Titans head into 2016 with deep talent

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 12/1/16

Mike Champagne has been in the high school coaching business for 10 years, but he has rarely had as much depth as he has now. The Toll Gate head coach charges into the new season with all of his top-scoring

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Titans head into 2016 with deep talent

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Mike Champagne has been in the high school coaching business for 10 years, but he has rarely had as much depth as he has now.

The Toll Gate head coach charges into the new season with all of his top-scoring forwards and goaltender returning, to go with the addition of several talented Warwick Vets players.

Juniors Will Fox and Max Fields, as well as sophomore Jack Dean, are back to anchor the Titans’ offensive attack with some crosstown assistance. Fields will miss the first few games of the year, but the addition of junior Collin Csoszor and seniors Jake Mitchell and D.J. Kowalik can more than neutralize his absence.

Merging players from two teams may seem difficult on the surface, but Champagne said the marriage of the programs has been smooth sailing.

“So far, so good,” Champagne said of the chemistry between the Toll Gate and Vets kids. “A lot of them played together this summer. You could tell this summer, there was some excitement for it. They were looking forward to it. They’ve gotten comfortable and ready, and they’ve had enough time to think about it. These guys have played together since they were really young so it’s not a huge transition for them.”

Csoszor was ninth in the state in scoring last year for Vets, notching 23 goals and 13 assists during the ’Canes’ final season. Mitchell and Kowalik tallied 28 and 26 points, respectively, to post impressive junior campaigns.

There should be some healthy competition between the Vets crew and incumbent Toll Gate scorers to put up points. Senior captain Connor Sullivan’s 18 points were tied with Fox for the team lead, and Fields and Kyle Palumbo bring back their combined 19 points to the ice.

“The depth in talent up front is huge,” Champagne said. “We didn’t graduate any of our leading scorers at forward. Missing a few depth guys and guys who contributed a lot, but as far as the scoring up front, to add them to the mix and add Noah Kane, Jake Mitchell, guys who can play top-6 minutes at the D-II level, it gives you a good top 9, top 12.”

While the assorted lines should not have much of an issue producing goals, the defense could be a work in progress. Captains Jake Stachurski, Nolan O’Brien and Sean Vittum all graduated in the offseason, leaving Champagne to fill the void of not only their skill, but also their leadership.

“We’ve got some guys who can play,” Champagne said of his defense. “The Toll Gate guys, the Vets guys coming over, we see that they're improving and it’s becoming more complete. We’re working on those deficiencies. So there’s six or seven guys we have to mold into a top 5. If all of them play great, we’ll roll six [defensemen], but it’s a matter of getting what we need out of them and finding good spots for them.”

The Titans have a sophomore stalwart between the pipes no matter who gets rolled out on the blue line. Austin Sequeira was formidable for Toll Gate last season, making 307 stops for an .890 save percentage.

Champagne said his goaltender has brought a noticeable uptick in confidence to the crease in an effort to build on his strong freshman outing.

“The first game he played last year was a win, which is great, but it was a back-and-forth game and there were times where you could see his head sink,” Champagne said. “You see halfway through the year a completely different player. In practice, more vocal, ready to go, kind of chirping the other guys, adding a little bit of excitement to practice. He’s grown a little bit, he’s always had good technique. He works hard at the game, and he wants to get better.”

The Titans open the Division II slate with contests against two squads coming from vastly different situations.

Their league opener comes this Saturday at 6 p.m. on the road at Ponaganset, the reigning Division III champion. The Chieftains ascended to the level of D-II after dominating to the tune of a 17-1 record. They also tout the state’s fifth-leading scorer from last year, Ryan Watts, who registered 44 points.

The following Friday at 7:30 p.m., Toll Gate hosts Coventry, which was realigned into Division II from the former Division I-Eccleston. The Oakers will have no qualms about competing in D-II, where they won back-to-back state titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

“There’s a big difference moving up or moving down,” Champagne said. “You’ll see sometimes when teams move up, that they don’t realize even less talented teams have gone through the struggle, know how to survive, know how to play in close games. In Ponaganset, what are they when they move up. Coventry moving down, the complete opposite. A team playing with a little bit of confidence, knowing they can play at this level.”

Toll Gate is still trying to figure out its identity, and Champagne is still tinkering with first-line possibilities and beyond. The Mitchell-Csoszor-Palumbo combination was effective against Pilgrim during a 3-3 Injury Fund tie last week, so that is one of Toll Gate’s numerous options heading into Levy Rink this weekend.

If the Titans can get the most out of their dynamic forwards, steadily improving defenders and consistent goaltender, they can be in the mix for their first championship since 2004-05.

“Every forward you can dress you can roll out there pretty easily,” Champagne said. “Some guys in the past that you put on the PK because they’re your best players, you can put them in positions where they can succeed. They’ll get their time. Every forward out there will see their time cut because we’re deep and we’re good. It adds competition to practice every day.”

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