Breakout Season Loading: Sentinels Players to Watch for This Season

There is a lot of hype surrounding the Indiana Sentinels for the upcoming season, and for good reason. With how the Sentinels finished last year, those flashes of not just playing with the best, but beating the best, and some high-quality additions… there is a spotlight on the Sents to take a huge step forward.

Let’s take a look at some of the players who are primed for a big season and will be a major reason for the Sentinels taking that step towards being a playoff team.

Returners:

Denver Craig – Denver was one of the Sentinels most productive forwards last season. In his limited time here (14 games), he put up 8 goals and 11 assists for 19 points before moving on to the SPHL in January for the remainder of the year.

While he was here in Columbus, Denver not only made his presence felt on the scoreboard, but also in his physicality. At 6’3” and 205 pounds, he has no problem throwing the body or dropping the gloves as we saw against Port Huron when he took on Jamie Bucell in a tilt at center ice.

With his opportunity to play in the SPHL at the end of last season, Craig’s experience should transfer over and make him a dominant force in the FPHL this year. Expect Denver to be a driving force for the Sentinels offense.

Nolan Dawson – Nolan is another player that didn’t get to spend a full season with the Sentinels, but when he did suit up in the Blue and Yellow, he was always a factor. In his 31 games with the Sentinels, Dawson posted 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points.

Nearly a point per game player, he scored in bunches as well. He had two separate four-game point streaks, and a five-game point streak to finish out the season showing that when he starts putting points on the board, it’s hard to slow him down.

He missed a little over two months’ time with the Sentinels when he had an opportunity to play in Finland for Muik Hockey where he had 7 points in 11 games time. That experience paired with his 4 years playing NCAA D3 hockey will make him one of the most feared players on the Sentinels roster this season.

John Werber – Goaltending was a major highlight for the Indiana Sentinels last season. What they lacked in defensive coverage in their own end was made up for by some spectacular goaltending from the likes of John Werber, Chris Curr and Cooper Olson for the majority of the season.

In 25 games played last year, Werber posted a 9-14-2 record with a 3.75 goals-against average, and an .897 save percentage. Numbers that on the surface, aren’t going to turn many heads, but when you factor in the fact that Werber was seeing over 33 shots per game, a good portion of them were in high danger chances.

Werbs finished the season winning four of his final five games and was brilliant after spending time in the SPHL with the Fayetteville Marksmen. He had a 2.01 G.A.A, and a .944 save percentage in those final five games. His best performance being a 41 save win against the Port Huron Prowlers on March 1^st. Look for John Werber to build off of an impressive rookie campaign and become one of the top goaltenders in the FPHL this season.

Cooper Olson – Joining the Sentinels squad in mid-March, we were able to catch a glimpse of what Cooper Olson can provide for this organization: more sturdy goaltending. He was extremely helpful when John Werber was in Fayetteville. While Chris Curr had the bulk of the starts in that timespan, Olson was able to step in when he was needed and provide quality goaltending.

Although he wasn’t able to pick up a win in his five appearances last season, don’t expect that to last for very long when the 26-27 season starts. Olson was consistently one of the top goaltenders at the ACHA Division One level throughout his four years with Purdue University Northwest. He was 59-24-1-4 in 94 career games with PNW and a 2.29 G.A.A and .933 save percentage to boot.

Olson complements John Werber perfectly and the two will be arguably one of the best goalie tandems in the FPHL. Hopefully with some of the added additions the Sentinels have made on defense, the goaltenders won’t have to be nearly as busy as they were last season.

Newcomers:

Ryan Brow – With 3 years of NCAA D3 experience at SUNY-Brockport, and last year with Adrian College’s ACHA D1 making a run to the National Championship, Ryan Brow will be a very welcome addition to the Sentinels roster. Having played in some high-pressure games at some of the highest levels of college hockey makes Brow one of the top additions for the upcoming season.

He’s a solid defensive defenseman standing at 6’0” 190 pounds, something the Sentinels were absolutely in the market for this season. Last year, they had trouble throughout the defensive zone – getting the puck out on the first attempt and zone coverage being the two biggest areas of improvement. With Brow joining the Sentinels this season, he is likely to help those areas while also being a threat offensively.

Alfred Rotiroti – Rotiroti joins the Sentinels after spending the final 2 months of the season in Biloxi last year. In his 16 games there, he put up decent numbers (4 goals, 3 assists in 16 games) while being on a team that had a hard time generating any offense whatsoever.

He’s another guy that brings some NCAA D3 experience coming from Rivier University, but he also has a championship under his belt in his one season with the Soo Thunderbirds in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League as they went on to win the Copeland Cup in 2022.

Ross Bartlett – This is a guy who brings in some veteran experience, another area the Sentinels lacked last year. A five-year vet, Bartlett has 48 goals, 65 assists and 113 points in 145 career games played. Last year, he had 17 goals and 22 assists in 50 games split between Baton Rouge and Biloxi.

Smaller in stature at 5’8” and 165 pounds, Bartlett can still pack a punch and play a gritty game. He racked up 132 penalty minutes last season which would have put him as the penalty leader had he been on the Sentinels last year. Having a guy like Bartlett who can play that gritty style and protect his linemates while being nearly a point per game player makes him a very solid addition to this team

Aldiyar Nurlan – Another forward addition this offseason, and someone the Sentinels have seen before. He had a very good weekend for the Scarecrows when the Sentinels came to Topeka in January last season scoring in back-to-back games.

Nurlan is a very effective player who came to the FPHL after having his best season in Kazakhstan with the MHK Almaty scoring 19 goals, 32 assists and 51 points in 23 games played. His rookie year had some ups and downs, but he was nearly a point per game player in time split between Topeka and Biloxi. If he can stay healthy and consistent, there is no reason he shouldn’t be one of the top performers for the Sentinels in the 26-27 season.

There is more and more excitement building around this team every day. Everett Thompson has done a superb job this offseason by filling in some of the holes that plagued the Sentinels throughout the course of last year. With these guys mixing in with the core group that was here last season all playing at the top of their game, there is no reason why the Sentinels shouldn’t consistently be toward the top of the standings next year.