The Wayne Knights have had an impressive beginning to their season, but the question in contention is if that success will continue in the later parts of their season. With many seniors elated that fans are allowed back at their games, the Wayne Knights kicked off the 21-22 season on a high note, going 5-2 in their first seven games. The Knight’s hot start to the season eventually trailed off into a wild next seven games going 2-3-2. 

The team is 14 games into the season and there are many names being heard frequently by the announcers. To begin with, Seniors Ben Friedman and Luke Hulbert have been dominating the stat sheets so far. These two have been playing together on varsity since they were freshman and have shown great progress throughout their high school careers. When asked when the team does its best, Hulbert responded with, “I believe when the defense is on point, our offense excels that much more. When we play together, as one, we play the best hockey we can.”

Although the seniors have done an incredible job this season, they wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of a couple other players. Seniors Joey Riina and Josh Flom have been a problem for many other teams. Riina has a respectable 18 points in the season, although he finds himself in the penalty box in a lot of their games. Although only having 6 total points on the season thus far, don’t be fooled, he is a brick wall on defense and has made scoring incredibly difficult for many opponents. A sophmore that has had a massive impact on the offensive side of the ice is Michael Brogna. Recording a solid 27 points, he has the second most points on the team (behind Hulbert) and has found the net the most times on the team (19 goals). Juniors Chris Wolfsohn and Josh Shpungin have also been workhorses for the Knights. Shpungin, with 25 points, has been very selfless, recording 17 assists (team’s second most behind Hulbert) and 8 goals. Wolfsohn has been pretty much even, recording 7 goals and 8 assists. 

It will be very interesting to see how the Knights do coming into these last six games of the regular season with a 7-5-2 record. When asked how he feels the Knights will finish off the regular season, senior Alex Gilman said, “I believe that if they continue to trust each other and are able to control their emotions and stay out of the penalty box, they have a very good chance of winning these final six games. As a fan, it has been a wild season to watch but what this team does best is grind, if they grind out 45 minutes of hockey, I don’t see a team beating them.”

It will be interesting to see how this team does in the coming games and who excels for the team. The Knights take the ice against Ramsey on January, 21st, a high-stakes game with any power points on the line.