The Colonia-Woodbridge-Iselin Kennedy Varsity boys’ ice hockey 2021-2022 season team made history with a record of 16-3-1. Winning 8-3 against Monroe in the GMC Kolodney Cup finals on February 18,2021 made team history with their first GMC final round win ever.
Key players
A season this successful can only be compared to their 2017-2018 season when they went 21-5-1, but lost in the GMC finals. This year’s team consisted of mostly underclassmen with the exception of 5 seniors and 4 juniors. Vital players who made this team go as far as they did this season include junior and captain Hubert Polchlopeck (77) who had a total of 95 points and led the team with 66 assists, along with senior goalie Colin Snyder (30), junior Dylan Godsil (93), and sophomore Ryan Lukko (88) who tied with Polchlopeck in points and led the team with 58 goals.
“It is an honor to have a huge impact on this team. A lot of the players on the team helped me get to this point, one of them being my line-mate Ryan Lukko” stated Polchlopeck when discussing his important role on the team this past season and who helped him get to this point.
Major games this season
The team went against their rival St. Joseph Metuchen on February 2nd, who they have never won against. The final score was 4-4 with Lukko scoring all 4 goals. Assists from these goals came from Godsil, sophomore Chris Walusz (97), Polchlopeck, and Snyder.
“It felt great to be able to get my team that tie because we have never tied or beat St. Joes. Without those very nice assists from Hubert and Dylan though, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
The season came to an end at William G. Mennen Sports Arena on February 28, 2022. The team lost against Morris Knolls 3-5, and scored all 3 points during the second period of the game. Two goals were from Lukko and one was from Godsil. Although the game ended in a loss, Polchlopeck still found a way onto the stats sheet with assists on all 3 goals scored.
Though the team may have lost this quarterfinal round game in the NJSIAA tournament, they still had a great year and proved their ability to win all throughout the season.
Thoughts for next season
“Next year the boys look to win the GMC’s in back to back years and make a further run at states, hopefully winning the first state championship in school history,” said sophomore Braeden Rafferty (13).
With 5 seniors graduating on the team, changes may need to be made next season. In order to keep up with this year’s record, and hopefully get farther in the state championship, the team needs to work hard this off season and next winter.
“Losing a few key players and our goalie will be tough, but I think we can adapt by getting our two sophomore goalies more time and we will need a few more guys to step up and play key positions this following year,” said Rafferty.
2021-2022 season captain Polchlopeck expressed that as a senior next season he hopes, “to be a leader and a mentor for the underclassmen, ” along with stating that “I want to win a state championship next year as a senior.”
Looking forward to next season, leading goal scorer of the team Lukko claimed that, “I will definitely try my best to give my team the best season ever by winning GMC’s and a state championship.”
