Tim Benner is the new head coach of St. Francis’ Fed hockey team, but he isn’t new to the St. Francis hockey family. He played prep hockey for the Red Raiders and graduated in 2007.
“Ever since I was younger, all my coaches told me, ‘You look a lot better on the bench,'” Benner said with a laugh. “They always wanted me. I had an open offer to come back and coach when I was younger, and I kind of just took advantage of it.”
Paul Yuhas is Benner’s assistant coach this year, and they expect leadership from Evan Herman, a senior in his third year on Fed, and Riley Reddington and Justin Kirst, both newcomers to the Fed team this season. St. Francis hockey is unique in that it has both a Fed team and a prep team, but Benner made it clear that his expectations are still high for his Fed players as both hockey players and young men.
“We’re just trying to maintain a good Franciscan culture. We’re not just trying to make good hockey players; we’re trying to make good men,” Benner said. “Since we have prep varsity, this is our second team. I want to make sure they know that they’re gonna come out of here with a hell of an education and they’re gonna be good people and they’re gonna be good hockey players and we’re gonna have a good season this year. Everybody’s working really hard so far, and I really appreciate the opportunity right now.”
Those expectations are already shared by Herman, Reddington, and Kirst, and the players are already close with each other and the rest of the team. Although they might not have played hockey together prior to this season, the St. Francis culture is evident and has given them a sense of brotherhood.
“I’m expecting a lot,” said Herman. “This is my third season in the Fed. These are my prodigies, Justin Kirst and Riley Reddington. I’ve kind of taken them under my wing and shown them the ropes. I can’t wait to get that neck guard back on and skate out there for those warmups. We’re really looking to bring a good culture here. We got Coach Benner, Coach Paul. We’re ready to rock and roll, ready to win some games — hopefully a championship.”
“We’re just hoping to get all the boys in the scoring,” said Reddington. “Hope it’s a team effort, get everyone scoring, and hopefully win some games.”
“I’m really looking to develop myself as a player, and not only myself,” Kirst said. “I wanna grow together as a team with the guys up there. It’s really important to me and my friends that we have a good season, and it truly is a brotherhood at St. Francis, so this Fed team’s important to us.”
“We have very high expectations, and as Coach Benner said, we want to create a good positive culture for these young men,” added Yuhas.
Herman is the longest tenured Fed player at St. Francis. Reddington moved down from the prep team, and Kirst, a junior, is playing his first year of varsity hockey. While Herman is a clear leader with both his experience and attitude, he expects the team to be one of leaders.
“We got some good seniors this year,” Herman said. “I think I’ve been on the team the longest. Riley’s got a lot of things to offer after coming down from prep, so that’s good. We want leadership from the younger guys, too. It’s not just on the older guys. The older guys can instill it, but the younger kids gotta take it upon themselves to bring leadership and be leaders out there as well.”
“We’re just hoping to lead by both our words and by example,” added Reddington. “Try to work hard every shift and hopefully the younger guys will look up to us and try to follow that.”
Kirst wants leadership to start with even the youngest players on the team; he brought up sophomore goalie Vinny Vaccaro, who looks to be the team’s starter in net this year.
“I think it starts from the back end up with sophomore Vinny Vaccaro in net,” he said. “I think we’re gonna rely on his energy to get us through the season, and he’s really what’s gonna set the pace and the tone for the season.”
“He’s a building block,” Herman added.
Benner expects those two things — goaltending and leadership — to be the Red Raiders’ biggest strengths this session.
“We got Vinny Vaccaro as our goaltender,” Benner said. “He’s a sophomore, came up to play with us, and we got two senior goaltenders, Sous [Nick Sousanidis] and Pio [Eric Piotrowski]. I think they got a lot of leadership here. I think that’s the biggest thing we have as far as strength, is leadership. We have a lot of seniors on this team, a lot of guys who still wanna play hockey, and that’s pretty big.”
They want to play hockey, and they plan to work hard at it. Herman says that’s the biggest strength.
“We have a blue collar work ethic,” Herman said. “We really work hard out there. I know Justin Kirst really prides himself on his blue collar work ethic. Last year was kind of disappointing. We didn’t get too far. We lost to Joe’s in the semifinals, so this year we’re looking to come back and hopefully win that Monsignor Martin championship.”
“Like Herman said, we got some grinders on the team,” said Reddington. “We’re just looking to lay the body out there. I wasn’t on the Fed team last year, but I’ve heard we got a little rivalry with Joe’s, so we’re looking to take ’em on this year.”
“I think really what I was surprised by is our depth in the roster,” added Kirst. “Just coming out, I wasn’t expecting everything that we’ve seen so far, so I like to see that.”
With a prep team above them, St. Francis is pushed down to Division 3 in the Fed for the regular season while Timon plays in Division 2 and St. Joe’s and Canisius are Division 1. But the division alignments do nothing to diminish the memory of losing to St. Joe’s in last year’s Monsignor Martin semifinals or the desire to beat the other private schools. The Red Raiders know they’ll need to continue working hard and that everyone on the team will have to do the same.
“We got a lot of speed this season,” said Herman. “In the past, Joe’s has really beat us with their speed, so this year I think, like Justin said, from the goalie up, we gotta get the puck moving, get the puck in the net, and keep moving.”
“I think we all gotta buy in,” said Reddington. “Like Kirst said, we’re a brotherhood, so we just gotta come together as a team, build the chemistry, and work within our systems.”
“I think we have the skills, but what we really need is to come together as a team, and we’ll see how that develops as the year goes on,” Kirst said. “So what we’re really gonna rely on is our teamwork.”
“I think practices have to come with the same intensity we’ve brought the first couple days here,” said Benner. “We need these guys to be leaders and step up and really, we just gotta put the puck in the net. At the end of the day, that’s what we gotta get done.”
It’s that simple.
St. Francis opens its season Dec. 1 against Lewiston-Porter at Hyde Park. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 pm.