New Rochelle native Kevin Shattenkirk will be representing the Hudson Valley Thursday in the NCAA Division I Frozen Four. The Boston U. defenseman will face Vermont at 8:30 p.m. in Washington D.C., and the winner will play either Bemidji State or Miami (Ohio) in Saturday’s championship.
Colleague Josh Thomson has the details in Monday’s paper. I believe no area player has won a DI title since Suffern’s Jon Foster and Denver won back-to-back in ‘04-’05.
Shattenkirk, a sophomore who was drafted 14th overall by the Avalanche in the 2007 NHL draft, was recently dubbed “The Six-Million Dollar Man” by BU’s student newspaper.
He has seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points, and his plus-26 rating is second on the team. The Hockey East coaches recently picked the 5-foot-11, 190-pound righty as second-team all-conference.
(Photo of Shattenkirk on the U20 national team courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
71 Comments
BU’s (and probably the nation’s) best player is a local boy (Greenwich, CT), too…a sophomore and teammate of Shattenkirk’s on the national team, Colin Wilson
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://grillsblog.com
Collin Wilson’s dad played many NHL seasons where I believe Collin Obtained his US Citizenship as he was born in the USA to Candian Parents. Genetics is huge.
Shattenkirk I believe has had his size and weight increased a bit.
Not sure if that will be his weak point from a NHL perspective or maybe he grew into himself?
Sarah, This is not the place to put your ad!!! Get off if you’re not interested in hockey!! Unbelievable…
O please, just welcome the new comer. The blog doesnt have a lot of activity these days as I am sure Harold doesnt have time or days to focus on it… hockey season is over. I personally like the grill information as I just had a steak on my last night.
To get the blog restarted with comments. And the ADs are going to destroy local high school hockey. Changing the format will:
• Weaken competition
• Invite injury and misconducts due to mismatched levels of play and increase frustration.
• Take away from great games and wonderful rivalries
• Turn local hockey into a second choice option for those looking to get better.
• Will make travel hockey the logical choice to play to be seen and to develop
• Will not save money on travel since teams will still need to schedule more games and
will need to travel.
• Those teams in the Brewster circuit will actually spend more money on travel.
• Suffern, Mamaroneck, Pelham will still schedule all over anyway
• One game vs each league team to decide on a league champion is a joke.
• Local teams will schedule elsewhere as it will be better than the league created.
• Regional play only works with other sports with fields and not with rinks.
• You need some people. Parents, coaches, ADs that actually get this and that can
present this to the other ADS as a business decision rather than a hockey choice.
Mark my words. Suffern will be the best team in Section 1 next year.
Yes, Suffern will most likely be the best team… but who are they going to play all season? What type of league championship will be. They will be playing teams on their schedule that their jv could beat.
who will suffern be returning from last year to make an impact this year
Goalie questions?
Maybe White Plains brings back the most skating talent.
Mamaroneck and Suffern will of course be top teams, certainly. Rye too.
But who is in goal for any of these teams, and is it the quality goaltending they’ve had the prior few years?
suffern is returning norwin and fuchs two spectacular defenseman. then jaeger who played since freshman year, redgate who made an impact last year, nicholson and goetz
rix is coming back from avon old farms for rye next season
anyone know about the goalie situations for suffern and mamaroneck next year
fuchs may be the worse defenseman ive ever seen
Norwin is Suffern’s only returnee who is an all section caliber player (or Empire-caliber, if this was not cancelled). The rest of the returning senior class is very average.
Some younger talent, but they need to show they can do it on their own now without a Salt, Hiller, or McCarron, Natoli or Gabriel. Is the current rostered goalie, if not at the level of Natoli and Gabriel, at least a respectable “league 1 type” goalie?
They’ll be fine next year but Suffern should not be favorite to win the section. Maybe in two years…
They should win the Rockland conference though.
