The Hall Southington hockey team had a great season last year, finishing as the runner up of the division 3 state championship. The team was rewarded by getting moved up to division 2. However, Hall Southington is not worried about this new challenge. They look forward to showing off their talent against better teams.

Hall Southington has some new talent that could prove to be very helpful in this upcoming season. This includes first line forward, senior Jake Albert, from Southington. He looks like he has a lot of potential and could be a major goal scorer for Hall Southington. Some other newcomers include Liam Stone, Sean Roach, Marco Fusciello, and Bobby Allen. They are all underclassmen, but could prove to have a great impact on the team.

The new captains have recently been chosen, and they are Drew Booth, Andrew Mitchell, Brendan Moore, and Jake Albert. Booth is confident about this upcoming season, “I think we could be very good this year. We have a great returning foundation and if we work hard we should have a successful season.” The team is not fazed by the transition to division two, and Drew is making sure the team works hard to prove themselves. They took steps in the offseason to make sure they would be prepared, “We have worked hard this off season and are starting the season with an attitude that we will work as hard as possible”, says captain Drew Booth. Drew was one of the assistant captains last year that helped lead the team to the championship, and hopes that he can do it again, in division 2, as the captain.

Last season Hall Southington sometimes had trouble putting the puck in the net. However, this year they have some potential goal scorers including Graham Kennedy. He only had two goals last season but he worked hard in the off season, and is eager to get a chance to play again. Kennedy expects the team to do well this season, “This year we are moving up to division 2 so the competition will definitely be tougher. That being said, we are returning a lot of talent so we should be able to compete with those teams.” Kennedy experienced the work put in during the off-season first hand, and knows that it will help the team. He looks forward to showing off his improved skills to the fans. Hall Southington oftentimes did not bring in a lot of fans but this year Graham has hope for more, “I think we should expect more fans this year, we had good numbers at games this fall so we should continue this through the winter season.” For those that are not sure if they should go, Kennedy says, “Fans should come to see our fast paced and high powered offense. In addition, we return a strong defensive core that hopefully will lead us to win some exciting games.” Only time will tell if Hall Southington will get more fans.

There is some tough competition in net for Hall Southington, with Zach Monti and Harry Freda. Both have shown that they can perform well in previous seasons, and it will be interesting to see who the coaches decide to put in net. Harry has faith that the team will do well, regardless of who is in net, “I think we have a really good chance of making a run during playoffs. Our first 2 lines are really good and can do a lot of damage. Our d core is also really good with 5 solid people I’m confident with any of them out there and both Monti and I are very capable goalies and am confident with both of us.” Not only is Freda one of the goalies for Hall Southington, but he is also a leader of the Blue Reign, and hopes to bring in fans to these games, “I think last year proved that we are a capable Hockey team and now that we are in D2 the games will be much more competitive. Considering I’m blue reign leader, I would hope that I am able to sway people to come and I am confident that my fellow leaders will attend the game and bring fans with them.” The other Blue Reign leaders include Devin Richards, Cole Duzan, and Barrett Kanaga.

Overall, Hall Southington has great potential, but the move to division 2 could be a challenge. However, it seems the team is up to the challenge and excited to prove themselves. The newcomers, along with the returning talent, look like they can be a tough competitor for the other division 2 teams. There is hope for more fans this year, and the team believes they have earned the fan’s respect this year. There should be a significant rise in fans this year. This will be a very interesting season for the Hall Southington hockey team.