After losing almost 90 percent of its scoring to graduation, Framingham State will be looking to tighten up the defensive game this year.
“We will try to play a more aggressive style on the offensive end, but our key focus will be our end,” coach T.J. Brown said. “We gave up way too many goals last year and can’t get into shootouts with most teams in our league. There are too many talented players and teams in this league to try to outscore teams on a regular basis.”
The Rams lost Joe Hurley (14-15) and Brett Casavant, (10-12) who were among the league leaders in points last year.
The top returning point scorer from the Rams is senior defenseman Blair Nickerson (1-12).
If the Rams are going to sneak into the playoff picture, they’ll have to cut down on their penalties as well.
“We need to stay out of the box,” Brown said. “Discipline is something that we will preach all year; the refs call a tighter game now, so you have to adjust.”
In goal, Framingham State returns senior Terence Sullivan, who saw the majority of playing time for the Rams last season and posted a 4.63 goals-against-average and .882 save percentage.
“We will have a young team this year, but we are excited about the direction we are headed,” Brown said. “We are hoping we have some young guys that will be able to contribute right away. We’d love to right in the playoff hunt the whole season, hopefully getting a chance to play in them.”
