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Interview JP Lefave
CRUSADERS FINISH SEMESTER 6-6-2,
READY TO DEFEND NECHA TITLE
By JP Lefave '05
After a tough semester
of hockey, the Crusaders look to recharge and make a late season
surge beginning with their game at UConn in January. The Crusaders
owe their new NECHA rivals after an early season defeat at the hands
of the Huskies. The Crusaders plan on getting back on track after a
semester that showed much promise with wins against teams such as
NYU (ranked 3rd in the Northeast) and Siena (ranked 4th in the
Northeast). Inconsistency, however, plagued the Crusaders as they
were not able to finish off the semester as well as they had hoped.
The Crusaders hope to be as resilient as in the past and look to
push hard for a strong second semester. Under former Crusader
player and strength/conditioning guru "Cance", the players were
given a new age workout that will keep players in tip top physical
shape and ready to roll once they return. Look for strong semesters
from the wily and crafty veterans and captains Joey Mantovani and
Brian Coleman. The duo hopes to lead their team to success in their
final semesters of competitive hockey. Dr. Bartline plans on being
surgically precise in his goaltending in his quest to lead the
Crusaders to a second straight NECHA championship and a National
tournament bid. The Crusaders will need big semesters from the
vaunted line of Kevin Connolly, Andrew Doherty, and Justin Martin,
as J Mart has promised to stop just simply tooling on opposing
players and also light the lamp. Connolly has also promised to
continue his garbage goals and trash talk. Dots however has not
said a word since October. Once Junior WIlliam Buxton's ear has
grown back he too plans to continue with his snipes. Malden, MA
native Paul Riley continues to be in a euphoric state after the
return of star defenseman Brendan Webb, which coincidently has led
to a sudden drop in penalty minutes, concentrating instead on making
opposing players look foolish. Fellow line mate Joey Mantovani
plans on following the Keith Tkachuk workout while back in St.
Louis, and continue to add to his all time Crusader scoring record
next semester. Junior Chris Heimers has promised to continue
getting bundled as long as it helps the team win sacrificing health
for wins. Sophomore defense/winger Ryan Gardner has said many
things, but nobody has been able to understand the New Hampshire
native. Look for a strong showing from power forward Frank Powers
as he has also shown the ability to slide back and forth from
defense to forward. Grant McGrail will provide steady leadership on
the blue line as the season continues. David Ayres will continue to
prove that he is indeed legit providing a potent scoring duo with
fellow blue liner Brendan Webb. Word has it that HC has began
accepting bids as they will stud Webb out to his thousands of female
fans as if he was a triple crown winning horse. Senior
captain Brian Coleman will just continue being an old man and has
promised that his offensive showings in 3 v 3 tournaments will
finally transfer to games. Denny Wirth and "Mini Riles" will
provide relief in net to Peter Bartline as the Crusaders bid
farewell to John Speer leaving for Australia. All in all, expect
big things from this Crusader team second semester. See you in
January.
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