A year ago, they were considered a young and inexperienced team and just missed qualifying for the playoffs.
This year, with a full year of hockey under their belts, nine seniors and a collection of youthful teammates are hungry to get Barnstable hockey back into contention for league honors and a trip to the postseason.
“Last year we were very young and this year (with nine seniors) it seems as though we’re very old” said third year Red Raider coach Tim Grace. “It’s strange how that changes over the course of a season.”
At this point, Barnstable has a 5-3-1 record but coaches and players alike believe they have dominated every facet of most games they have played, although the scoreboard hasn’t always reflected that.
“We’ve had three losses and a tie that we feel could have gone either way,” said Grace. “Scoring and preventing scoring are the only things we’re not doing better than those other teams. We’ve been beating them in shots, hits and takeaways, and everything that matters in the game other than the most important thing, which is the score.”
Wins have come against Duxbury (4-1), Old Rochester (7-0), Dennis-Yarmouth (6-2), Dartmouth (5-2), and most recently Scituate (5-4).
The lone tie was a 3-3 deadlock with Falmouth, while losses came against Marshfield (5-4), Burlington (4-1), and Bridgewater-Raynham (4-2).
Senior captain Dan Black, senior captain Colby Howell, and junior captain Jac Cordeiro head the team this season and have provided outstanding leadership.
“We’ve been doing a lot of good things,” said Howell, a left wing. “We may not have the record that we want to have right now, but we’re outplaying teams and outshooting teams.”
Cordeiro, a first-line center, agreed, “We’ve been having a little trouble putting the puck in the net, but we’re outshooting and outplaying teams,” he said. “We just need to find a way to put the puck in the net.”
To a man, all three captains noted the importance of getting the necessary points to qualify for the playoffs and see where it takes them.
“My freshman year we made it to the playoffs and we haven’t returned since,” said Black, a defenseman. “I know it would mean a lot to all the seniors for us to get back to the playoffs. We’d love to win our league, which would get us into the playoffs, and then our biggest goal would be make it to the Garden for the state championship.”
With a roster of 27 players, Grace is pleased with the play of his upperclassmen but also sees a good deal of promise from his younger players.
“It’s amazing how much players change from junior to senior year and how much more it means to (the seniors) that it’s their last year,” he said. “They don’t want to leave anything on the ice.”
The Red Raiders start a first line of Cordeiro centering sophomore Brian Frieh and senior Zack Carpenter. Black and fellow senior Trey Wellbeloved form the first defensive unit.
“Those two (defensemen) have been a shut-down pair on defense, and Zack Carpenter is up there for the lead in points and goals at this point,” said Grace.
The second line features sophomore center Jack Longueil alongside Howell and junior Ryan DiPilato, while the third line has senior Sam O’Brien between senior Spencer Jones and junior Ryan Proto.
With the luxury of two more lines, the squad can trot out the all-junior fourth line of Tim Storie with Sean Jones and Jack Fredo, and a fifth line with senior Jon Medeiros teamed with juniors Chris Adams and Pat Harrington.
Blueliners on the defensive end include seniors Lucas Grover and T.J. Corbett; juniors Liam Capra, Sam Bechard, Brendan Jones, Matt Fredo and James Holzman; and sophomore Will Cogswell.
Freshman Conor Higgins has done well as the team’s starting goaltender, and he is ably backed up by freshman Zach Harmon.
“Conor came into the season inexperienced and new to the team, but so far, he’s done what he’s supposed to do and what we’ve expected him to do,” said Grace.
With the season nearly half over, Howell succinctly summed up what the team needed to do to move ahead.
“We have a deep squad, an experienced team, and I think we have the right tools to do it,” he said. “We’ve just got to find our game and start playing better as a team.”
Contact Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com.