Newark Looks Forward
March 29, 2022 -
Newark 2022
Class C - Finger Lakes League
The last fourteen years of the Newark program was under the able direction of Matt Groot who stepped down after last season. The leadership of the Reds is now in the hands of John Hicks who spent the off-season encouraging strength training, setting up open gym events and revitalizing a booster club.
Besides Coach Groot, gone are scoring leader Brandon McNeil (23g-8a), attackman Bryson Croft (20g-15a), and midfielder Jayden Shepherd (11g-1a). Fifty-seven percent of their offensive points were graduated last year.
Returning, however, Newark will look to junior offenseman Preston Steve who led in assists as a sophomore and finished the season with 22g-21a. Senior goaltender Caleb George-Cady is back in the nets. He has started in the goal since his sophomore year and made 176 saves last year. In front of him will be junior close defenseman Carlos Bueso who was an HM all-league player last year.
Coach Hicks acknowledges his young team. "This is my first year as the Newark coach and we have done some off-season workouts and we are going to be a young team with a lot of heart. Young and Hungry is how I’d describe us as a program."
Newark plays in the Finger Lakes so their games will be a mixture of tough games, for example Geneva, Pal-Mac And Penn Yan, and some more manageable games with, for example, Mynderse and Waterloo. They have added non-league games with Batavia-Notre Dame, East United-Eastridge and Gates Chili.
Head Coach
John Hicks 1st year
Assisted by Andrew Garrett - Evan Corteville
Some Key Players
Preston Steve (10-A/M), Brandon McNeil (12-M), Jayden Shepherd (12-M), Aaron Spencer (12-D), Caleb George-Cady (11-G), Bryson Croft (12-A)
Key Games
Coach Hicks says that "every game is a key match-up for us. Being my first year coaching it’s hard to pick a key game when I believe every game matters in some way and they are all important to us."
See other stories as they are posted: Class A - Class B - Class C - Class D
