With experience, Shaler hockey team able to add to gameplan

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, October 3, 2019 | 7:56 PM

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Shaler Area hockey coach Steve Stayduhar enjoyed this offseason much more than the last one.

Instead of worrying about how he would would guide a Titans’ roster which lacked numbers or experience, Stayduhar was able to work on more complex subjects.

Some of those intricacies showed up in Shaler’s opener, a 6-3 loss to Plum last Wednesday. The Titans outshot Plum 39-26 and went 1 for 4 on the power play.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on the power play,” Stayduhar said. “Last year, it was difficult because we didn’t have the personnel. The thing was, the power play is going to be a huge asset. We’ve been executing the breakout and haven’t had problems with it. We’ve introduced a lot of movement.”

Luke Beran scored for Shaler with the man-advantage off assists from Justin Newton and Sam Stayduhar. Stayduhar and Joey Laquatra also scored for the Titans.

“I think we have a lot of fast skaters and fast puck movers,” Sam Stayduhar said. “We have a lot of skill this year up front. We have a solid defense as well.”

Last season, the Titans struggled to score goals and were forced to play a number of call-ups due to injuries. Shaler was working on rebuilding and saw some of the fruits of their labor with the junior varsity program.

The Titans won the Franklin Regional preseason tournament Sept. 17.

“They looked very good there,” Steve Stayduhar said. “We knew we were going to struggle two years ago when we lost all the seniors. We put serious effort into building. A lot of practices are mixed JV and varsity. We wanted to get as many JV players experience at the speed they have to play.”

Shaler brought back much of its varsity roster, but will have a new netminder.

Anthony Hefferin and Ryan Bragg split time in net for the Titans in their season opener.

“Both goalies are handling it well,” Steve Stayduhar said. “Going into the season, they are splitting time until someone establishes himself.”

Shaler will try to find its way to the Class AA Penguins Cup playoffs by competing for the Northeast Division Championship. The Titans are in a division with Armstrong, Hampton and Plum.

The Titans are hoping an offensive mindset will put them on the right path.

“I would say just keeping our heads and playing consistently every game,” Sam Stayduhar said, identifying the areas the team needs to improve.

Tags: Shaler