Site Editor posted on January 31, 2012 10:35
Last year it was Eddie Sarin, this year Jonny Ruiz and now Alec Nicolai, the latest player from the SJHSIHL to crack the 100 goal mark. Small in stature but big in heart and playmaking ability, Alec came in as a freshman and played in all 22 games his first season and scored 14 goals and in the playoffs had 2 goals and 10 assists as Moorestown won their first of 2 consecutive titles. He followed up with 40 goals in his sophomore season and him and line mate Tyler Woyshner were like poetry in motion as they developed a strong sense of timing and fed off each other’s talent as Woyshner would score 49 goals that year.
We asked Alec about his line mates over the 4 years, “Through the 4 years I’ve played on a few lines and have had some good forwards, like Alex Hashmi, Matt Olbrich and Will Sulpizio. But the one forward that had the most impact was Tyler Woyshner, we seemed to find each other on the ice and make things happen”.
His junior season Alec scored 35 goals in just eighteen games and this season he’s played in just 12 games as he has concentrated more of his time on soccer, more on that later. But it was against Washington Township on January 9th that he scored his 100th goal, probably one of the easiest as it was an empty net goal, but it sealed the win. Coming against Township, who is coached by Mike Glick, someone that Alec played for on the Hollydell Hurricanes team, probably meant a lot to Alec.
We asked him about his coaches and he said, “I have to thank my coaches throughout the years like Howard Griffis and Kevin McGinnis, although Coach Glick is who I have learned the most from and have the best memories with. Playing in the National Championships and losing by one goal in the finals my sophomore year is my favorite hockey memory and then making it to the Nationals my junior year was also great”.
We wondered about pursuing a junior team but Alec never really thought about pursuing that as he was very happy with the success of his travel team and enjoyed playing with his friends at Moorestown and winning 2 titles and hopes to add a third. So then what’s next for Alec?? Over the years hockey has been his first love, but he also likes soccer. When he started looking at colleges he was receiving offers for soccer and so he decided that he will play soccer for Eastern University in the fall. Rather than take a year off and pursue a junior team, he’s decided to start his education and in 5 years hopes to be graduated with a degree in athletic training or education. Sounds like he is on the right path.
Notes: As a matter of information, we do not follow the scoring records of any player and we depend on the club to make us aware of such achievements. Thanks to an e-mail we received and comments from Coach McGinnis and Coach Glick, who went out of his way to make sure we knew about this achievement, which is a tribute to Alec as he stated the scoring record was nice but winning 2 titles meant more, shows that he puts team goals before personal goals, something that I believe comes from your parents.
Written by Mike Costantino