GORHAM, Maine – The University of Southern Maine men's ice hockey program has announced the team's captains for the 2024-25 season. Austin Marini (Hyde Park, Mass./Catholic Memorial), Nick Nault (Goffstown, N.H.) and Jeff Pollara (Braintree, Mass) will serve as captains while Zach Desmarais (St. Cyrille, Quebec), Cole Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) and Marcus Torgner (Mjolby, Sweden) will be alternate captains.
 
A fifth-year senior forward, Marini was a Joe Concannon Award semifinalist last season and led the team in assists with 16 and points with 24. He has scored 22 goals and contributed 36 assists over 75 career games. His five career game-winning goals are tied for the seventh in program history. Marini graduated from Southern Maine in May with a degree in Criminology and is now studying communications. He is a three-time New England Hockey Conference All-Academic Team member and three-time William B. Wise Scholar Athlete.
 
Nault, a fifth-year defenseman, has played in 66 games and has one goal and five assists in his career. A staple of the defense over the past two seasons, Nault had blocked 70 shots in his career. He is majoring in Business Management with a minor in coaching.
 
Pollara is coming off a breakout season in 2023-24 that saw him record 13 points on seven goals and six assists. The senior forward is two-time NEHC All-Academic Team member and two-time William B. Wise Scholar Athlete. He is majoring in Business Management.
 
Desmarais, a senior forward, has been a consistent producer for the Huskies with nine points in each of three seasons in Gorham. He has 10 goals and 17 assists in 71 career games. The Sport Management major is a two-time William B. Wise Scholar Athlete and two-time NEHC All-Academic Team member.
 
Ouellette, another fifth-year defenseman, has played in 69 career games and has five goals and 30 assists. He has had 10 or more points in each of the past three seasons and had 11 assists in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. A Marketing major, Ouellette has earned three NEHC All-Academic Team nods, three William B. Wise Scholar Athlete designations and has earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors twice as part of the At-Large program.
 
Torgner, the only underclassman in the group, scored four times and assisted on six goals as a rookie last season. He skated in 26 games and had blocked 12 shots.
 
The Huskies play Nichols College in a road exhibition game on Friday night at 6:40 pm. The team opens the regular season on Friday, November 1 at Endicott College.