After finishing last season with a heart-breaking loss in the Section III playoffs, the Rome Free Academy hockey team is looking to create some happier memories this season.

The Black Knights finished with a overall record of 12-11-2 and went 8-4-2 in the Division II East Conference last year after seeing their season end in the quarterfinals of the Section III Division II tournament with a 3-2 loss to Skaneateles after four overtimes.

RFA will begin its season in this weekend’s Utica College Ice Hockey Classic tournament when they battle Clinton in the first round at 4 p.m. on Friday at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Whitesboro will take on defending New York State champion New Hartford at 2 p.m., with the consolation game and the championship game taking place on Saturday at 2 and 4 o’clock, respectively.

Rome opens its home schedule on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. contest against Whitesboro at Kennedy Arena.

RFA coach Greg Cuthbertson said the Black Knights are looking good on the ice and are itching to get started after putting in a lot of work during the offseason.

"We’re looking good, even though we had some injuries coming in, but those have been taken care of," he said. "We’ve been preaching to be consistent and to focus on playing our game. It takes hard work, but if we do that we’ll be fine."

This year’s RFA group will consist of 17 players returning from last year’s squad, but they will have to do without the services of Trevor Brockway, Adam Davis, Marco Dominic and Dustin Frankey, who have all graduated.

Cuthbertson said the Black Knights, who have only two seniors on their roster, will be counting on not only the seniors, but also other "core" players to step up and take a leadership role. The team includes eight juniors, eight sophomores, six freshman and two eighth-graders.

"We’re expecting great things from the core, which includes kids like defenders Kyle Williams and Matt DeMatteo, and forwards Garret and T.J. Reilley," he said.

"We have so many options as a team to be able to do a lot of good things and those ‘Core’ kids are we’re focusing on the most."

The Reilley brothers, Williams, and DeMatteo are included in the long list of players returning to the RFA roster.

Other returners include junior forwards Ryan Fanelli, Nick Tardugno, Max Bartell and Tim Philley, along with defender Jeff Holzberger and goalie Derek Pfeiffer.

Sophomores returning include forwards Robbie Waller and Mike Pekarski as well as Randy Linderman, while freshmen guard Andrew Ross and forward Mike Seifert will also return, along with, goalies senior Mike Endres and junior Derek Pfeiffer.

The six newcomers looking to contribute and make a statement on the ice include freshmen forwards Tom Draper, Nick Mecca and Ken Adams and defender Mike Jensen along with sophomores forward Connor Richie, defender Ryan Reilley and goalie Anthony D’Urso. Eighth graders forward Seth McCormick and defender Joey Rutkowski will also make their debuts on the ice.

Cuthbertson said despite having such a young group again this year, he doesn’t believe it will hurt them in any way because he feels his players have matured more since last season but added that they will have to control their emotions on the ice in order to be successful.

"The biggest thing is the emotional part of the game and how it can take a hold of you," he said.

"I try to tell them it’s just a game and we have to learn to play with those emotions that can be beneficial to us but not hurt us.

"We want them to play with emotion but not to the point where it overtakes them, and the kids understand that and have learned from that and what matters the most is winning and not who is the toughest glove-for-glove."