His only two seniors and top two scorers from last season graduated, St. Joseph’s men’s basketball coach Rob Sanicola has had to look elsewhere for new leadership this season.

But he didn’t have to look far.

Former Windham High guard Chad Pulkkinen and Lake Region forward Matt Plummer are just what the doctor ordered, says Sanicola. Pulkkinen, a senior guard, and Plummer, a junior forward, will help fill the void left by Jon Pratt and Steve Monteiro, who combined for more than 30 points per game last season.

The increased roles of Pulkkinen and Plummer on the men’s team seems to be a welcome trend at St. Joseph’s College. Women’s coach Deb Reardon has found a terrific player in Kaylin Regula, a junior team captain from Windham High who scored 21 points in the team’s first win of the season, over Mitchell College Sunday.

On the men’s team, responsibilities on all fronts will be spread around. But Sanicola’s two players who grew up not far from campus have the advantage of knowing the system inside and out.

“They’re local, so they know the program,” said Sanicola, who played at St. Joe’s and moved up to assistant coach after graduating in 1999. “These guys used to come to my games and they came to our basketball camps when they were in the eighth grade. That makes them a little special.”

What makes them even more special, said Sanicola, is that the pair epitomize the work ethic he wants to build his young team around.

Did we say young?

Nine players are first-year players. Perhaps the inexperience has shown a bit in the early going, the Monks dropping two of their first three games, heading into Wednesday night’s game at Lyndon State (Vermont).

“But we lost those two by a total of five points,” said Pulkkinen. “We’re in every game.”

Pulkkinen, named a captain this season along with senior guard Noah LaRoche of Exeter, NH, has had a few setbacks since coming here from Windham High.

In both his first and second seasons, he injured the same knee and eventually had ligaments from his good knee used as a replacement.

Last season, however, he started and played in all 27 St. Joseph’s games, averaging 9.8 points, collecting 25 steals and knocking down more than 30 percent of his three-point field goals. He was also named an All-Independent league player.

Sanicola says his role this season is expanded.

“Chad’s been asked to do a lot of different things this season,” said the coach. “Whether its defending their top perimeter player, taking some long range shots and stretching their defense or playing some spot duty at the point. He’ll keep the defense honest and open things up elsewhere.”

The Windham grad has already shown his gamesmanship this season. Pulkkinen had a pair of steals in the final minute of a game against Farmington, his team coming up just short in the narrow loss last week.

Pulkkinen might be remembered by WHS fans for his long-range shooting skills. He was a talented guard on that team, but, as he tells it, his high school squad was full of them.

“We were a typical Windham team,” he said of his 2002 team. “We had a lot of good guards. No big men, really, but we could shoot.”

His best high school memory is of his team’s near stunner of Deering, in the first round of the playoffs his junior season, Nik Canner-Medley’s group.

“We eventually lost by ten, but we were shooting lights out, slowed it down and gave them a scare,” he said.

Plummer, who graduated from Lake Region in 2000, remembers a similar playoff game, a narrow loss to a powerful, senior-dominated, unbeaten Gorham team.

“We won eight straight coming into that game,” said Plummer, “and we were winning at halftime. We ended up losing by four.”

But Plummer says it was his team from two years earlier, when he was a sophomore, that reminds him of this year’s St. Joseph’s team.

“My brother (Dan Plummer) was a senior and we went 15-3 during the regular season,” he said. “We won two games in the playoffs before eventually losing to Greely. But that team was similar to this one (at St. Joe’s). We were very balanced and held teams to 50 points and under about every game.”

Very similar indeed.

Sinacola stresses defense on this team almost as much as he does hard work.

“Every championship team is a great defensive team, no matter what level or sport you’re talking about,” said Sanicola. “Early on, we’ve had a couple of tough losses, but defensively we are very strong. And that’s what we’re most proud of.”

Plummer averaged almost five points over 19 games last season. He also pulled more than 50 rebounds last year.

Expect more of the same this season, says his coach.

“He really understands the game,” Sinacola said of Plummer. “He came from a great coach and a great system and he understands what it takes to play at St. Joe’s. His best skills are knowing the game, his passing and his toughness. Matt’s one of those old school players. He works full time (at his family’s business, P & K Gravel), goes to school and then comes to practice and probably goes back to work again.”

Perfect match for this team.

“Coach doesn’t want anyone in the country working as hard as we do,” Plummer said. “We were out there three weeks before anyone else, conditioning and running.”

Pulkkinen assures the wins will come, but it’s understandable that with so many new players on the roster, forming the on-the-court bonds will take time.

But that team bonding is already way ahead of past seasons, Pulkkinen said.

“Even though we have a lot of new guys, we already have better unity than in past seasons,” he said. “Coach has brought a lot of new guys in this year, so we’ll have a deeper bench than last year. And we’ve already come together off the court. Now we just have to come together on the court.”

And Plummer adds that the balance this team should eventually develop should make things interesting. Plummer did his part in the team’s only win this season, scoring 14 points in a 66-54 victory over Oberlin College in the Vassar Invitational tournament in Poughkeepsie, New York Nov. 19.

“Every game should be fun to watch, because (the opponents) won’t know who to stop,” he said. “It’s going to be a different guy every night. Once we start gelling, it’s going to be great. It’s going to be a lot of fun this year.”

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