Canandaigua, Victor, Irondequoit and Churchville-Chili Top Class B

April 1, 2015 - Preseason

After a triple overtime win in the Class B Finals last season, Canandaigua returns at the top of the pack. The Braves lost their next game to the Section VI Champion Hamburg. They return fifty-two percent of their roster this season with fourteen new players joining the team. The leading scorer and assister for the Braves both return in Brian Feldman (Quinnipiac) with 52g-8a and Eric Munn (Siena) with 34g-29a. The loss of graduated seniors Dan LaCrosse (Colgate), Connor Moore (St. Rose), Ben Northrup (Nazareth) and goalie Michael Cuciti (Nazareth) will be hard felt this season. Last season’s back-up goalie, Luke MacNeil, returns to start in the cage this season. He played 100 minutes last season. Senior defenseman Joe Eddinger (Albany) will also help anchor the defense. A number of players have made commitments including Michel McClain and Mitchell Schaefer at Penn State, Preston Herbst (Saint Rose) and Connor Hulme (Quinnipiac). Canandaigua will have to step up to replace some of the starting offense as well as their starting goalie if they want to defend their Championship.

Conversely, Victor is looking for revenge after their triple overtime loss last season in the finals. They had some excitement in their early season 12-10 win over the Braves last weekend but the Blue Devils had not made the finals since 2004 and were hoping last season was their chance. Victor lost a significant portion of their scoring last season. Their leading goal scorer Jordan Hodder graduated last season. Their leading points and assist scorer Sam Byassee, an early commit to Maryland, was set to return this season but sustained an off-season injury that took him out for the season. Graduation also took their third and fourth leading scorers in Roy Young (FLCC) and Kyle Haslinger. Their noteworthy returning players are midfielder Luke Bartkoski (Le Moyne) with 12g-9a and attackman Eric Honey (10g-2a). Sophomore Ryan Maloney, who made his commitment to Cornell last fall also returns with 2g-9a in 2013. The Blue Devils also lost their starting goalie, Troy Dowdle. Back-up goalie, senior Matt Draveck, returns this season after 95 minutes in the cage last year. Although they graduated significant talent, they only have nine new players on the roster this season. With twenty returning athletes, the Blue Devils are hopeful to be able to use that cohesion to make it back to the finals and win their first Championship in over a decade.

After three straight Class B Titles, Irondequoit failed to make the finals last season. The Eagles had a tough year last season and look to have additional growing pains this season. Trevor Hodgins Last year they finished 9-7 and lost to Victor in the semifinals. Fifteen players made the offensive scorebook for Irondequoit last season with eleven from their senior class. Nearly all the top scorers graduated for the Eagles. The leading scorer returning to the 2014 roster is sophomore Dan Doktor. He finished last season with 15g-19a. Seniors Joshua Merkel (12g-1a), Mitchell Culver (2g) and Michael Boe (1g) round out the only returning Eagles to score last season. Look for new players like junior attackman Andrew Knope to be a factor in scoring this year. Eighth grade transfer, John Lombardi, has had quite a bit of attention in the off-season. Last season’s starting goalie Alex Shoemaker finished at 57%. Senior John Venner returns with seventy minutes from last season. Sophomore newcomer, Max Eismann has already seen time in the goal. Irondequoit will have to have new players step up to replace their graduating class if they hope to be back on top this season.

Churchville-Chili is the talk of the west and only added four new players (and a Head Coach) to their roster this season. They return twenty-one including junior Ryan Cosgrove (28g-20a), senior Trevor Hodgins (Ohio State) with 28g-18a, senior Aaron Buck (Alfred State) with 26g-8a and senior Jake Mortier (Le Moyne) with 22g-10a. Those four represent the top four goals scorers for the Saints. Overall, there are twelve players returning who made the offensive scorebook last season. Cosgrove is one of only four players to be named to the All Section Team as non-seniors. He is a dominate scoring threat and will challenge the top defenseman on the Saint's schedule. In addition to their significant offensive threats, they return three goalies who split time last season. Mike Yehl (391 minutes) finished with 59%, Jamie Cullen (217 minutes) finished with 51% and Matt Cobb (112 minutes) finished at 55%. In addition Churchville-Chili returns their leading ground ball defenseman in senior Mike Caternolo. They also return starting defenseman, Brandon Lohman and Justin Ferraraccio (Roberts Wesleyan). The Saints, who have only made the Sectional Finals once in the last decade (2011), hope this is their season to make a run at the Championship.