Teammates slash rivals
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- March
- 4
As part of an effort to get more hockey in the paper, I wrote another “behind-the-scenes” weekly feature on something unique to the sport—high school rivals who are also travel teammates. The story is here. You might remember a previous story that focused on the crazy hours hockey players keep.
I was always impressed to see how friendly the top players are to each other after the game, and to see how they support each other. At every playoff game I saw players from random schools in the stands, checking on their travel teammates.
I was going to post the top 10 today, but I think if I wait until tomorrow I can include pictures and really make it look good, so I’m going to do that. I know, the suspense is killing you.
I also put a call into Greg Ransom, the head of Section 1 athletics, to determine the eligibility of a player who transfers back from private school. I’ve heard it’s not as simple as just coming back to your team and playing immediately. I will post something when he gets back to me.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 10:52 am by Harold Gutmann.
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Harold, no need to wait for Greg Ransom to get back to you, just ask Biff, He knows the transfer rules!
inappropriate "ABystander"
Really liked the article. Put into perspective what this is all about.
Nice article Harold. Hockey is really a great community as the article (and this blog) shows (most of the time
The discussion that the article stated is going on on the previous posting though…..
And Harold….they are not all from WP only Rui. Cody & AJ may live in WP PO but not WP school district…hence private school!
The players from that old Brewster team were: Nick Alosca, Rui E, Jake Douglass, Rich Rodeshini, Chris Latino, Jojo Marasco, Rob Fitchett, Zach Badalucco, Nick Alfonzetti, Tyler Perelle, then came AJ Datino, Cody King, Brett Novick, Klyle Keagan, and Jordan Eck. Hope I didn't forget anyone. They were all "stars" on their HS teams. Now imagine those guys all playing on a team together now
....... WOW!
Yorktown's Frankie DiMaggio also is a Brewster product, played with all of the above and is good friends with all as well. He played there for ten years and is one of only two or three kids to go all the way from mite to junior at Brewster.
Funny how some of the kids mentioned above all played together with the Mariners (Datino, Keagan, Eck, Novick) and then returned back to the Mariners. When you think of comparison with Midget level vs. Jr's, besides the $$$ which is big, the HS friendly atmosphere a Midget program can offer.
Oh sorry Frankie, how could I forget you. Shoot me now!
I think we can all agree that there was an unusually good Senior class across the entire Section this year – its very rare that a Section loses so many stars in one year to graudation. It should make for interesting bouts next year where teams are losing great seniors:
Suffern – Salt, Ruthberg, NATOLI, Conklin, Ojeda
Mamaroneck – Conner
Rye – Eck, Rogers
White Plains – Rui, Sigona
JJ – Latino
Iona – King, McCabe
Rye Town – both McKinneys, Novick, Keegan
Brewster – Alfonzetti
Yorktown – DiMaggio
now that all these stars are gone, all their teams will be different for sure next year and it should make for some interesting bouts next year
Its nice that NY lets them do that. In CT you are not allowed to play HS hockey if you are playing Midget or Junior (or bantam if you're young enough).
Who is transfering back/
These kids have played with and against each other since they were 5 years old. Hockey is such a unique sport in that the players and parents have been doing it since the kids could walk and it shows in how they treat each other on the ice and in the stands. Baseball/Basketball/Football/Lax are pretty much town sports and the kids grow up together. Hockey is a combination of kids from different areas which makes it so different. I've seen kids go into the corner and hit each other so hard, start some minor punching and have the ref break it up with one kid telling the ref, "hey, stop yelling, he is sleeping over my house tonite!" Its a special breed of sport and a great bunch of young men dedicated to a sport they know they have no chance of playing at the pro level. Its discipline and fun and thats the bottom line.
Bottom Line,
That's a great point because as hockey players, kids and parents have to make a commitment at a very young age and play travel unlike other sports like Lacrosse where kids can join in middle school and still be successful at the high school level. Playing with a lot of the same kids over the years from a variety of schools and areas creates tremendous bonds and friendships that last throughout school years and sometimes even after that. For teams like Pelham, Suffern and Mamaroneck, the kids have known each other for years because the coaches get them interested at a very young age. That's why losing is so tough for these players who graduate because they're leaving something they've done their whole life.
when do the all leagues announcments come out
I think the Journal News waits until some point in the first half of April to do their all-county and MVP selections, but the all-league and other awards given out by the section are usually announced sometime in mid-march. So we should know probably by some point next week.
Harold, have you heard anything back from section 1 about transferring back? would like to know if there is some type of rule in effect.
LoHud, then the fun will begin!!! who should have made it, who should not have….