It's always going to be a difficult task.
All Gloucester Catholic coach Matthew Gaudreau had to do was look at the remains of the roster and see.
The 2022-23 team, which advanced to the Gordon Cup and non-public semifinal rounds, had to replace five seniors who totaled 47 goals and 95 points in a 9-9-2 campaign, but the team had no name. It suggested the Rams were capable of doing that, especially after a wave of transfers further reduced their depth.
Some people don't like to use the word “reconstruction.”
Gloucester Catholic had few options.
“That's the way it was and always has been,” Gloucester Catholic coach Matthew Gaudreau said. “When tryouts came, I saw how low we were and dug myself in and reached out.”
He ended up finding 17 skaters, two of whom had never been able to take the ice this season.
“They continued to practice with us and grow, but obviously Gordon is a top-level hockey player and for their own safety I kept them out of the game.” Gaudreau said.
Eight days into the season, the Rams had played three games against American Division foe Gordon, losing 32-4, and things didn't seem to be getting better, at least on the scoreboard.
But Gaudreau found reason for optimism.
Most games the Rams played got out of hand in the late stages, and after surviving a competitive start, a frenzy of feeds late in the game allowed their opponents to score five points.
That said more about the quantity than the quality of the Rams' players.
Before the first tryouts, Coach Gaudreau had projected Billy Starsky as the starting goaltender, but Starsky had moved on to junior hockey and fellow senior Zach Carter, who served as his backup last season, He ended up starting 10 games between the pipes.
“Zach stepped in and did a great job,” Gaudreau said. “He really took a step forward, even when he was taking 55 shots a game.”
But Gloucester Catholic lacks the depth and experience to go in front of him, and league rivals (Gordon Cup winner Don Bosco Prep, state champion St. Augustine and perennial powerhouse Del. Burton included), there was no way to hide it.
Still, the Rams fulfilled their departmental obligations. They were on the ice in nine of the 10 mandatory games, with their only forfeiture coming at home against Don Bosco. It was the first half of a home-and-home match scheduled for consecutive nights at the end of January.
“We had two guys injured and two guys suspended,” Gaudreau said. “We would have had to play with nine skaters. It wasn't right for the players to put them out like that.”
Gloucester Catholic went 0-11 all season, scoring just 13 goals. Five of them lost in the final game of the season, 7-5 to Seton Hall Prep, then ranked No. 9 in the New Jersey.com Top 20, in what may have been the most heartbreaking loss.
“The whole team played great,” Gaudreau said. “It was one of the few times that basically everyone was healthy.”
Gloucester Catholic, buoyed by a hat trick and an assist from senior TJ Pisano, took a 4-1 lead in the season's only non-division game and was in position to grab a notable victory, but the Pirates scored the next six points. We scored the goal we took and won 7-5.
“In the third period, you could see the players being sent to the gas chamber,” Gaudreau said. “But they played a great game. You can teach that and there's a learning curve for me as well. You need a full lineup in a game like that.”
Pisano had four goals and two assists on the season, leading the team in both categories. He was Gloucester Catholic's only representative on the All-Gordon Conference team selected by the league's coaches at the end of the season.
Vincent Schilicioti, another senior forward, had two goals and one assist, and senior forward Sabatino DiBenedetto had one goal and one assist.
Only three points came from the underclassmen. Sophomore Cole Pastor had one goal and one assist, and sophomore Andrew Gudzinski had one assist.
Gaudreau said he believes the lack of numbers is a temporary condition. The Rams will be an even more improved team next season with the addition of new players.
“Obviously we have to compete with St. Augustine for players,” Gaudreau said. “And they just won the state championship for the second year in a row, and we have a lot of money coming in.”
And they're going to build something based on that.
“This hasn't been our strongest year, but I'm grateful to all the players for coming and coming with us,” Gaudreau said. “They went through those struggles every day and what they had to go through.”
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