OPENING SALVO: Hun School boys’ hockey player Ryan Levesque tracks the puck in a game last winter. On Friday, senior forward Levesque tallied three goals and two assists to help Hun defeat the Haverford School (Pa.) 14-3 in its season opener. In upcoming action, the Raiders face LaSalle College High (Pa.) on December 6 at Hatfield Ice Arena and Notre Dame High on December 8 at Grundy Ice Arena before hosting St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.) on December 12 at Ice Land Skating Center. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

For Eric Szeker, playing for the Hun School boys’ hockey team a decade ago left him with the memories of a lifetime.

“I have played on a lot of great teams, I have played in a lot of awesome places across the country and in the Northeast; honestly looking back, it was some of the best times I ever had in hockey,” said Szeker, a 2013 Hun alum who served as the captain of the Raiders in his senior season. “You get to spend eight hours a day with some of your best friends. You get to wear your school logo. We had that locker room over at Ice Land. It is no NHL locker room, but it is still your place where you get to hang out with friends, have lunch, and do homework.”

After playing juniors for the Cape Cod Islanders, Szeker went on to play four years at Western New England University, a Division III program based in Springfield, Mass.

“I enjoyed every second of it, it was a lot,” said Szeker, reflecting on his college career. “It was like a second full time job in school along with the academics. It was great learning lessons along the way for sure. I loved every moment I got to play there as well.”

After graduating in 2020, Szeker took a hiatus from hockey but realized that he missed the game. He moved back to New Jersey from New England and contacted his Hun coach Ian McNally to seek coaching opportunities.

“I reached out to Ian and asked if he had any availability at Princeton Youth to start coaching,” recalled Szeker. “He was like, ‘I got one team for you.’ It was a Pee Wee B team so I hopped on. I started out as an assistant coach and it took on a life of its own. I wanted to help with learn to skate and learn to play. I have always loved working with the super young kids, getting kids into hockey and teaching them the basics.”

Last winter, Szeker started working with the Hun program. “Ian said, ‘I need help with the JV guys. Do you want be an assistant with them and taking over as the main hockey guy with them?’ He said, ‘If you want to work with the varsity team sure, you can come out.’ Like with other coaching things, that took a life of its own. It went from once or twice a week I was with varsity to I seem to have a good bond with a couple of the kids. Ian said, You can come to as much as you want.’ I was happy to be there, so I showed up to every game or practice I was able to go to.”

With McNally stepping down as head coach this past spring, Szeker put his hat in the ring and ended up getting the job.

“Hun opened up the job to everybody and I went through the process, and a couple of months ago I got the call and I was through the roof,” said Szeker, 28, who does analytical chemistry for a water company when he isn’t on the ice. “It is almost humbling in a way. It is one of these things where you have such great memories of being a player there and for them to recognize you to be able to take over is just incredible. I want to be able to give back like my coaches did.”

In taking the helm, Szeker wants to maintain the staples of the program that have meant so much to him.

“My message to them was that a lot of things are going to remain the same,” said Szeker. “The biggest thing as I learn the whole process as a coach is that the culture has to remain the same. It is being good to the younger kids, making it a place that everybody wants to come to every day and every day trying to make the program a little bit better than it was the day before. Your skills aren’t always going to be there. But I have a couple of things that I ask for every day — come to the rink with a great attitude ready to learn, ready to be coached. If things go wrong, be the guy who lifts somebody up. Those are the things we can control, work ethic and being a good teammate.”

With his Hun background and a year coaching with the program, things have been going smoothly with Szeker leading the way.

“There has been a little bit of an adjustment, the guys seem bought in and excited when they show up to the rink every day,” said Szeker. “The transition has gone extremely well. I was nervous for certain things and aspects of it, but everything has seemed to go pretty well.”

Things went very well for Hun in its season opener last Friday as it rolled to a 14-3 win over the Haverford School (Pa.). Sophomore Jake Beck sparked the Raiders in the win, tallying four goals and three assists. Senior Ryan Levesque chipped in three goals and two assists with senior Brendan Marino contributing three goals and one assist, sophomore Joachim Neverdal adding a goal and two assists, and senior Justin Laplante getting a goal and an assist.

Coming into the opener, Szeker was confident that his senior forwards would produce. 

“We have Marino (11 goals, 8 assists in 2022-23), Jack Neckritz (3 goals, 2 assists), Laplante (17 goals, 21 assists), and Levesque (7 goals, 16 assists), those are the four forwards who are really going to be leading the way,” said Szeker.

“Justin is an absolute beast; he flies around, he has a great attitude. He is great to the younger guys and comes in with a smile every day. Brendan has looked incredible as well. I admire his hockey IQ and ability to play the game at different speeds and use deception to create time and space for himself. Ryan was a big guy last year and I think he was hitting the weights and he got a little bit taller, a little bit bigger. One of the biggest things I noticed is that his skating has gotten a lot better, he has added a couple of steps to his game.”

The addition of such younger players as Beck, Neverdal, junior Luke Rassier, junior Bailey Cook, sophomore Nate Trawinski, and sophomore Anders Van Raalte will add depth and talent to the Hun forward unit.

“We are going to mix and match as we go along, we have a lot of sophomores,” said Szeker.

On defense, senior Charles-Etienne Jette (4 goals, 3 assists) has moved to the blue line and figures to make a big impact.

“Charles was a forward last year for a bit, he is going to be our No. 1 guy back there,” said Szeker. “He is going to see a lot of different situations this season, he is going to see a lot of ice time.”

The rest of the Hun defensive unit will feature senior Aiden Shine (3 assists), senior Alex Peek, junior Jake O’Connell (1 assist), sophomore Chase Preston (1 assist), and sophomore Andrew Darst.

“We have a couple of seniors like Aiden and Alex who bring a lot of experience and veteran leadership to that group,” said Szeker. “They are older, bigger, and a little bit faster. They have played on the varsity team before on defense, so I expect them to bring a lot to the table. Jake was a forward last year, he is a smaller, feisty guy, but his ability to move the puck was something that he showed out almost from day one when we put him back. He is super high IQ player. Chase was a JV guy last year; he is a bigger body, he skates well. Andrew played a couple of games on varsity last year. Those two guys are similar to Jake, they have a high hockey IQ and adjust to the game quickly.”

Hun boasts three good guys at goalie in senior returner Julien Arseneault (307 saves, .875 save percentage in 2022-23) and a pair of newcomers in senior PJ Angotti and junior Patrick Donoghue.

“Goaltending is probably where we are strongest, Julien is back and we have two other phenomenal goalies,” said Szeker. “We got a transfer from Trinity Pawling in PJ, he is an unbelievable goalie. Patrick is a Finnish native, he is incredible as well. We have three really good goalies. We are going to rotate it and go from there. It is one of those things where they are all capable of doing the job and it is going to be up to those guys to decide who takes the lead role.”

With Hun facing LaSalle College High (Pa.) on December 6 at Hatfield Ice Arena and Notre Dame High on December 8 at Grundy Ice Arena before hosting St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.) on December 12 at Ice Land Skating Center, Szeker is looking for his veterans to spark the squad in the early going.

“The senior leadership is going to be super important, we have got a lot of young guys who are going to be making a big jump this year,” said Szeker. “I think the talent is there, we need our older guys to take the younger guys along with them, especially in the first couple of games to get used to the play. We are going to rely on our goaltending and our ability to keep the puck out of the net. We are going to rely on some of older guys to score some goals early while the younger guys adjust.”