The hill to reach the national tournament is now a little steeper, but first-year St. Bonaventure hockey coach Mike Cosentino believes his team has what it takes to get there.

“I think we really have two major strengths — our goaltending is really strong and we have tremendous depth at the forward position,” Cosentino said. “Our second and third lines are really talented, so we have a lot of scoring depth.”

The Bonnies open their season at home, the William O. Smith Recreation Center in Olean, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday vs. longtime rival Niagara. Admission is free.

The Bonnies’ top club hockey team has made the jump to the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) from the Amateur Athletic Union. SBU had qualified for the AAU national tournament each of the last three years, twice losing in heartbreaking fashion in pool play the game before the championship round.

The ACHA league the Bonnies will play in now is the Super East Collegiate Hockey League (SECHL), which in February accepted SBU, Buffalo, Niagara, Binghamton, Brockport and Cornell from the Upstate New York Collegiate Hockey League (UNYCHL). Army, Clarkson, Marist, Montclair State, Sacred Heart, and Siena make up the rest of the 12-team SECHL.

“Out of 42 teams in the (ACHA) Northeast Region, you have to be ranked in the top 16 at the end of the season just to make regionals, and then you have to be in the top four after that tournament to go to nationals, so it’s a lot tougher road now,” said Cosentino, who also serves as the recreation assistant in SBU’s Center for Activities, Recreation and Leadership.

The Bonnies’ depth in goal and the ability to roll three and four lines will serve them well for a team that plays only back-to-back games on the weekends. In fact, later this month, the Bonnies play six games in 10 days — consecutive tripleheaders that include a Friday-Saturday doubleheader at West Virginia ending with a Sunday afternoon home game vs. Misericordia.

“Having that much travel after back-to-back games is where our depth will really be a benefit,” Cosentino said.

The Bonnies are counting on their senior-laden top line of center and captain Tyler Menz and wingers Michael Clouden and Michael Robertson, both assistant captains, to lead their attack.

“We lost Owen Hughes to graduation, and I think he was the second-leading scorer all-time for us, so that was a big loss. At the same time, we have a lot of seniors back who were important players for us,” Cosentino said.

Seniors Sam Chiavetta (D) and Kyle Karoleski (G) are the club’s other assistant captains. Karoleski leads a talented trio in the nets.

“With Kyle, Tyler (Kirk) and Brendan (Walczak), I think our goaltending is really strong,” said Cosentino, who brings a wealth of coaching experience at several different levels to the program.

A star goalie in high school and at Neumann University, Cosentino spent the last two years as head coach and general manager of the Brooklyn Aviators, a junior team (ages 17–20) in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL). The year before, he served as the interim head coach and assistant general manager of the Elmira Mammoth professional hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL).

After his junior year at Neumann, the New Jersey native played professionally in the FPHL for the Watertown Wolves.

“I’ve had a little taste of everything in the sport,” he said. “Playing, of course, and then coaching everything from juniors to the professional minor leagues. Getting to coach now at the high-end collegiate club level is another opportunity I’m really looking forward to.”

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).