If the story about Rye getting an experienced goalie from prep is true, the Garnets will be a strong team for the next two seasons, at least. A DII version of what Mamo had this past season.
The returning goalie would be a junior next season and Rye will have only 3 senior skaters getting playing time next year. Rix would be a top 5 goalie in Section One next year (behind only Gluck, Delaverne and Glaviano and similar to Fatone and Riley). Rye will have three plus strong forward lines (they return their top 2 lines intact)and four Dmen who saw regular ice last season. There are a few strong skating kids from the modified program that could see some ice.
With that type of team makeup, Rye should be able to continue to schedule top upstate teams. Even if they are required to play some of the weaker teams in the Brewster league, Rye should be able to play traditional rivals Pelham, Mamo, Suffern and WP. Hopefully, though, Rye can get slotted in the Southern Westchester league with those traditional rivals. That league looks a lot like the old League One without Suffern.
fanotgame,
if the story about Iona’s Brother Gaffney “recruiting” a NJ Colonial 8th grade goalie to live with a host family in New Rochelle to attend and play at Iona right before he passed away is true, that would solve 3/4 of Iona’s issues
Brother Gaffney, moderator (creator) of Iona’s hockey program and former principal of Iona, Farrell and Bergen Catholic among others – RIP
Iona will be a good team next year, whether or not they upgrade the goalie position. Even graduating who they did, a bunch of solid skaters return. The Gaels should be the best of the local Catholic teams. Don’t know much about next years’ teams for St Ants, Farrell, Chaminade. Step loses a lot off an already small roster. Fordham will have good goaltending and a couple good forwards. Defense may be an issue for the Rams.
If Rye gets slotted in that league then RTH should be there too… Its crazy that Rye and RTH right now are both slated in the Brewster circuit according to the postings on the blog.
To take those two teams out of Westchester seems kind of silly and will prove to show how this plan has not been considered fully or intelligently.
If the NJ Colonial goalie is that good, and if he lives in NJ I’ll presume, why would he go to Iona Prep?
Plenty of good catholic hockey schools to choose from there. Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, St. Peters Prep, Seton Hall Prep all have stronger programs than Iona Prep in most years.
Did I miss the All County section in the paper, or has it not happened yet? If not yet, then when?
Reilly MacIniss Alpert
Perrazzio Masseli
Durand
Hernandez Fininzio Martin
Landis Lambdin
Shea and 2 incoming Freshman/8th Graders.
Uh oh!
al,
FREE TUITION and BOARD
I just looked at Avon website and there is no Rix on any of the 4 hockey teams that they have. So Im not sure how good he can be????
To Pelham- Don’t Victor and Harms return for another year? Even in a rebuilding year, Witz will put out a competitive lineup. It will be interesting to see who picks up the scoring for the Pelicans. We all know they will play solid D. At the start of this past season, Pelican fans were claiming Rye was no match for them with the departure of Eck and Rogers. As the season played out, it took Pelham until the last 5 minutes of the third game with Rye to get a lead. Perfect timing, but not total domination. Rye should be loaded next year, but I expect some tight battles with Pelham.
To Goalie- I wouldn’t put too much into limited playing time at a place like Avon. I am sure there are a half dozen strong goalies at such a hockey factory. Probably one of the top 2 or 3 HS programs in the country. NHL draft picks right off the team. Many on the upcoming Section One All County teams would struggle to make one of the two varsity teams at Avon. If he plays at Rye next year, you will see that Rix is a top Section One goalie. Didn’t Lamdin cone back from Canterbury (a far cry from Avon hockey) to get ice time at Pelham? And he fit right in as a solid Section One goalie.
Just saw Harold’s survey regarding next year’s teams. I think he should add L/P, who has a solid core returning. Here is how I see it for next year.
Group One:
Mamo- If Gardiner and Christiansen stay, they will be their usual force. Without them and dealing with inexperienced goaltending, they drop a notch.
