Members of the Biddeford hockey team participates in drills during a recent practice.
After a solid 11-6-2 campaign last year, the team is hoping to improve despite losing a handful of key players. Coach Rich Reissfelder has been pleased with his team’s performcance so far.
“So far, so good, we have a lot of guy coming back, we only graduated four. We lost our goalie, which is tough, but we have good leaders so we will see,” said Reissfelder.
Due to the turnover in players, the Tigers will be relying on some of their returning leaders to fill the void left by the departing players.
Reissfelder is confident in his team’s talent and leadership heading into the season.
“We’ve got Kerry Crepeau returning. He is a great player. He plays well both ways and can play all three zones. We also have Rick Ruck, Joe Anders and Cody Sevigny. We have some great leaders in our upperclassman that should carry us,” said Reissfelder.
The Tigers are also welcoming a few new faces – and players like freshman Colin Petit are poised to contribute.
When assessing his team’s overall look, Reissfelder likes the speed and athleticism of the players, but also admits that he would like to see a bit more physicality on the ice.
“We’re not physical enough. We need to be more physical and more aggressive on the body,” said Reissfelder. “But we have great speed. We have great ability to move around and get to the puck, so it’s going to be about finishing plays and putting the puck in the net.”
Reissfelder is also optimistic about his team’s maturity heading into this season compared to last year.
“Hopefully we will be a year smarter, a year older. We have better size this year and a lot of these guys got good ice time last year. Hopefully they learned from that experience and will take the next step,” said Reissfelder.
The Tigers are looking forward to another season and, although they are confident in themselves, they very much respect the competition around them.
“The competition is tough this year. Obviously you have Thornton Academy who is a fast team … they also have a lot of depth which is nice for them. You also have teams like Falmouth and Scarborough and Cheverus is also a wild card since they seem to have a lot of new kids each year. There are a lot of good teams this year.”
The Tigers look forward to challenge are ready to see how they stack up against their rivals.
— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at sports@journaltribune.com or at 282- 1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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