People hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even carved their turkeys yet this year when the Johnson & Wales University hockey team had earned their fourth win. <\/p>\n
Last year, folks were making New Year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Eve plans when the Wildcats finally garnered win number four. With his team 4-0 in league play, and 4-0-1 overall, coach Eric Noack can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but to be pleased so far. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just simply getting the bounces right now and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten some solid goaltending from J.R. Woodland,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really all it is. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got some young guys who are really trying and really skating hard, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got some bounces.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the big difference between this year and last year. Last year, we just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy it. There was nothing we could do at times to get those wins. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got some pretty good freshmen, but certainly, the big thing is that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting some fortunate bounces and fortunate calls.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In the last two Wildcat wins, fortuitous calls late in each game led to opportunistic power play game winners. Against Southern New Hampshire University on November 22, a Penmen penalty in overtime led to a Kevin Marchesi game winner with 36 seconds left in the game. <\/p>\n
Two nights prior to that in Boston, Suffolk University took a penalty late in the game and Joe Simeone notched the game winner with eight seconds remaining. These wins have helped Johnson & Wales stay tied for second, along with Wentworth and UMass-Dartmouth.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are we creating those penalties?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Noack wondered. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. Maybe we are, maybe because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re skating hard, who knows? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really it. There are no secret systems, no secret recruiting. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the coaching, I really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not doing anything differently than I did last year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
One of the freshmen that Noack is pleased with is Jeremiah Ketts. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done a real nice job, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a good set of hands and he sees the ice pretty well. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been doing pretty well for us on the power play, also.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
Ketts leads the squad so far with one goal and six assists through the first five games. Fellow freshmen classmates Luke Van Asch, Joe Sullivan, and Shane Viola have wasted little time in getting on the score sheet as well.<\/p>\n
A couple of veterans who are off to hot starts are forwards Joe Simeone and Kevin Marchesi. Simeone, a sophomore, already has equaled his output of five goals from last year and Marchesi is already halfway to his 10 points registered a season ago, with three goals and two assists so far.<\/p>\n
On defense, freshman Tony Gallante and Domenic Recchia have impressed Noack so far, and Jimmy Van Asch, who transferred from Hamline University, has caught his coach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eye. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s logging a lot of minutes and doing a nice job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Noack said of Van Asch. <\/p>\n
Noack knows he can also count on the experience of junior Shane Poulin, and seniors Tyler Bickford and Mike O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley, with the latter averaging a point per game right now.<\/p>\n
Still, there is plenty of hockey ahead. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just have a nice mix right now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Noack said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The one thing I keep telling the guys is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHey, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four games. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playing 25 this year.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 We could end up 4-21 pretty easily.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The sixth year coach is also optimistic that the fast start in November could lead to more hockey in March. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just looking to find a way into the playoffs somehow. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really not trying to look into why [they are off to a fast start] but what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to embrace is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHey, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s keep this thing going.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really embrace it, ride it a little bit, and see where it takes us. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not try to figure it out and then recreate it again. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just go with it, and hopefully it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take us where we want to go.<\/p>\n
I think the important thing is that if it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t continue through Christmas, or through whenever, not to get frustrated. If we lose a game before Christmas, hey, just keep plugging away. We have a good thing going here, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to go undefeated, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for sure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
In their three games prior to the Christmas break, the Wildcats will take on Stonehill, Westfield State, and Franklin Pierce.<\/p>\n
Noack is also in a solid position off the ice as well. <\/p>\n
He serves as the university\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s community outreach coordinator, as well as the CHAMPS Life Skills Coordinator, which is an NCAA initiative designed to reach each student-athlete based on his or her individual needs. The CHAMPS program focuses on the individual as a whole: academically, athletically, and personally. It also focuses on the changing needs and skills needed in the years during and after college.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a big community service university here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explained Noack about some of his outreach duties. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alan Sean Feinstein [a Rhode Island philanthropist] donates money to the university, and all of our student athletes are mandated to do some form of community service, upwards to 15-20 hours per person, every year. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m out in the community and I find projects for them, whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with Special Olympics, or a local youth hockey program. We do things at elementary schools, also.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
One of Noack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s off-ice colleagues at Johnson & Wales is also a coaching rival. Lou Izzi, head coach of Nichols College, serves as the Compliance Officer at J&W. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We talk hockey a lot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Noack said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great guy and obviously has a good program.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even carved their turkeys yet this year when the Johnson & Wales University hockey team had earned their fourth win. Last year, folks were making New Year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Eve plans when the Wildcats finally garnered win number four. With his team 4-0 in league play, and 4-0-1 overall, coach Eric Noack can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n