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Spartans Finding Their Footing in First Year

By Brian Lester, 12/08/19, 11:30AM EST

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It’s been a bit of an up and down season so far for the Seacoast Spartans. They are 10-11 through 21 games and had dropped their last three games heading into Thanksgiving.

Head coach Brett Tryder said the toughest part has been dealing with some of the better teams in the Eastern Hockey League.

“We’ve had a tough time with the top teams,” Tryder said. “Our special teams has struggled at times and we have to be able to find more scoring.”

Tryder said the key to ramping up the scoring for a team that has scored 63 goals while allowing 67 is doing the little things better and capitalizing more on power-play opportunities.

“It starts with the power play,” Tryder said. “When you do well there, it leads to more positivity. We also have to do the little things around the goal to create more scoring chances. It’s something we are working on in practice.”

Tryder noted that scoring can be contagious.

“If you can get one goal, you might end up getting three,” Tryder said. “We’re showing signs that we can be a good offense and we’ll get there.”

Defensively, Tryder notes that his team hasn’t given up a ton of shots, and that’s an encouraging sign for the Spartans going forward.

Nick Nault and Danny Young are tied for the team-lead in points. Nault has seven goals and eight assists and Young has come through with eight goals and seven assists.

Scott Osani, Jake Bojarzin and Shea Flanagan all have 10 assists apiece for the Spartans.

Nevin Tardif has seen the most time in goal, playing in 17 games. He has five wins and has made 299 saves. Devin Barresi has won four games and has 219 saves.

And while the Spartans have struggled at times, they know the potential is there to have a great deal of success.

“We’re right there,” Tryder said. “We are finding our identity as a team and want to have a good month of hockey here in December. We just have to keep playing hard.”