Suffern- Not a lot of scoring returns off a team that had a hard time finishing last year. Still, I am sure a bunch of underclassmen who get their chance will be productive. They have 2 good experienced dmen returning. No one expected an all state year from Gabriel. There is probably some new Mountie goalie who will impress us as the season goes along.
Rye- if the prep goalie comes, the Garnets are solid and deep at every position.
WP- Returns a solid skating core, but goalie is a big question mark.
L/P- Solid first line, a Dman who can log lots of ice and a maturing goalie, who if he grows, could be a difference maker.
Group Two:
Pac- Will have a good first line and a goalie who can steal a game or two. Not enuf D or depth to be in the top group, though.
Pelham- Hard to bet against the state finalists, but they have a lot of holes to fill at forward. If Dzenis and Harms stay, they will be very good at D. If not, then it is a bigger rebuilding year for Witz.
New Ro- Some rising talent at forward. A pretty good goalie. Issues on the blue line.
Scarsdale- Its the Olivario and Gluck show. Can Olivario score without the support of Felix? Can Gluck stand on his head without a lot of team defense around him?
Ossining- Their surprising season was the result of team depth combined with a good work ethic. While I am sure the work ethic remains, the O graduated a bunch of solid skaters including Miele. They have a good goalie and return a few good skaters/scorers.
Big Question Mark:
ETB- If the talented senior class returns and the goalie matures, they are a Group One team. I have heard Hagen, McNamara and maybe Ciotti plan to focus on travel and skip HS hockey. If that holds true, they fall out of the top 10.
so did the LI Gulls win Nationals?
Nationals
Not sure if you are being sarcastic, but they lost 9-6 to Comcast. That is still quite an accomplishment. I wish my son had that opportunity.
everyone thinks that this year was wide open, and it was for awhile, but next year even seems more wide open. Mamo, Suffern and Pelham all graduate lots of talent (especially at the forward and goalie positions) that have been carrying these teams the past couple of years. there will be lots of players we’ve never heard of stepping into new roles and doing the scoring. these are all great programs so im sure there will be underclassmen stepping up that never received much playing time in the past.
should be an interesting season next year.
I like the analysis by fanotgame. I feel strongly that Mamaroneck will be as strong as they were last season. The Tigers have enough returning and certainly enough entering the varsity level. Only question is Glaser in net is hard to replace. The Tiger junior varsity has many strong skaters ready to step in. Suffern was good but strong D and goaltending hid the average offense. White Plains will always be contenders and with the experience gained by this years sectional wins and sectional final loss they could be right in there again. Rye is always a contender. Last season they had the goaltending and will probably be as solid as they were last year. Pelham will be interesting as Dzenis is supposedly headed to Prep school with Witz`s assistance and blessing and the same with Harms. Pelham has always suffered huge graduation losses and prep losses and always finds a way to get to the sectional final. The indicator will be scheduling. If Pelham Rye Suffern and Mamaroneck continue to schedule the better upstate teams that could signal they expect to be competitive. Lakeland Panas will be good too. They return a nice core of players.
Heard Mcnamara, Hagan, and Ciotti aren’t playing with ETB next year does anybody now?
heard rumor of juniors for ciotti and prep for hagan, but can’t verify.
what team did ciotti make, what school is hagan going to?
fanotgame- it is hard for either of the 2 teams to be THAT much better than each other, 3 years ago in sectionals Pelham won in OT, last year Rye won the final on an arguable goal, (Eck highstick to Emerson’s windpipe) and this year Pelham and Rye playing to a very even set of games (5-5 overall scoring)
Pelham will have to adjust this year offensively, as their returning forwards have cumulatively scored 9 career goals. Reilly will need to become a little more aggressive and offensive, as he is now the main scoring threat for Pelham. If Macinnis can develop into the type of player his brother was, and Alpert is consistent and smart, the first line could surprise people.
