The Clippers are coming off an impressive weekend that saw them record 4-0 wins on the road over Ponaganset High and Tolman High. They also lead the division in goals scored (16) and allowed (two), and their excellent play has been somewhat of a surprise to coach Mark Andreozzi.
“Not to discredit the kids, but when you graduate a big class that’s coming off a state championship, you expect to have that dip a little bit,” he added. “But they have done a really good job, and we’ve been fortunate so far with the way we’re playing.”
Andreozzi and the Clippers will hope their good fortune continues on Saturday night when they face a veteran Sentinel team (that lost to the Clippers in last year’s semifinals) at 7:30 p.m. at Adelard Arena.
“I happened to see them play each other last Saturday night before our game against Tolman (at Lynch Arena),” Andreozzi reported of St. Raphael Academy and the Sentinels. “I think there’s a lot of good teams in our league, but they looked extremely good on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a very tough challenge for us. There’s no doubt that we’re younger and less experienced than (Smithfield), but we spent this week in practice trying to get ready for them, so we’ll see what happens.”
Regardless of what happens this weekend, it’s been a great start for a young team that was forced to fill in the blanks after losing one of the league’s best defensemen in Eric Meunier, their three top scorers (Kyle McLaughlin, Matt Jones, and Nick Haase), and superb netminder Ed Norberg to graduation.
Offensive, the Class of ’08 accounted for 54 goals, nearly two-thirds of the team’s output, but several players have picked up the slack, beginning with senior defenseman Michael Darlington, who produced a hat trick against the Tigers and leads the team in goals (six) and points (eight).
Senior right wing Matthew Hayes, who had eight goals and as many assists last winter, currently has three goals and four assists, as does freshman right wing Mike Kinch, who promises to be a very good player for years to come.
Junior right wing Zach Dohring, who was the team’s fourth-leading scorer last season with nine goals and 12 assists, has also contributed to the attack.  
“You look at that sophomore-junior class that didn’t get much playing time last year because of our big senior class,” added Andreozzi. “Some of those guys were either third- or fourth-liners last year that either got minimal time or no time at all.
“(Sophomore right wing) Joshua Engels was playing really well until he got hurt. (Junior left wing) Nick Donnelly has been playing extremely well, and (junior center) Zach Scunzio and (sophomore left wing) Eric Johnson have also done a good job.”
Another underclassman who has stepped up in a starring role is sophomore Michalangelo Federici. Last year, he saw just 16 minutes of playing time as Norberg’s understudy, but this year, he has done an admirable job, turning away 73 of the 75 shots he has faced.
“He’s played well in these first few games,” said Andreozzi. “He’s been up to the challenge as a first-year goalie.”
Of course, the challenge for Federici and his teammates continues this week, but Andreozzi, as he did last year, has been preaching to his players to take a “one game at a time” approach to the season and treat each contest as if it’s a difficult test.
“We’ve only played four games out of 18,” remarked Andreozzi. “We still have 14 more to go. There are so many good teams in our division that we haven’t seen yet, and we’re going to see two of them this weekend. All we can do is play our best and take everything one game at a time.”