From The Hawk Newspaper
By Tyler Nguyen
The St. Joe’s men’s hockey team is facing new challenges this season after winning their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference Championship last semester.
With a new division and a young roster, the Hawks are working through what senior defenseman and captain Peter Boarman called “growing pains.”
“Since we won last year, we had to move up to the next division, so it’s a little tougher,” Boarman said. “We have tougher games, so kind of just trying to fit ourselves in this new league.”
The Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League competes under the American Collegiate Hockey Association and features multiple levels of competition. After competing in Division 2 Elite last season, St. Joe’s moved up to Division 2 Premier.
Head coach Dean Keeney said one advantage of the new division, which includes highly competitive programs in the southeast U.S., is that it helps St. Joe’s hockey program to become a “destination” program itself.
“The league is getting better and better every year, and some of the programs down south are building a ton of rinks and coaching players that may have not gotten the most ice time at Division 1 schools,” Keeney said.
“With us, it’s a jump that I want to make,” he added. “I want to keep doing a good job recruiting because this area has so many hockey players in the Philadelphia, South Jersey area.”
The transition has brought early season challenges for the Hawks, who are currently 0-3 in conference play, after finishing last year with a 12-0 record for conference games.
Following the 2025-2026 season, the Hawks graduated 10 seniors, leaving a significant gap of experience and leadership. With 16 first-years to fill the void, the team is working to build chemistry and establish a new sense of identity, Keeney said.
“We’ve been big on trying to get back to what made it successful last year,” Keeney said. “It was things like our forecheck, playing with accountability, making sure everybody does their job and ultimately just kind of buying in as a team because we got a lot of new fresh faces.”
With so many new players to the roster, returning players like senior assistant captain and forward Mikey Brazill have taken on greater responsibilities and leadership roles.
“[I] kind of just want to show the younger guys and be a mentor on the ice and off the ice too,” Brazill said.
Keeney hopes these friendships he encourages among players off the ice will help them on the ice as well.
“You’re going to want to play harder for your friend,” Keeney said. “You’ll be more willing to block a shot for your friend. You’re gonna be more willing to skate harder. You pass him the puck right where normally you might look him off and take the shot.”
The Hawks hope to turn the season around at the ACC Premier Fall Classic this weekend in Washington DC. They take on Virginia Tech Nov. 6, followed by matches against St. Thomas Nov. 7 and West Virginia Nov. 8.
(Originally published at https://sjuhawknews.com/41079/sports/hockey-team-juggles-new-roster-tougher-league/)