Inexperience and a lack of size plague the second and third lines. Pelham has plenty of experience on the defensive side, with 4 d-men coming back who logged serious time. Perrazio and Maselli will need to be able to step up against other teams top lines, and also contribute on the power play.
Durand made tremendous progress as a sophomore, and maybe this year on the bench will have given him the time to develop into a very good goalie.
In the end, Pelham has a roster of kids who haven’t had to win games for their team, with all 4 captains leaving, 7 of their top 8 point leaders gone, and goalie gone, Pelham will need to have someone step up, both in the locker room and on the ice, like Flory and Mamone did as underclassmen. The good news for Pelham, the classes of ‘12, ‘13 and ‘14 are all very good.
sec 1
rumor is bobcats and choate
Anyone know if Dzenis and Harms are returning or not?
Good for Hagan, McNamarra and others from Gulls team going to Choate. Ciotti going to the Bobcats. There are others thinking about moving also. All players who love hockey should try to get to the next level. It is a individual choice that players make to follow the game they love. Out of all the top players we talk about maybe one or two will play DI and possibly a few others D II. The rest may end up playing club hockey. It is a great sport. Go BC! When was the last time you heard New Rochelle mentioned during a televised hockey game?
That’s hockey…and if true, congratulations and good luck.
In high school hockey we never get a 4 year kid like Ray Rice in football or Ben Gordon in basketball. The best hockey players like Shattenkirk or Clare or Kyle Palmieri (north NJ) are hardly known except to the die hards.
Playing hockey at a higher level is great but it comes with a hefty price tag.What is your bottom line?(scholarship,competition)either way-you pay.Most of the time there is no financial return.Is losing playing hockey in your senior year in your high school worth it in a sport that most have no future.If you have money and no expections than your fine.How many times in your life can you be all league or all state and have local recognition?
Moving on is great but comes with sacrifice and maybe LESS rewards.(Big fish,little pond)or(little fish,big pond)?
I wish all these kids the best of luck.Be careful what you wish for you may get it!
programs like pelham, rye, mamaroneck, and suffern benefit from youth programs that some of the other schools can never compete with. The positive effect that a home county run rink provides can never be understated. With that in mind, as a fan of the game, you always want players to shoot for their dreams but in the final year of a developing program, what can they possibly accomplish.
It’s time for the powers that be to institute mandatory moratoriums for travel hockey during high school season…bottom line. ..end of story
it seems that occasionally someone blogs about the idea of having a rink in the town of the team and how it is an advantage, are you the same person who just brings it up all the time?
Unfair,
I agree with the second part of you post but not the first part. So you think Mamaroneck Suffern Pelham and Rye having their “own” youth program is a biger advantage than having Brewster Bulldogs travel programs and Vipers travel programs available to your high schoolers? The schools that have 50-75 percent of their kids playing Brewster travel and Viper travel have the unfair advantage. Pelham and Rye youth are B level at best hudson valley league. The Mahopacs, John Jays, Brewster, Somers North Salems, Fox Lanes, and others high schools have their players playing Bulldog travel. If they arent they certainly started there and the higher level travel hockey is easily available to them. Ossining, ETB, and those teams have many of their kids playing Vipers or at least started hockey there. Those teams with easy ties to the high level travel hockey are the ones that have the advantages. While some kids from Mamaroneck and Suffern do play at these places its not nearly as many as the schools that are in Brewster or WSA area. Rye players I imagine play either with Rye or Mariners, and maybe vipers and bulldogs. Pelham I recall only one kid playing travel. The teams that have a huge advantage are the schools whose players have easy access to Brewster and WSA travel programs. You would think with all the high level travel hockey played out of those two rinks those teams would be top dogs
sec1 Fan- Good points. We will miss you on the blog next season. I am glad (for you at least) that the Pelicans rewarded you with a special season in your senior year. Good luck in college.
I can say one thing for sure..with persistant bad or uninspired coaching you will not have a good program.
