West Morris 2018-19 team preview

LAST SEASON: The Wolfpack had a bit of an up-and-down 2017-18 season, which saw it finish with a 10-9-4 overall record, with its season ending with a 5-0 loss to eventual Public C champion Summit in the Public C quarterfinals. It also made a nice run to the Halvorsen Cup final, after upsetting Vernon in the semifinals.

HEAD COACH: Phil Togno, third season. 17-19-6 career record at West Morris.

CONFERENCE AND CLASSIFICATION: MCSSIHL-Halvorsen Division; NJSIAA Public C.

KEY PLAYERS GRADUATED: West Morris was hit very hard by graduation after a successful year last year. In total, 13 players graduated, most notably forwards Jarrett Ortiz, Ryan Hall, Andrew McKernan, and Tom Nardone.

FORWARDS: The team's offense will be led by seniors Andrew Bauer and Zack Mosser. Mosser was actually one of the team's two goalies last season, but will be making the jump up to forward for this year. Also look for contributions from junior Kyle Roe and sophomore Andrew Spina.

DEFENSE: West Morris will be led defensively by senior Kieran Gruby, who tallied 14 goals and 15 assists last year from the blue line. Junior Cam Vino posted two goals and nine assists last season as well. The squad will also count on freshman Max Michalski to handle a lot of minutes early on in the year.

GOALTENDING: Freshman Tyler Muselik will be taking over the starting duties this season for the Wolfpack. Senior Jeffrey Ward is also coming off a solid year in 2017-18, after posting a .903 save percentage.

OUTLOOK: This figures to be a bit of a rebuilding year for West Morris after its nice run to the Halvorsen Cup final and the Public C quarterfinals a year ago. There will certainly be a lot of youth on this team- with 13 seniors graduated, many freshmen will be counted on to take on minutes, including in goal and on defense. Whether or not this team can get back into the state tournament this year will largely be dependent on how quickly things come together with such a young team.