Gojdycz sees talent within Cougars
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
It’s a good thing Andy Gojdycz enjoys being around the hockey rink, because the new Montgomery High ice hockey coach will be there quite a bit.
Gojdycz takes over as the head coach of the Cougars from Rob Scarpa, who had a long and successful tenure leading the program. In addition to coaching at Montgomery, Gojdycz is also the head coach of the Rutgers University ice hockey team and a pair of travel teams.
”The schedules between the two work out well,” said Gojdycz, whose team will open the season on Monday against Watchung Hills. “Montgomery is in the afternoon and Rutgers is in the morning. So there are no conflicts. The schedules laid out to work almost perfect.”
Gojdycz is a Rutgers graduate who has spent nearly all of his time since college around ice hockey. He played his high school hockey at Christian Brothers Academy, where he helped the team to three straight state championships. After graduating from Rutgers in 2001 he played briefly in the ECHL before stepping off the ice to focus on coaching.
In addition to coaching at the club level, Gojdycz has coached at Hightstown and Hunterdon Central.
”It has been a long road for me,” Gojdycz said. “I graduated in 2001 from Rutgers and the next winter I came back and started coaching. The past 10-12 years it has been a grueling effort building the program at Rutgers and making sure we play top notch competition in the country. We have elevated the program to be a top 20 team the past six or seven years. We have been regular season champs in our league six straight years.
”Something I love to do is take a program and elevate it as much as I can. With Rutgers it has been special because it is my alma mater.”
Rutgers participates in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League, which is part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association and the Ice Knights compete against other club level programs. At Montgomery, Gojdycz will lead the Cougars in the always competitive Skyland Conference, which includes some of the top teams in the state.
”It is arguably one of the best conferences in the state this year,” Gojdycz said. “Going against Bridgewater, Ridge, Hunterdon Central and Hillsborough will be tough. Ridge and Bridgewater are in hotbeds for hockey and have talent in their programs. Every single one of their players plays travel somewhere. Even after they graduate players they have kids in the pipeline.”
Gojdycz knows he also has talent to draw on at Montgomery. The Cougars were states finalists in 2006 and 2011 and are coming off a 9-11-5 season.
”The one thing about Montgomery is I can remember they were at one time a powerhouse in the state,” Gojdycz said. “A good breed of player comes out of the town so the players move up to high school and it is a hotbed for hockey talent. I want to continue to build on the tradition that is Montgomery hockey and keep moving the program forward.
”I am definitely excited to coach at Montgomery. I have been exposed to these players and coached some in travel and select so I know a lot of them. We graduated a couple key players. However we have a young team that will graduate six seniors at the end of the year. A majority of our team is freshmen and sophomores. I like where we are in our stage of development right now.”