It is no coincidence that Suffern, Mamaroneck, Pelham, Rye, White Plains have some of the best high school hockey coaches in the area.
If the Suffern coach was to be replaced with a lousy coach from another local school (I won’t embarass anyone by naming names), how long would Suffern still be good?
Not long. After 1 or 2 uninspiring season, Suffern kids would be skating over to Don Bosco very quickly. Or forgoing high school for travel.
Likewise, I’d bet the Suffern coach could take an NTZ or Clarkstown South program and within 3 years have it winning consistently and very much upgraded.
That last post made me laugh. The talent in high school hockey dictates the success, not the coaching 99% of the time. Do you think it is tough coaching Willows and Shuman with McIndoe backstopping that team? Give me a break. Suffern and Mamamroneck have huge student populations so that is why they are successful. I am not taking away from any coaching achievements but it is clear that Scott Bowman couldn’t come into a League 4 school and turn the program around (except if students starting moving there to play for him).
With Willows, Shuman and McIndoe, North could not beat Suffern, White Plains and would not have beat Mamaroneck.
And becuase of North’s lack of a “program” they will be weaker in years to come.
(Of course North’s first year coach may turn out to be a fine coach for this job. Time will tell. North has many of the same advantages that Suffern has, a local rink, travel program and people in the school who could afford hockey.)
All I am saying is that who is in charge of the program and how it is run does matter. The Suffern and Pelham coaches would implement better programs wherever they coached. Tangible results might take 3 to 4 years, but it would happen.
I’ll try again? All-County for winter sports??? Is the paper doing it this year, or did I miss it??
Harold??
With you on this Al Bundy all the way. I think those coaches are very dedicated and there is a reason for the success they achieve. Looking at Suffern Pelham and in some cases Ryes roster, those rosters can look similar to that of league 2 3 and some league 4 teams at times. They at times have one strong line like many teams in league 2 3 and 4. If we are talking depth and talent I think Mamaroneck stands heads above any team. I think there is a huge drop off from Mamaroneck and then many of the other teams in all 4 leagues can all be very close on paper. I think close inspection of the rosters may prove that there are more travel players in the lower leagues which makes little sense
Do you sense a theme in all the following great athletes who will grow up to be successful individuals?...
Kevin Shattenkirk
Kevin Clare
Ray Rice
They are all from NEW RO
Mamaroneck, Pehlam, Suffern, and all those other schools may have a few section championships but the towns will never harvest any real athletes in any sports.
Wow, New Rochelle is awesome…All other towns suck.
What a pathetic comment.
Wow, New Rochelle is awesome. All other town are worthless.
What a pathetic comment.
Mount Vernon actually blows New Ro away in that category. and New Ro did not harvest anything. Clare and Shattenkirk never went anywhere near New Ro hockey
How do you think Suffern’s coach would have done with ETB’s roster this year?
Or some of the great Clarkstown North talent of the last 5 years.
(Not to detract from the ETB coach, who by all acounts is a good coach. But a combined program with a fleeting hockey tradition faces many challenges.)
But if the these kids were immersed in the Suffern program from the elemenatry/middle school years…which is what the good programs do…there is definitely a higher succes rate.
By your last post, you just strengthen my argument. YOUTH programs develop talent not when they get to high school. Coaches bring out the best in players but if the talent isn’t there, nothing can change that.
Please look at the dominant teams in the section (Mamaroneck, Suffern, Clarkstown North, Rye, Pelham). They all had amazing goaltending this season. That is really what counts.
WP was the other top Section One team not mentioned above. They had inconsistent goaltending. When he was on, the Tigers were pretty tough to deal with. But, WP lost a few that they should not have, maybe due to an off day for the tender. Goaltending is extemely important.
To Goalie- you asked about Rye’s Rix background. You couldn’t find Avon stats on him. For travel, Rix played on Mid Fairfield’s second Midget Minor team last year. Not the one that won nationals, but the next level down. Still, pretty solid travel team.
