Penn Yan returns this season a favorite for their nineteenth Section Five Championship.  The Mustangs return eighteen players from their 2013 roster.  Bradley Voigt (Syracuse) returns as the leading goals and points scorer for 2013.  He finished the season with 57g-40a (179g-112a in his career).  A first Team All Section selection in both 2012 and 2013, he is joined in the offense by attackman Rion Davison (Hartford) with 34g-21a and midfielder Andrew Perl (Coker) with 48g-14a. Sophomore middie Austin Fingar committed to Cornell last fall and will help with face offs. Defensively, Brandon Maciejewski (Stony Brook) returns for his fourth season starting between the pipes.  He finished last season with a 67.68% save percentage.  Over the last four seasons Brandon has a total save percentage of 64.23%.  He was named to the first team All Section list the last two seasons and was named to the second team as a freshman.  The Mustangs had the second best defense  rating last season with a 3.9 goals against average with the highest goals against in any game coming from Geneva (10 goals).  Penn Yan graduated heavily from the close defense and will need to replace key positions coming into this season.  However, Coach Brian Hobart has a history of making stars out of new players.  With only four new players coming to their roster this season, expect to see some new names standing out at Penn Yan this season.

Geneva made it to the finals last season for the first time in the last six years, where they were defeated by Penn Yan.  The Panthers return forty-one percent of their roster with thirteen new players joining the team.  Last season, Geneva finished with the highest ranking offense (14.88 goals per game) as well as the highest ranking defense (2.69 goals against per game).  The Panthers graduated a significant portion of their offense.  Leading goals scorer Sean Cunningham (Hobart) who had 64g-43a and leading assister Drew Feinberg (28g-60a) both graduated.  Cunningham finished last season responsible for forty-one percent of the team’s total offense (third highest in Section Five).  Their fourth leading scorer,  senior midfielder Eddie Eddington(Cortland) with 37g-8a does return.  Of the nine returning players on the roster, four are defensemen.  The Panthers return, Joe Warner, Jake Rotenberg, James Truly and Dylan Taylor.  The Panthers have two new goalies joining their roster this season fighting for the spot of graduated seniors Derek Grillone and Jake Sahrle.  Eighth grader, Jacob Drennen and sophomore Ben Rotenberg will fight for the starting spot this season.

Ben Reeves (Yale) returns for Pal-Mac as one of the most dominate scoring threats in all of Section Five.  The Red Raiders also return their second, third and fourth leading scorers.  Junior Tyler Hurlbutt (43g-21a) and seniors Jarett Duchesneau (14g-42a) and Stephen Morrell (28g-17a) all return.  In the cage, senior Jack DeMeyers returns after finished with a 62% save percentage last season.  The Red Raiders look to have a strong roster and hope to make their first appearance in the Class C Finals in over ten years.

The Little Irish are the only team other than Penn Yan to have won a Class C Championship in the history of the tournament in Section Five.  Aquinas hasn’t made it to the finals in the last three seasons, since their win in 2010.  They finished third last season after a 15-9 loss to Penn Yan.  The Little Irish return their leading goals, assists and points scorer in senior Alex Bianchi (Mercyhurst).  Bianchi finished last season with 51g-25a to lead them in all main offensive categories. Senior midfeilder Jamison Whitfield (Ithaca) should help at the midfield. However, in addition to their graduating class, the Little Irish lost a number of high profile players to transfers.  Attackman Jonathan Perotto and defenseman Mike Perotto both transferred to Pittsford this season.  Defenseman Tommy Bell left the Little Irish for Penfield.  Several others did not return to the roster this season.  Even with heavy roster changes, the Little Irish have enough high powered offense to be a threat this season.