Cortland's Future Still Looks Bright
In every level of sports, teams see players come and go each year. The Cortland Roller Hockey Club is no different. This year, the team will be losing several of the key players that led the team to its recent success. Among the players departing due to graduation, there is no guarantee that the remaining players would still return next year. Only time will tell, and we will know early in the 2015 Fall Semester.
As I mentioned above, the Dragons will be losing 5 players due to graduation. Those players include captain Chris Fidotta and assistant captain Thomas Hughes, as well as another strong forward in Evan Schlicht. On the back end, Cortland will lose a solid defenseman in Tyler Ballantyne, as well as starting goalie Nick Marrone. All of these players will be graduating in early May of this year. Ultimately building interest in the club will be crucial for its success going forward. There are now several holes in the club that need to be filled. Without a strong turnout at tryouts, filling these holes will be much more difficult than anticipated.
A majority of the team however will be returning. The forwards currently still on the roster are upcoming sophomores Steven Marvin and Chris Seeback, as well as junior Justin Carpenzano. On defense, the team only suffered the loss of one player in the senior Ballantyne. The defensemen that still remain are upcoming juniors Daniel Nelson, John Wagner, and Brian Danziger, as well as senior Donald Bowling. As of now, the team has one goalie in Thomas Corcoran (sophomore), but will most likely look to add a second goalie to the team. Assuming another goalie is added to the roster next year, both will have to fight hard for the starting position. The goalie position was important to the team’s success this past year, and will have to be big once again if the team plans on making Nationals next season. Another important part of this team is the play of defenseman Dan Nelson. The team needs to be able to play a more stable game when he is not out on the rink. The Dragons heavily depended on him this year as he led the team with 44 points in 14 games during the regular season, as well as another 35 points in 11 playoff games.
It will be interesting to see where the team goes from here. With several players on the team who have been to consecutive National Championship Tournaments, they have the experience and the guys know what it takes to get back there. I’m excited to see how the team responds next year and am also interested in how their depth chart holes will be filled in.