It’s good to have a youth program. But you need someone in the schools, or a school environment, that at a young age encourages kids to play hockey.
A good coach probably knows how many 4th, 5th, 6th graders etc. in his district are playing organized hockey. He probably has met or skated with them, or had his varsity do that, or both. This motivates younger kids and attracts more kids. Strange how Suffern never loses hockey players to nearby private schools, or how they keep a 25 man roster, and many don’t play regularly.
If the varsity coach is meeting his freshmen hockey players for the first time at varsity tryouts, you could be sure that program is not that successful.
Firstly great atheletes are born, but in the case of Ice Hockey someone needs to get them past the skills needed to exhibit that genetic talent. Youth hockey develops the skills while genetics allow those with the gift given at birth to excess. In the case of hockey they are not mutually exclusive because some of the greatest atheletes who have ever lived never put on the skates.
Regarding talent vs coaches great coached get marginal players to make a difference, great coaches get the gifted player to carry the entire team to win. The reasons why HS coaches are key is because year to year you have to take the players that show and some how cobb out a team from that group. Although anyone could probably win with 3 lines of the best players it those who can with with a handfull of talent and a bench full of kids willing to give their all.
Since Hockey requires skills not picked up in the school yards or fields the coaches in my opinion use what they have and make it work. Some seasons the crop is great some seasons its marginal.
fanotgame
The previous post relating to Rix said that he could not find him on the Avon web site. True, he was not listed on the roster, but in game recaps on website, he is listed in box scores for some of the games for their 4th team (Futures).
good to see some good blogging after a month of almost no blogging!
as for the above thoughts, i agree that hockey is a sport that you need to get kids involved early. why is suffern such a great program? because their varsity players make trips to the grammer schools in the district and try and get kids involved. they talk about the history, pride and tradition that is suffern hockey, and this gets the younger kids excited and wanting to play the sport.
bottonline – if you want a solid, long-running high school hockey program, the goal for any school district should be to get roughly anywhere from 4-8 grammar school kids per class year (but could be as little as 3-5 kids per class year) to start playing travel hockey (at the mite and squirt levels). if you can get those numbers, you’re going to to have a decent high school hockey program.
Right Rockland…
Every once in awhile one kid carry’s a team. We saw that with John Carter a couple of years ago at Fox Lane and Matt Willows changed the whole Clarkstown North dynamic this year.
But the schools who can produce 3-5, or 4-8, hockey trained players per grade, maybe less in some years, are the perennials. Be it larger schools Suffern, Mamaroneck, White Plains, or smaller schools Rye, Pelham. The good coaches of these schools know that. If they coached aomwhere else, I’m sure there goal would be to replicate that.
Agree Al –
and Clarkstown North learned a tough lesson on the whole “not building a program” thing two years ago when Matt Willows went to prep school and Shuman did not play. You can’t rely on 2 or 3 superstars to carry your team every year. It works some years (like this year), but other years, they’re not going to be there. But if you develop those 4-8 travel-experienced players, that should be more than enough depth to supplement the effects of the 1 or 2 stars leaving for Prep School. Hopefully the new CN coaches earlize this and are developing the younger talent.
Also, anyone know when All-County is coming out?
Still surprised that with all the high travel programs out of the Brewster Arena that those schools whose kids play on those teams have done very little in high school
I know there are lots of travel teams in Brewster, but there are also a heck of a lot of high schools in the area. Just look at all the high school banners hanging in the BIA.
BIA also may have a lot of Dutchess and Orange county travel players who play “club” high school hockey, say like at Cornwall, Walkill, Arlington, Wappingers, John Jay E-F, etc. high schools. A case of one travel orgamnization serving too many high schools.
So I’ll use Mahopac or Carmel (section 1 schools) as an example. These 2 large schools in the Brewster area should have programs with the goal of geting 4-5 kids in each grade playing travel hockey or hockey trained.
