Last Season: 12-9-3

Coach: Michael Celano, 9th season

Last Year’s Record: The Freehold Township boys’ ice hockey team did well last year, finishing with a record of 12-9-3 and coming in fourth place in the Shore Conference – A North Division with a 6-5-1 conference record. Unfortunately, the team lost to Public A runner-up Howell in the quarterfinal of the Shore Conference Tournament. The team made it to the second round of the NJSIAA Public A state tournament where they faced Morris Knolls and were defeated.

Key Returners: The boys are coached by Michael Celano who has eight years’ worth of experience under his belt. There will be several strong players returning to the team this year, including Erik Borshchevsky, Max Halvorsen, Nick Raiola, and Julian Kislin, who is committed to Northeastern. Kislin and Borshchevsky will be returning to defense, Halvorsen will be on offense, and Raiola will serve as goalie. These key returners will bring enough talent to the team to hopefully lead the younger members to victory at A North.

Expectations: There are many young players on the team this year who will have to deal with the loss of strong team members such as leading scorer Greg Russo, one of the top scorers in program history, and defenseman Zach Berzolla. But Coach Celano is convinced there is enough talent and experience on the roster to pull the boys through and allow them to compete in the Shore Conference – A North Division once again this year. The team is hoping to succeed in States, but as of now, their chances are on the slimmer side. Coach Celano commented “We are definitely a young team and will have some ups and downs throughout the season. We should be middle of the pack in Shore A North and hope to be over .500.”

Approaching Games: Opening day for this season will be a non-conference game against Howell on Tuesday, December 1 at 8:15 PM. The game will be at the Wall Sports Arena in Rink 1. This will be one of the key matchups of the season, but all of the division games are sure to be interesting. The boys play many of their games at the Jersey Shore Arena, and tickets can be bought for $5. Before the match against Howell, the team played against the Red Bank Regional Bucs on Saturday, November 28 and won 8-5.