Monarchs send five up to Jr. A powerhouse

While winning championships and having team success is obviously what the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs strive for, it is not the No. 1 priority for Jr. B head coach and general manager Ryan Frew.

The No. 1 priority is seeing his players improve and go on to play at the next level and that’s exactly what happened. Five of his players from last season are playing for the three-time Tier-3 Jr. A National Champion Monarchs, of the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

“At the end of the day, it’s about moving individuals on,” said Frew, whose team won the Empire playoff title last year. “Being champions is great, but players moving up speaks volumes about your program.”

The five players who are going on are Nicholas Bundzinski (21 goals, 46 points), Ryan Callahan (nine goals, 26 points), Evan Schultz (21 goals, 54 points), defenseman Andrew Balzafiore (six goals, 16 points) and goalie Mathieu Strickrott.

“Nic is a kid who is always at the right place at the right time on the ice and Evan is such a great playmaker,” Frew said. “Ryan is such a gritty player, Andrew is a solid blue collar defenseman and Mathieu is a hard worker who is a great teammate.”

Looking ahead to this coming season, Frew has on his wish list a natural goal scorer and a shutdown goalie.

That shutdown goalie could be former Huskies junior goalie Matt Snell, who impressed Frew last season and during summer practice.

“Matt is a very athletic goaltender who plays the angles really well,” Frew said.

Frew, who has been in the game for a long time, was very impressed with the local talent being shown by the New Hampshire kids. Having great local talent on the team is something that Frew believes is very important.

“It brings more people in the building and creates lots of local interest,” Frew added.


Patriots have new name, but same mission

By Neil Becker

Coach R.J. Zeigler couldn’t say enough about his Potomac Patriots Empire team, which enjoyed a stellar showing at the Chowder Cup by winning four of their five games and finishing in the top eight out of 52 teams.

If the Patriots name sounds new, it should – it is the name that the former Virginia Express will hold from here on out.

“Our scoring was very spread out and I’m extremely happy with our team effort,” Zeigler said. “Our goalies did a great job, we barely took penalties and we were relentless with our back checking.”

The Patriots got a huge boost of confidence after their opening game, which saw them beat one of last year’s teams that went to Nationals (New Jersey Titans) by a 3-1 score.

“After that game, everyone was on cloud nine,” Zeigler said. “It gave us a surge of confidence and showed us that we can play with them.”

Their other wins came against a team from Toronto (7-2) and the East Coast Eagles (4-2). The Patriots’ shared good mood was temporarily spoiled when they lost their last game in overtime, 4-3, against the Cranston Reds.

“We were a little disappointed afterwards,” said Zeigler, about losing that last game in overtime. “I think, in a few days, we’ll look back and be proud at what we accomplished.”

A vital key to the Chowder Cup success was having four deep forward lines that can’t be matched by the opposition, he added.

“Our team was competitive in every game and relentless, which was good to see,” Zeigler said.

Leading the way at the Chowder Cup were forwards Chase Ainsworth, Melvin Nichols and defenseman Tristan Schimanski, who Zeigler referred to as a “big, strong kid.

Zeigler also raved about his team’s speed, but believes the power play needs some work. For now, the players are on the ice only once a week until training camp starts in the third week of August.