MARAUDERS BREAKING IN NEW COACH WHILE KEEPING EXPECTATIONS HIGH

After the St. Joe’s Marauders won the 13th CHSAA title in school history in March, longtime coach Richard Crozier stepped down following 15 seasons at the helm to focus on other opportunities.

Luckily for the Marauders, they didn’t need to look too far for his heir apparent. Crozier’s replacement, new bench boss Jon Christiano, is a St. Joe’s alum (class of 1976) and is happy to be coming home and taking on a new challenge.

“It's great to be back,” Christiano said after a team scrimmage at the Northtown Center.

“My coaching career has been a long journey at different levels, so I’m going back to where it all started. We've got a real young team – we've got 11 sophomores on our team, but they're all good kids, and I've been really encouraged by their work level and their passion for the game. So I'm looking forward to getting at things and today was a good start.”

Christiano wasn’t kidding about his career taking him on different paths. Having recently been an assistant and player development coach at Nichols, he previously worked for the Buffalo Sabres from 1998-2017 in a multitude of roles. 

In 1998-99, Christiano assisted Lindy Ruff during Buffalo’s trip to the Stanley Cup Final and then spent the next five seasons in a similar role with the Rochester Americans – with the highlight being a trip to the Calder Cup Final in 2000. Afterwards he served in a variety of scouting positions for the Sabres from 2004-17, including a stint as the club’s director of pro scouting from 2007-14. 

Additionally, Christiano has worked behind the bench for the Italian National Team and was the video coach for both the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers. With so much experience coaching at the pro level, he’s looking forward to being able to apply what he’s learned to high schoolers.

“I’ve seen a lot of different skill levels from a lot of different players with a lot of different compete levels,” Christiano said. “Every day is an adventure. In Europe, there were some language barriers but it was all just about growing as a coach and working and learning from guys who were great coaches. 

“I've been on staffs with nine guys that at one time or another were head coaches in the NHL. Some of those guys are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, like Roger Nielson and Colin Campbell. I’ve also been around players who were game-breakers like Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and John Vanbiesbrouck – every day was great, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend that much time in the game and make it a profession.”

Christiano realizes that he has some big shoes to fill. Crozier had won seven Catholic state championships and eight federation titles, but the approach that his successor and his staff are taking will be one that puts their stamp on the program.

“Last year’s roster was a senior-laden team and we've only got five guys back from last year's team – which means we’ve got 15 new faces,” Christiano said. “I don't think there's another team almost anywhere that's got 11 sophomores on a team, and over 50 percent of their team's going to be back for another two years after this year. So I'm really looking forward to the group we've got. 

“Everybody does things differently. You’ve got different kinds of power plays or different forechecking systems. But a lot of it's dependent on the team that you have. If you have a big, heavy team, then maybe you’ve got to play a little more methodical. If you’ve got a skilled team, maybe you’ve got to loosen things up a little bit and let them kind of use their skill set.”

There will no doubt be a learning curve for both the team and their new coach, and it may take some time for each side to get used to one another. But once the season is in the thick of things, Christiano is confident the Marauders will continue to be a force to be reckoned with. 

“I don't have a past knowledge of a lot of these guys so I’m kind of learning on the job,” Christiano said. “We've been going for a month or so and I've got a little bit of a grasp on the players but we're just at the beginning.

“One guy who’s caught my eye is Jackson Deakin, who is probably our top forward. He's going to be a real difference-maker for our team, but I'm looking forward to seeing him and the rest of these guys grow exponentially every day on and off the ice.”

Feature Image courtesy of the late Andrew Miller/WNYAthletics