Team News

February 26 and February 27, 2021 will be special dates in the Pioneer hockey history book.  Like many in northern New Jersey and across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has had many direct impacts on everyone.  The Pioneer hockey program is no exception, from positive cases and hospitalizations among players, family members and friends to the financial strain and pressure of paying for college, housing and food.  It was nearly one year since the Pioneers felt some sense of normalcy.  The team last played a competitive game on March 7, 2020 versus Drexel University.  So when head coach Joe Ballance and Montclair State head coach Rob Martinez set a seven game series for February and March, both teams went to work on and off the ice.  “The players have been under tremendous stress with doing off-ice conditioning workouts without any clear indication of whether they would have a season.  It is great that both our teams were able to put together a seven game schedule to give our players a chance to complete a 2020-2021 season. While it isn’t your typical season with the amount of games, travel, and league opponents, what we have put together is more than most have so we are enjoying it as much as possible,” said Ballance.  

The Pioneers won the games by scores of 6-2 and 5-4 (OT).  However, the scoreboard was probably the last thing on most people’s minds.  “As far as game play, we didn’t know what to expect.  It has been a long lay-off and the stress levels and emotions have been on a rollercoaster through this entire pandemic.  We were happy with many of the contributions and it was good to see the new guys get acclimated and contribute early.” 

Senior captain Walt Keiper added, “After such a long year for everyone involved, it was really nice to be back on the ice. For most of us, being on the ice is more than just playing the game. I know I can speak for our entire team when I say what a sense of normalcy being out there gave us.  As a team we showed a lot of character and battled through adversity, and we look forward to the rest of our season.”

William Paterson and Montclair State do not play much these days.  In fact, the last meeting was a preseason game in 2018.  But for this year, at least for seven games, the players and the parents watching will get to feel some sense of normalcy.

Games three and four of the seven game series will be March 6-7, 2021 at the Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ.  The games will broadcast on HockeyTV.  Then it will be back to Montclair State Arena on March 12-13, 2021 for two games.  The final game will be March 20, 2021 at the Ice Vault in Wayne.

 

Player highlights:

-Freshman goalie, Nick Johansson, was called on to start both games and picked up his first 2 college wins.

-Junior transfer, Nick Bucci, had solid two play up front and picked his first college assists.

-Freshman, John Pallis, contributed his first college goal.

-Freshman, Joe Vocca, picked up his first college point, adding 1 assist.

-Freshman, Tony Martiniello, picked up first college point, adding 1 assist.

-Freshman transfer, Ryan Murphy, played solid two defense and picked up his first college assist.

-Tommy Bauer, Adam Marvin, Alex Cavaluzzo and Braden Ploehn led the offensive charge over the weekend.

-The defensive pairing of Walt Keiper and Nick King provided strong defensive play in both games.

-Ryan Moloughney, Zach Thompson and Mike King provided strong play in all three zones.

-Frank Baccaro, Dillon Krok and Tyler Kirch skated well with increased roles and minutes.