Trenton Devils: Help wanted

TRENTON, NJ – It has been a month since we checked in on the Trenton Devils and they are still in the same place we left them; 3rd place in the East Division and 11th place in the American Conference. Their current record of 13 wins, 19 regulation losses, four overtime losses, and five shootout losses for 35 points represents a 13 point increase since mid-December.

 
The month of December produced only two wins for the Trenton Devils. A 4-3 win in Gwinnett early in the month and a 3-2 road victory against Johnstown on December 26th. The one thing that the T-Devils have had luck in, is their winning record against divisional foes Elmira (5-2) and Johnstown (4-1). Another lucky point has been that those clubs have struggled to win games themselves. Unfortunately Trenton has not beaten their other division rival, the Reading Royals (0-8), yet this season.
 
Trenton kicked off the New Year with a 7-4 win in Elmira, and then returned home the next day to beat the Wheeling Nailers 5-2. A three-game road-trip to Ohio to take on the Cincinnati Cyclones and Toledo Walleye proved to be forgettable, losing two games in regulation and one in overtime.
 
Upon their return to the Sun National Bank Center on January 13^th, the T-Devils found out that the ice surface had been somewhat damaged by dirt. While Trenton was on their road-trip the arena hosted a monster truck event and while the ice was covered by protective boards as it always is during non-hockey events, apparently dirt had made its way through the layers of protection and became impacted in the ice.
 
The arena’s maintenance crew did a commendable job cleaning up what was there, even going so far as to resurface the ice extra times, however the general consensus amongst the players was that the condition of the ice surface was bad once play began. With the ice on Trenton’s half of the rink still somewhat stained the T-Devils pulled off a 4-2 win.
 
That win however, was an island in the sea of losing. The T-Devils went on to drop their next 3 games up until the date of this article; a 4-3 shootout loss to the Florida Everblades, a 3-1 regulation loss to Florida the following night, and then a 4-3 loss to the Reading Royals on Monday January 18th in which the T-Devils fought back to tie the score 3-3, but lost on a Reading goal with 1.2 seconds left on the clock.
 
The reoccurring theme in most of Trenton’s losses was that they either came from behind and fell short or they had a lead then lost it. The team has yet to win more than three games in a row. Two wins in a row are rare for that matter. The only consistency is the lack of winning.
 
Between the pipes, coach Rick Kowalsky has stuck with a strict one game on, one game off rotation between Gerald Coleman and David Caruso. Whether the strategy has any positive effect on the team’s play, other than keeping both netminders happy with their role, has yet to be seen. Coleman had gone over a month without a victory; losing 8 consecutive starts between a November 22nd victory in Kalamazoo and a January 2nd win at home versus Wheeling.
 
Caruso on the other hand averaged one win every four starts during that stretch, all of which came on the road. The Roswell, Georgia native halted a 4-game skid in early December with a homecoming victory in Gwinnett against the Gladiators then halted a 5-game skid later in the month with a 3-2 win in Johnstown the day after Christmas.
 
Despite the difference in the number of wins during the last month and a half, both goaltenders have similar stats on the season so far. Coleman has a GAA of 3.42. His save percentage is 0.892, and his record is seven wins and 14 losses (3 in OT, 4 in a shootout). Caruso has a slightly better GAA of 3.41, a save percentage of 0.899, and a record of six wins and 14 losses (1 in overtime, 1 in a shootout). It should also be noted that neither goaltender has had a shutout yet this season.
 
Not all is doom and gloom in the Trenton Devils’ world though. Jeff Prough, after the first 41 games of the season, has stepped up as the primary point-producer with nine goals and 12 assists, since returning to the club after a stint in the AHL with the Lowell Devils for the month of November. For the moment he is Trenton’s leading goal-scorer and point earner with 14 goals, 14 assist, and 28 points.
 
Trevor Kell is a close second, with 10 goals and 13 assists (23 points) despite missing 14 of Trenton’s 41 games this year due to an AHL call-up in November and an injury in late December and early January.
 
Dan Eves, at one point, was the T-Devils leading scorer, however an upper-body injury has kept him sidelined since mid-December. Brett Wilson and Kory Nagy have dropped-off offensively, with Nagy having the only goal between the both of them since the beginning of December; however other players have stepped up.
 
Among those players are Tony Zancanaro and Jack Combs. Zancanaro, a former 2-year team captain at Providence College, has netted four goals since the beginning of January. Despite his lack of size, he is one of the hardest workers on the team, seeing significant time on the team’s penalty-kill unit and being regarded as a solid body-checker.
 
Jack Combs came to the team from the Alaska Aces, in a trade for future considerations on December 9th, 2009 and has contributed just under a point-per-game for the T-Devils. A pair of 2-goal games in January has Combs sitting at 10 goals and four assists only 18 games into his career as a Trenton Devil.
 
In order to assure themselves a spot in the playoffs this year and to give them a chance at advancing through several rounds the Trenton Devils need to find stronger, more consistent scoring along with some size and intimidation; and that might best be found in different personnel.
 
Looking at the roster, one will find that the majority of players came from the collegiate hockey ranks in either Hockey East or the ECAC. While they are well-educated and ready to step into a good paying job in the real world, players who have taken this path to professional hockey have less game experience compared to players who took the Canadian Junior route due to the fact that collegiate players only play approximately 40 games a year including tournaments and playoffs.
 
The other advantage that the former Canadian Junior players have, is although they are two steps below the NHL, it was more likely that they played alongside and against individuals who are now in the NHL or AHL. Therefore they were playing at a more competitive level prior to arriving in the ECHL.
 
Acquiring two or more gritty forwards of 6’0”- 200 lbs or larger in size for the lineup might give the club the boost that it needs to seriously compete for a playoff spot.
 
Players of the same mold as Johnstown’s Chanse Fitzpatrick or Elmira’s Chaz Johnson, two current players known for their physical play and ability to put the puck in the net when needed. This is something that the Trenton Devils have been missing since they were known as the Trenton Titans, when Scott Bertoli and Rick Kowalsky lead the franchise to their only Kelly Cup in 2004-2005. Until the Trenton Devils’ general manager Chris Lamoriello is willing and able to make such moves, the club may continue to flounder.   
Contact the writer at michael.meier@prohockeynews.com 
Contact the photographer at rob.huelsman@prohockeynews.com