PROVIDENCE, RI - January 19, 2012 - How do you stand out from the crowd in a big hockey town like Providence? JWU’s Division III Wildcats are getting noticed thanks to their strong offensive lineup and diverse roster, writes NCAA.com's Elliot Olshansky.“Johnson & Wales is better known for food than hockey; the school has produced a number of celebrity chefs, including Tyler Florence,” he writes. “Now the Wildcats are using a melting pot approach to build a winner.”The “melting pot approach” means that players come from hockey hotbeds in the US, Canada and Sweden. “[The diversity] is great for our program,” says junior forward Jason Pietrasiak. “Everyone has a different background, everyone has their own characteristics.”Another core strength? Pietrasiak, co-captain Jeremiah Ketts and junior forward Danny Kaufman lead a powerful JWU offense that’s turned the power play into a nearly unbeatable move. They’re also three of the top 10 scorers in the country.
“We’re all been playing together for a while now. No matter what the other team throws at us, we can adjust,” says Kaufman. For Ketts, the hard work is paying off. “College hockey isn’t for everybody, and we’ve got to respect that. You’ve just got to make sure thatwhen you’re here in the city, you’re here for the right things. We didn’t come to school to be a cook. We came here to play college hockey.”The Wildcats are currently second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast, just behind top-ranked Curry College. See how they finish out the hockey season at JWU Providence Athletics. Read the article at NCAA.com.