Westfield Hockey Looks to Continue Success From Last Season

By almost any calculation, the 2010 – 2011 campaign may have been the finest in the history of the Westfield HS Ice Hockey team. Last year’s Blue Devils placed five players on the All-County team, including Union County MVP, senior CJ Meyer. In finishing with a record of 19-5-2, the team made it to the finals of the prestigious Cron Holiday tournament, the finals in the Union County playoffs and the semifinals of the State tournament.

Unfortunately graduation has been unkind to the Blue Devils and a number of the players who paced the team to last year’s unprecedented success have moved on, including four of the five players who garnered all-county honors last season.

Whether the team returns and adds enough firepower to fill some awfully big shoes and follow-up on last year’s success is a question which remains unanswered. Adding to the mystery behind this team is the fact that they will be playing for a new head coach in Sean Cromarty, a graduate of Upper Canada College Prep in Ontario and perennial hockey powerhouse Colorado College. 

Aiding in the transition and returning to the bench to assist Cromarty is coach George Giresi, back for his 10^th season with the Westfield HS hockey program.

Steven Wronski should get the majority of the playing time in goal. Wronski has seen significant varsity playing time over the past three years and enters the 2011-2012 campaign as the clear number one goaltender. 

He will be supported by fellow Senior TJ Grasso who had a break-out season last year at the JV level. The team has a wealth of talented defensemen led by Liam Devin and Ryan Morse, two juniors who also have been major contributors to the varsity team the last two years.

Sophmore Chris Kattak returns after a solid freshman campaign and classmates Doug Clarkson and Anderson Eckert provide depth and potential to the blueline ranks.

Juniors Jon Macik (all-county honorable mention last year) and Sam Meyer, along with sophomore Dane Huber will be counted on heavily to replace the offensive void from last year’s record setting graduates. Seniors Shane Paulen and Matt Lee will provide leadership and direction for a group of talented but still somewhat inexperienced juniors & sophomores. The group includes Nick Grawehr, Dan Bungerz, Jeremy DeDea, Chris Rosa & Andrew Stern.

In pre-season action the Blue Devils looked inconsistent but strong enough to have two comfortable wins in scrimmages against Scotch Plains (9-1) and Verona (6-2).  Meyer led the offensive attack with five goals, while six other Blue Devils scored providing a blueprint of the balance that will be necessary for Westfield to remain amongst the state’s elite.