North Jersey hockey players to watch entering the 2023-24 season
Hockey teams across North Jersey have headed back on to the ice with the regular season set to begin later this week.
A mixture of returning stars, as well as players in important new roles on their team, here are some of the hockey players to watch across North Jersey as the 2023-24 season is about to begin:
Brent Beswick
Northern Highlands junior forward
The leading scorer last season for the highest-scoring team in the Big North, Beswick had 27 goals and 31 assists for the Highlanders.
Michael Ferrante
Fair Lawn/Bergenfield/Dumont junior forward
Ferrante led the tri-op with 33 points, including 17 goals last season. Playing with a young team in a competitive Big North Freedom, Ferrante hopes to lead his team to an improvement in 2023-24.
Jonathan Kalpagian
Ramapo senior forward
With Ramapo losing a lot of talent to graduation, Kalpagian is the leading returning scorer. He had 22 points for the Raiders, who reached the Public B semifinals a season ago.
John Kensicki
Passaic Tech junior defenseman
Kensicki led the Bulldogs with 35 points last season, including a team-high 15 goals. Passaic Tech reached the semifinals of the Big North Gold Cup a season ago.
Matt Nacinovich
Chatham junior forward
Nacinovich had 15 goals and 23 assists as a sophomore to help the Cougars win the Mennen Cup and reach the Public B state final.
Anthony Prunty
Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta senior defenseman
Prunty had 22 goals and 11 assists for the Halvorsen regular-season champions. KJS United won 14 games last season but fell in the first round of the Public C playoffs.
Jack Scali
Ridgewood junior goalie
Scali averaged more than 30 saves per game and had three shutouts in 22 games last season. Scali's .937 save percentage last season lifted the Maroons to the Public A quarterfinals.
Jase Zangara
Randolph junior forward
Zangara scored 17 goals and had 21 assists last season as the Rams won 14 games and reached the Mennen Cup final.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ hockey: North Jersey players to watch entering 2023-24 season
