomers who figure to play a role right away this year.
Outlook: It has been tough sledding for Mountain Lakes-Boonton since winning the Haas Cup in 2021. Since then, it has undergone a bit of a rebuild, winning a combined seven games over the past two seasons. That said, even though the results have not been there, the team always puts forth a competitive effort under McDonough, and there is no reason to expect that will change. Playing in the Haas-Charette Division should give this young team an opportunity to pick up some wins while developing itself back up to what it was when it won back-to-back Haas Cups in 2020 and 2021. There will be a lot of new faces on this roster, and if the newcomers can step in and produce right away, it should be in store for a bounce-back year, as it hopes to compete for the Haas Cup.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 