Boys water polo / Scouting Northwest

Scouting boys water polo

Mid-Suburban West

The major change in the landscape this year might not be talented players gone to graduation, but rather a coaching switch. Extremely successful Fremd girls coach Brian Newby is now in charge of the Vikings’ boys program. Coupled with strong programs at Conant and Schaumburg and heavy graduation losses for defending West champion Palatine, it figures to be a wide-open race for the divisional crown this season. Fremd eked out a 13-12 win in double OT against Conant last week and topped a quality Hoffman Estates team Tuesday, which could turn out to be keys in their pursuit of a West title.

Conant: The Cougars have high hopes for a very successful season. With swimming skills at a very high level, coach Tim Daniel has a team that is long on experience; it’s also Daniel’s fourth year leading the program so the players are familiar with his system. Daniel says team captains Ryan Haman, Brandon Grzegorek, Ryan Golden and Alan Wojiechowski intend to have this group competing for conference and sectional crowns by year’s end. Haman is in his third year in goal; along with the captains, other key players figure to be attackers Jason Brushaber, and Jon Burke, center Colin Boland, center defender Devin Schmitz and attacker Michael Walsh.

Fremd: Coach Brian Newby inherits a team that was reliably competitive last year but just a notch below the division’s top teams. Driver/d-hole Andre Degla established himself as a top player last season; others who will be key this spring include Daniel Knudsen (driver/d-hole), Dillon Heinlein (driver/set), Ryan Helsdingen (driver/set), John Patrick French (set/driver), Austin Smock (driver), Luke Stark (driver), Josh Ostman (driver) and Max Plichta. Expect the Vikings to put a premium on defense and generate offensive chances from it.

Hoffman Estates: Coach Chris Fetterman has a group that started to make some waves last season with reliable scoring from Adam Pasnicki, Mike Desider, Kevin Jatich and Sang Han. It may be tough to take a big step forward based on the quality of competition in the division, but this is a team that bears watching.

Palatine: The two-time defending champion Pirates lost the bulk of the key players from last year’s squad, including standout goalie Dan Sommerfeld. Coach Joe Grzybek is trying to reload, but the youth/experience hurdle will be a challenge as the senior class is small and the Pirates will be relying on several players who will be learning about the rigors of varsity play as they go. Key familiar faces include junior Christian Kalfas and sophomore Omar El-Hoffi, both of whom saw varsity minutes last year. Seeing varsity action for the first time this season are sophs Wally Kleinfeldt (hole), Krystian Kalev, Mihai Maior; juniors Alex Brons (hole), senior Tom Kunstbeck and freshmen Julian Zieba and Jacob Baran. Sophomore goalie Peter Blackham is getting noticed for his solid play and is already drawing favorable comparisons to Sommerfeld. The question for this team, according to Grzybek, is how quickly it can become consistent after uneven results in the early going.

Schaumburg: Coach Brian Ragano is relying on four proven players from last year’s sectional championship team: Randy Carr, Marty Kwiatowski, Matt McMullen and David Nytko. “We lost a lot of good players, but I am confident we have the players to effectively fill the void,” he said. Ragano is loving the potential he sees in junior goalie Marty Faleni and expects every night to be an adventure in a very competitive division. “I truly believe all six teams in the MSL West are capable of beating any team in the conference on any given night. This should be a fun year for the MSL.”

Mid-Suburban East

Wheeling made quite a splash last season under first-year coach John “Rudy” Means on their way to the divisonal championship. Several key players are gone from that group, but enough are back to give the Wildcats hope of a repeat appearance in the MSL title game. Buffalo Grove and Prospect may have something to say about that, though. Both have more than their fair share of returning senior talent, along with an expectation that success is within their grasp.

Buffalo Grove: Coach Scott Kopecky’s team had a successful season last spring and has made a habit of at least contending for the divisional crown in recent years. There’s every reason to believe that will happen again as the Bison have an abundance of experienced talent, starting with seniors Ian Rodriguez and Jon Mass. Their speed will only help, and BG also has proven performers in Justin MacIsaac and Nick Bouckas.

Elk Grove: Things are looking up for the Grens under coach Rich Hyde. Elk Grove got a 5-goal effort from Marek Burtan in a 9-5 victory over Rolling Meadows on Monday as the Grens picked up their first Mid-Suburban East victory over the season.

Hersey: It’s a young group for coach Dick Mortensen, but it’s a promising one. Last season, the Huskies didn’t get their second win of the season until mid-April; this year they’ve already got win No. 2 after decisively beating Elk Grove and St. Viator. The key players are Mike Kintzle along with seniors Tom Cotey, Alex Roznai, Alex Niemiec. Sophomore George Vladimirov has been starting; junior Jamey Hill is the deep goal and Irv Velasquez will handle shallow; Velasquez allowed just 1 goal in Hersey’s first three games. “I think the thing I am most impressed by is that at the end of the game, the kids want to know how many assists they had and how many steals, not how many goals they scored,” said Mortensen. “This is what team play is about, and the fact that they get this concept will only better our team.”

Rolling Meadows: Coach Bill Christiansen proven performers in Patrick Waterloo, Kevin Fitzsimons and Mark Schmid. Christiansen says the challenge may be blending their abilities with promising freshmen such as Jake Barson and Tony Sarussi.

Wheeling: The defending East champion has re-invented itself after the loss of 12 seniors, but the new version looks quite capable. An early will over Schaumburg demonstrates the Wildcats won’t have a huge drop-off in performance. Second-year coach John “Rudy” Means is relying on Ben Reiff, Dan Shriber, Austin Idhe and Ethan Rosengarden lead a strong cast of returning players. The disappointment of an earlier-than-intended sectional exit last season has kept the group focused. Means says he expects only better competition in the East, and that his new-look Cats “feel they are up the challenge.”

— Aaron Gabriel