The City College men’s roller hockey team has tripled their number of players and fine-tuned on rink communication in order to secure first place at nationals this year.

The team managed to scrape together third place last year in Madison, Wis., in spite of being a first year team with only seven players.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better this season,” said player Andrew Atieh, 22. “We were a new team last year, we played like it, and we looked like it.”

There were a number of challenges that the Vaqueros faced last season, and despite losing one of their founding captains, they still managed to success at nationals.

“I think the most important thing right now is to secure our domination in the league,” said captain Chaz Donati, 21. “We have the players to do so this year. We have the numbers.”

The only player the Vaqueros lost from last season was forward Nick MacDonald.

“We’ll lose chemistry,” said 20-year-old Pat Bridgeman. “He would always be the one to make a joke and clear the air.”

Try-outs for the men’s roller hockey team resulted in large numbers, giving Donati, who plays the role of captain and coach, the ability to select both an A and B team.

“There were 32 guys who tried out this year,” Donati said. “We took 13.”

Despite the line up changes, the main shift this season has been the team dynamic, proving Donati as a successful leader.

Running the practices, Donati said he finds it difficult to be both coach and captain for his team, but that the respect is still there.

“He balances it all really nicely,” said Atieh, who lives with Donati. “I see all the effort he has to put in to making this team happen.”

The new team members have worked to accentuate Donati as a leader.

“He gets a lot of respect from the new players,” said goaltender Dustin Skipworth. “The respect shown by them helps us see him as a leader.”

“It will be a stronger team this year,” said Skipworth. “Having more people makes the practices more competitive.”

The new players on the A team include, Mac Buckley and Dylan Jimenez.

“The new guys are going to make us that much stronger,” said Atieh. “Dylan [Jimenez] is going to be a solid addition. He’s going to add a lot to the defensive team.”

The season opening tournament takes place Oct. 14 to 16 at the Silver Creek Sports Complex, San José.

“Every single team is going to be at this tournament,” Donati said.