Too many coaches don’t pay attention to that detail.
Would guess that almost all the players at those schools near BIA all start playing hockey at Brewster. Its a much bigger plus for those schools than the other schools who do not have that high level hockey available to them at a young age. Many of the kids from Mamaroneck Rye Pelham do not start at high level travel teams because its too far as a beginner player. Those players grow up in the local program then may move on. The schools located close to Brewster arena have the advantage of having everyone start right away at the higher level. Its surprising that there has not been a changing of the guard with the amount of travel kids starting hockey at Brewster and then playing there right through till high school
Actually, now that Mariners (moved up to Tier II just this year)and Vipers (moved up to Tier II a few years back) are both NYS Tier II organizations (just like Brewsters Bulldogs), Southern Weschester has two solid travel options for younger players. Vipers choose to play an independent Tier II schedule while Mariners, like Brewster Bulldogs, play in the Long Island league. Both Southern Westchester programs are eligible for Tier II nationals, provided they win Tier II states. No need to drive 35 miles up 684 and play away games all over the northeast as a mite, squirt or even pee wee. Maybe when you get a little older and more serious you can take a shot at Brewster’s Weschester Express Tier I Bantam and Midget Minor programs that look to play top national competition during the regular season.
I was kidding…...
Gosh people on this thing are so nasty about petty things. But next time you are choking on something and someone saves you by using the Heimlich maneuver you can thank Dr. Henry Jay Heimlich (New Ro class of 1937).
Oh and New Ro still has more street cred than Suffern, Mamaroneck, Pehlam, and Chuck Norris combined.
does anyone know when we will know definitively how the section one teams will be sectioned off in groupings next season? I have seen the new conferences but still have not heard if these will definitely apply to hockey?
Still does not explain it. If Brewster has the top travel programs and the highest level of play and its the closest travel program to all those schools Brewster John Jay Mahopac Fox Lane Somers JFK Horace Greely Byram Hills why are those teams not as good? It only makes sense if the better players playing the best competition as youngsters would be the best players in high school. Its odd
Have heard some names of section 1 players possibly playing Brewster Juniors. Possible conflicts may prevent them from playing on high school??
Harold,
I know your on to girls lax, which is a brutal sport to watch. Anyway, when are the sections teams and what not coming out from the JN, the one you guys pick? Hockey season has ended well over a month ago, as well as other sports with the exception of the basketball team that one states, Nanuet I believe.
It’s simple math. How many kids from Jay Mahopac Fox Lane Somers JFK Horace Greely Byram Hills play at Brewster?
You have Brewster Express Major and Minor, Bulldogs, Blackhawks White team and Red Teams. Thats 5 teams at each youth level of Squirt PeeWee and Bantam.
Do more than 1 or 2 kids from the section 1 Brewster area high school programs play at each youth level? If it less kids than that, the coaches of those high school programs should be doing more work to get more kids to play.
Most coaches probably don’t even know how many elementary or middle schoolers are playing organized hockey. That is there biggest mistake. Becuase unlike football and lacrosse it is very difficult to make an inexpierienced freshman a good hockey player.
And unlike baseball and basketball they don’t have little league or CYO as natural, cheap and more well established feeder systems.
So high school hockey coaches need to start working the grade schools or there programs will be relegated to mediocre or perennial lower league status.
Rumors- Brewster juniors tryouts not even over yet. Urban played for that team last year and participated on the RTH team. My guess is that it depends on the HS team the junior player skates for. Coaches at Suffern, Pelham and Rye likely would not tolerate missing HS practices and a few HS games for juniors. Not sure how Mamo would deal with it. But, WP managed it for Rui a few years back. Depends on the philosophy/rules of the HS coach.
There is a great share of your knowledge in the field in this post. I like how you put things. I’ve added you to my boomarks and will continue reading your work. I did have a loading speed problem with how quick this page loaded. Might be a problem to optimize.