Will this be the year the Bethlehem hockey team finally reaches the Section II Division I finals?
The Eagles have had opportunities before, only to be denied in the Sectional semifinals. But with a roster featuring a mix of senior leadership and young talent, coach Andre Rodrigue is hopeful they can make the jump this season.
“Every year, it’s our goal to win a Sectional championship,” said Rodrigue. “There’s a lot of parity in the (Capital District High School Hockey) league this year with a lot of teams losing kids to graduation and kids transferring. The league is wide open.”
The Eagles graduated several key players from last year’s team, including forwards Joe Verstandig and R.J. Diego, as well as goaltender Kevin Cooley. But, they have two of their leading scorers back in Andrew Carroll and Chris Caswell.
“Carroll and Caswell have been playing together (on the same line) all four years on varsity, and before that they played together in youth hockey,” said Rodrigue. “They work very well together.”
“We know where each other will be on the ice,” said Caswell.
Rodrigue is moving senior forward Zach Flagler to Caswell and Carroll’s line to replace Verstandig.
“Adding Zach to that top line adds that much more leadership and that much more speed to it,” said Rodrigue.
“He adds the speed factor, so he should be fine out there,” added Caswell.
The rest of Bethlehem’s offense will feature younger talent such as sophomore Evan Davis, junior Owen Talmage and freshmen Brian Harder and Zachary Nunez.
“I’m hoping to be able to rotate three (forward) lines,” said Rodrigue. “The majority of Section II has two solid lines. But the top teams that have a third line that can go out there and hold their own, those are the teams that win Section II titles.”
Replacing Cooley in goal is a bigger challenge, though. Rodrigue said junior Carl Cusack is the leading candidate to be the starter, but he’ll have a lot to live up to.
“You know, it’s big shoes to fill. We’ve had solid goaltending the last four years between Kevin Cooley, Patrick Miron and Alex Cooper,” said Rodrigue.
Cusack or senior goaltender Taylor Nunez will have help in front of them, as Bethlehem returns a pair of talented defensemen in junior Nicholas Brenier and senior Robert Lemieux.
“With the talent we have up front, we can average three or four goals a game this year,” said Rodrigue. “But we’re solid on the defensive side, as well. If we take care of the puck at the defensive end, we won’t need to rely on our offense like other teams in the league do.”
The Eagles start their season at this weekend’s Shaker/Colonie Thanksgiving Tournament at the Albany County Hockey Facility in Colonie. Bethlehem meets Section IV’s Ithaca Friday at 4:45 p.m. and plays Section I’s Mamaroneck Saturday at 10 a.m.