Marist’s hockey team has had increased success both in the regular season and postseason in the Chicago Catholic Hockey League. The hockey team faced an unexpected change prior to this year’s season with the hiring of two new coaches. The team quickly adapted under new staff and took a step up this year, making semifinals in playoffs and placing fourth in the league during the season.

In August, the Marist hockey team’s head coach resigned leaving the position open. The spot was quickly filled by Marist alumnus, and former captain of the hockey team, Tony Petrancosta. With Petrancosta came another former Marist hockey player and alumnus, assistant coach Jeremiah Kimento, who played Division 1 hockey at Notre Dame. 

The team quickly found success at the beginning of the season with eight wins and three losses by mid-November. The RedHawks then went on a brief losing stretch, where they then bounced back and ended the season strong at fourth place in the CCHL JV league.  

Marist hockey player Aidan McDonnell (sophomore) says, “We had a great start to the season which really helped us guarantee that fourth place spot.” 

The team went undefeated against Fenwick and St. Ignatius in the regular season and postseason (6 season wins, 2 playoff wins against Fenwick). They made it to the second round after sweeping Fenwick, where they then lost in the elimination game against rival Brother Rice. Although they lost, they put up a good fight, keeping both games close and winning game two of the series in overtime, scored by Marty Nitsche (sophomore). 

The RedHawks also competed in Varsity State Playoffs, where they narrowly lost to Lake Forest 6-5 in the first round. This was the teams first time competing in this tournament their under new head coach.. 

“We fought hard and played pretty good. It was just a few breakdowns defensively and failed conversions that lost us the game at the end of the day,” says goalie Gabe Beltran (sophomore).