Last year's team had difficulty finding the net but with another season under their belts, Amherst will have a good mix of power and skilful forwards looking to light the lamp on NESCAC foes. Junior forward and former NESCAC Rookie of the Year Kyle Schoppel will look to build off another impressive campaign last season. Schoppel tallied 20 points with 10 goals and 10 assists. He also had five power-play goals and two game-winning scores. Forward Greg Adamo '08 will also be looking to bring his hard-hitting style to another level this season. Adamo netted seven goals and picked up 10 assists last season and should only have improvement on his mind. Another junior forward, Andrew Schremp, had a knack for scoring in conference play last season. He provided seven goals and six assists against NESCAC opponents. Rounding out the forwards for the Jeffs are Erik Lund '07, Will Collins '09, Brendan Powers '09 and Olufemi Amurawaiye '09, who all posted impressive stats in 2005-06. Also, the return of Trevor Calamel '07 should be a huge boost for Amherst who lost Calamel only 12 games into last year's season.
The Jeffs will look to their 2005-2006 team MVP and leading scorer Sean Ellis '07 to provide leadership and firepower. The lone captain on this year's squad will try to improve on a season that saw him net 10 goals and dish out 14 helpers. For Ellis, he is only focusing on team success right now. "Getting to the conference tournament and winning a first-round game is the goal for now," said Ellis. "I think this team has a lot of talent and depth and will end up having a really good season."
On the blue line Amherst boasts an awesome group that is led by intimidator Brandon Zangel '07 and play-maker Mike McIntosh '08. Zangel and McIntosh were each busy on the offensive side last year, as well, tallying 10 and 11 assists respectively. Rob Stevenson '08 will provide even more depth for the group of defenders, which returns three sophomores. Rylan Burns '09 finished with 12 assists while Jeff Landers '09 and Shane Lennox '09 each had nine assists for the Jeffs. Griffin Biedron '08, who transferred in from the Air Force Academy last year, rounds out the returning defenders.
Manning the crease will once again be Josh Fillman '07, who has been plagued without a backup for much of the past two seasons. His .902 save percentage and 3.18 goals against average should improve with the occasional rest as Sean Lynch '08E and A.J. Scola '09 will provide backup for Fillman.
First-year players Andrew Stevenson and Sean Patterson will add even more depth to Amherst's defensive unit while Joel Covelli '09, Keith Nelson '10, Jack Baer '10 and Ted Vickers '10 will add sparks to the Amherst attack.
NESCAC Notes
Three-time defending National Champion Middlebury College will again be the favorites to win the conference. Middlebury defeated Bowdoin College in last year's NESCAC Championship while Hamilton and Trinity Colleges rounded out the Final Four.