The last two seasons in Division II haven’t gone as planned for the Johnston/North Providence co-op hockey team.
The Cougars were dominant for two-straight seasons in Division III prior to moving up to D-II two seasons ago.
However, the Cougars managed just four wins over the last two seasons, going 0-18 in 2012-13 and 4-14 last year.
After hanging tough and keeping games close against some of the top competition in D-II, the Cougars have decided to return to D-III for this season, hoping to encounter a little bit more success.
“We had a tough go the last two years in Division II,” head coach Stephen Morrison said. “We had a lot of close games, but not many wins.”
Despite the lack of success in D-II, Morrison was happy with the structure of his team and the way that his team handled themselves during the two-year stint.
“We had a good time and we enjoyed the quality of hockey,” Morrison said. “I was happy that the kids remained close through all of the losses. When you’re losing, kids can start to blame other kids, but that didn’t happen with our team.”
With the return to D-III, Morrison and the Cougars are hoping to get in the win column more frequently.
They’ll return some of their top contributors from a season ago, in forwards Nicholas Threshier from North Providence and Sam DaCosta and Justin Harvey from Johnston.
The Cougars graduated its top scorer from last year in Stephen Morrison, the coach’s son, who totaled 10 points on five goals and five assists. They also graduated other key contributors in forward Nicholas Fournier, defenseman Antonio Manzotti and goaltender Joe Peters.
However, DaCosta, Threshier and Harvey were the next three scorers for JNP behind Morrison with nine, seven and six points respectively.
Threshier was the team’s top goal-scorer from a season ago with six.
Defensively, the Cougars have quite a bit of experience, with senior John Gibau of North Providence highlighting the group of returners for JNP.
Another main contributor on defense from North Providence will be junior Justin Gomes, while junior Jacob McCullough will also log a lot of minutes on the back end.
The Cougars will have some competition in net, as Johnston freshman David Kelly and North Providence senior Andrew Costa-Curtis will battle for minutes between the pipes.
Morrison, who was a goalie himself, acknowledges that competition amongst players is a good thing and will start whoever earns the time.
“Competition is a really good thing,” Morrison said. “It’s going to force the kids to work hard and not take anything for granted. Whoever makes the most saves will get the minutes.”
Other players on the roster are Andrew Costa, Gibau, Brian Iannuccillo, Nathan Nye, Mike Petracca and Brendan Shea of North Providence, plus Johnston’s Sean Anderson, Justin Blais, Hunter Gervais, Shawn O’Brien, Ryan Sandbach, Zachary Szumita and Brad Townsend.
Morrison will be assisted by Dave Centrachio behind the bench this season.
The Cougars will open play this weekend with two games against Warwick Vets and Ponaganset.
The slate of games for JNP will definitely be less rugged than a schedule that featured the likes of Cumberland and Lincoln in D-II last year.
“The kids are really excited to be competitive again,” Morrison said. “It’s been tough to be at the bottom of the league for the last two years. We’re hoping for more success in Division III.”
Morrison is hoping that the days of zero and four-win seasons will be long behind his team with the move back down to D-III.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get in the win column more often,” Morrison said.
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