The Insider Interview – David Cacciola

The Texas Brahmas goaltender returns for his fourth professional season

The Texas Brahmas have announced that goaltender David Cacciola has re-signed with the team and will join Brett Jaeger in the organizations’ quest for a CHL championship. Last season, the duo put up a 39-21-2 combined record in the regular season and marched the Brahmas to the Northern Conference Finals.

Brahmas Head Coach Dan Wildfong expressed his confidence in Cacciola's ability to make an impact this season.

"It's great to have Cacciola return in goal for us this season. He did some unbelievable things for us last year in the regular season and the playoffs. We're looking forward to what he will bring to us this year," said Wildfong.

The Burlington, Massachusetts native was a star goaltender at the St. Sebastian School in nearby Needham and backstopped St. Sebastian to the 2000-01 New England Prep School Division I Championship. He appeared in 27 games in his senior year with a 25-1-1 record, 1.25 GAA, and a .931 save percentage. He was named MVP of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association (NEPSIHA) and was named to the First Team All-NEPSIHA and First Team All-ISL (Independent School League).

Cacciola went on to play for Providence College but was limited to six appearances as a freshman while paired up with Bobby Goepfert. After not playing at all as a sophomore, Cacciola made 11 appearances as a junior, posting a 1-5-4 record, a 2.06 GAA and a .933 save percentage. During his senior year, he played in 20 contests with a 5-13-2 record, a .906 save percentage and a 2.89 GAA. His season included a career-high 60 saves against Boston College, marking the fourth highest total saves in Friars history.

Cacciola signed with the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) but was released before he had a chance to play. He then signed with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs and was called up to play for the Albany River Rats (AHL) while Marty Brodeur was hurt. He returned to the Mudbugs once Brodeur came back. Cacciola appeared in 28 regular season games with the Mudbugs, posting an 18-5-4 record. He was fifth among goalies with a 2.54 GAA and third in the CHL with a .926 save percentage. He shined in the playoffs, leading the Mudbugs to the President’s Cup Finals. In 11 playoff games, Cacciola was 8-3-1 with a league best 1.76 GAA and a .951 save percentage. The Mudbugs fought hard but came up short in the championship series with the Laredo Bucks.

Cacciola next signed with the Reading Royals (ECHL), the Binghampton Senators (AHL) and the Charlotte Checkers (ECHL) but was released by all three teams before he was given an opportunity to shine. The Mudbugs traded his rights to the New Mexico Scorpions where he finished the season, playing in 29 games with a 21-5-3 record, a 2.54 GAA and a .917 save percentage.

A free agent, Cacciola signed on with the Texas Brahmas for the 2007-08 season and went 26-15-1 with a 2.94 GAA and a .909 save percentage. He played in seven post-season games highlighted with a strong performance in the Brahmas’ four-game sweep of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

With his 26 wins last season, Cacciola ranked second in the league, only one victory short of finishing first overall. In his CHL career, Cacciola has a remarkable 65-20-8 record.

I spoke to David by phone last week prior to the announcement of his re-signing.

Q: After graduating from Providence College, how were you recruited in to the CHL?

A: At Providence, I didn’t have the best college experience there, hockey-wise. I was stuck near an all-American, so hockey didn’t go according to plan. But I did play a bit in my senior year. I had some offers. Shreveport approached me, so I started there and then I was called to Albany (AHL), which was pretty cool for like three weeks and then I was sent back down to Shreveport and I finished the year there.

Q: After your time at Shreveport, where did you go?

A: I went to the East Coast League just to get a little more exposure and try to get to the next level. In Reading, in the East Coast League, it didn’t work out; I was there for like 24 hours and got put on waivers because there were too many goalies under contract from the Kings. I was between a rock and a hard place.

Maybe a few weeks dragged out and all of a sudden in Shreveport, DeCaro was a rookie there; he kind of took my spot and started doing well. I didn’t particularly want to split time with Kenny Carroll. So, I was looking to be the number one guy somewhere. They traded me to New Mexico, which worked out. I think we had a solid year there; Shreveport’s a great place to play and I’ll never talk bad about it but New Mexico is too.

