Renegades Finish 1st Half Winning 7 out of the last 9 Games!  Then bring toys to kids in the hospital!!!

Pictured are Renegades Jr players and Head Coach Pete Rossi.  We as a club collected toys and brought them to the sick kids in The Children's Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.  Great job everybody, specifically to Francine Lakatos for organizing everything!

With the Holiday Season underway and the team on break until early January the Renegades managed to finish the 1st half winning 7 out of their last 9 games.  “We ran into a huge injury situation in the 10 games or so from mid Oct. to mid Nov. and it certainly made things very tough during that time" said Head Coach Pete Rossi.

The Renegades began the season scoring 48 goals in 11 games for an avg. of 4.4 goals per game.  The next 10 games during this "injury plagued period" they only scored 22 goals for an avg. of 2.2 goals per game.  Asst. Coach/GM Cliff Graziano added “Our goal output was cut in half; although we played better defensively, because we knew we absolutely had to in order to put ourselves in a position to have a chance, we just didn’t get the scoring necessary needed to pull off a few more wins”.  We lost three 1-goal games and three 2-goal games.  I can’t help but think if we didn’t have the injuries we had that we would’ve at least managed a minimum of a .500 record during this difficult time in our schedule.  We understand it’s part of the game and a lot of teams go through the injury bug, but we can’t get those games back and can only hope we don’t have to go through it again.

Much of the offense on the season came from the top line forwards #17 ALEC DUGAN(asst. capt.), #16 NICK GRAZIANO, AND #14 SCOTT SCHNELL.  Dugan, a 1997 birthyear fwd spends most of his time playing with 2 of the young kids in 2001 forwards Graziano & #18 Anthony Zito.  “I joke around that I’m the babysitter of the line, but these 01’s are pretty good and we actually compliment each other well"; said Dugan.  Alec has managed to lead the team in points in GP: 30 / G: 21 / A:24 / Pts: 45.  Following him is Graziano who has a stat line of GP: 25 / G: 19 / A: 9 / Pts: 28.  Schnell plays with Dugan and Graziano from time to time and has amassed GP: 28 / G: 9 / A: 17 / Pts: 26 to finish off the 1st half.  Zito is 5th on the team’s scoring list with a stat line of GP: 28 / G: 12 / A: 6 / Pts: 18.

The Defense is lead by the leadership of their Captains #7 Jon Kwestel and #21 Josh Davis.  J. Kwestel has an offensive output of GP: 29 / G: 5 / A: 14 / Pts: 19.  His brother #27 Brandon Kwestel who finished the 1st half with a bout of mono has been a help on both sides of the puck.   Asst. Captain #83 Nick Monticchio, #4 Brian Frister and #9 Tom Brady round out the solid D-core.  “Our D is on the older side and really have a hug impact on the overall team concept and chemistry.  They need to and will be a big part of our success come playoff time"; said Rossi.

The Goaltending is bolstered by all 3 goalies...  #35 Tom Fornabia #33 Jake Lakatos and #30 Jordan Elisee.  “Lakatos’s stats are not quite as strong as the other guys, but in my opinion he has faced the tougher schedule.  It’s just part of the position, the stats don’t always tell the story” said Graziano.  “They’ve all played well at points and they’ve all had times where they had a few struggles”.  Going into the 2nd half of the season we will look to see who will emerge and head into the playoffs as the #1 guy”.

The Renegades finished off their home schedule of the 1st half with a toy drive, where some of the players and Coach Rossi will deliver to The Children’s Specialized Hospital in Brunswick, NJ.

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday season and we’ll see you all in the new year!