A pair of the winningest players in CBA program history, Ryan Bogan and Derek Contessa, have announced they’ll continue their academic and playing careers at the NCAA level.
After spending two seasons at the major junior hockey level with the Shreveport Mudbugs of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL), Class of 2017 winger Derek Contessa has signed a deal with Sacred Heart University.
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The Pioneers have been a popular landing place over the past few years for some of New Jersey’s top talent. When Contessa reports to the Atlantic Hockey Conference program for the 2019-2020 season, he’ll join Garden State standouts like Red Bank Catholic alum Todd Goehring, Jordan Kaplan (Bridgewater), Marc Johnstone (Cranford), Max Luukko (Avalon) and former New Jersey Titans forward Nick Boyagian (East Greenbush, NY).
A season ago, Sacred Heart finished with a conference record of 14-11-3, earning the fourth-seed in the Atlantic Hockey Conference Tournament, while Head Coach CJ Marottolo landed Coach of the Year honors from the New York Hockey Journal.
Contessa concluded his youth career with the North Jersey Avalanche before 40 NAHL games with the Mudbugs in 2017-18 (4g, 17a) and a full USHL campaign with the Fighting Saints last year (11g, 9a).
He was a four-year varsity letterman for the Colts, and from 2014-2016 helped lead CBA to consecutive state championships in 2014 and 2015, as well as a third straight finals appearance as a junior.
He closed out his scholastic career with 111 points on 58 goals and 53 assists.
Bogan is another four-year letter winner for the Colts, and closed out his varsity career in 2016, after the Lincroft club’s third consecutive state final.
The defenseman will forever be etched into the CBA record books, departing as the program’s all-time scorer with 172 points on 39 goals and 133 assists.
Bogan and Contessa were Avalanche teammates in 2016-17, a season in which the Hackensack, NJ based program won an Atlantic Youth Hockey League championship.
In the 2017 NAHL Draft Bogan was selected sixth overall by the Northeast Generals, and spent the next two seasons on the Massachusetts club’s blue line.
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Last month he announced a commitment to NCAA Division III UMass-Boston, a program that last season finished 19-8-1 overall and 14-3-1 in conference-play to win the New England Hockey Conference Championship.