Q: Did you also sign with the Binghampton Senators?

A: When things didn’t work out in the East Coast League, I signed a PTO (Professional Tryout) with them and I was up there for like two weeks, maybe like five games, and then was sent down to Charlotte, back in the East Coast League. That’s when Shreveport traded my rights to New Mexico and I was off to New Mexico for the rest of the year.

Q: Who recruited you to come on board with Texas?

A: It was mostly Fonger, because of the season we had in my rookie year. Fonger and I played together in Shreveport and we lost in the finals. All of a sudden Fonger got the coaching job and he said Cash, we need a goalie and I was a free agent out of New Mexico so I took a recruiting trip down there. It was a great place to play. A good location and the people around there were awesome so it was like a no-brainer almost.

Q: Towards the end of the year the Brahmas put Jim Healy on waivers and brought Brett Jaeger in. How was it, splitting that second half of the season with Brett?

A: Well, a number one goalie really doesn’t like to split games but there are times in the season when it’s so hard to carry the load. There’s only a few goalies in the world that can play all of the games. At the beginning of the year I did, but you hit a wall and sometimes you need a guy that can step in there and for some reason Healy didn’t. When we got Jaeger, we both picked each other up and fed off of each other. He played well and that only motivated me to play well. So I mean we both probably wanted to play more than 50/50, but as a team aspect it paid off because we started winning and we both played well. It wasn’t a bad thing at all. We got along really well and it carried over to having a ton of team successes and winning games which is what this whole thing’s about.

Q: Did you ever think that the team would go as far as they did last season?

A: I didn’t how far we were going to go but I had a feeling; I chose the Brahmas for a reason and that was to make the playoffs and make a run at winning the cup. I put a lot of confidence in Fonger to recruit the guys needed to do that and he did an excellent job. He put together exactly pretty much what I thought. We came up short but if we scored a goal, we were probably inches or seconds away from going to the finals and I think if we made it to the finals we were going to win it.

Q: You’ve probably heard that Forbes MacPherson has left the team to take on a new opportunity. How did you get along with Forbes?

A: I got along with him really well. He’s a really personable guy. As a coach, you could relate to him because he’s on most players page. He was an easy guy to talk to and if you ever had an issue you could go to him. I liked him a lot. He’s very intelligent too as far as knowing the game.

Q: Ron Vogel has signed on to be the assistant coach. Do you know Ron at all?

A: I don’t know him personally. I just know of him from playing against him my rookie year, I think. If he can help Jaegs and I out, I’ll take his advice…

Q: It looks like Coach Wildfong is putting a first class team together again. What are your feelings about the upcoming season?

A: I’m thrilled. I actually feel better about this season than last season and I feel there’s no pressure to carry the load and make a statement in North Richland Hills about how the Brahmas are going to be. I’m just going to play my game and get back to basics. Like I said, I feel better than I did last year which makes me more excited about getting down there.

Q: How did you feel about the fan support that the team received?

A: It was excellent. I mean, we don’t have the number of fans as Shreveport and some of the other teams but that’s just something that will take time I think. After the season we had last year, I think the fans realize that we’re in it to have a successful team. I mean, when you win, it draws a bigger crowd. It’s a real tight-knit group, which is awesome. You can relate to all of them. They did a great job taking care of us and making us feel comfortable, especially being away from home.

Q: How did you like NYTEX and how do you feel as a player, playing in a smaller venue like that?

A: When you’re on the ice, it’s OK. I like personally playing in larger arenas with a big crowd in front of me but when we pack NYTEX, it feels just like that.

Q: What have you been doing during the off-season to keep in shape?

A: I haven’t skated a ton but I will go down to Providence for two weeks before I come down to camp. I just been training, doing a college workout that I picked up and it’s not too bad, probably four or five days in the gym and starting next week I’ll be on the ice a few times a week and I should be ready to go by camp.

Q: Is there anything you want to say to the fans about the upcoming season?

A: I’m looking forward to seeing all of the friends and fans that we made last year and I’m definitely excited about getting down there in four weeks.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith