Tune in tonight
-
- December
- 30
I hope everyone has a chance to tune into Varsity Central Live tonight at 7:30 (www.lohud.com/vclive), where our special guests will be Clarkstown North seniors Matt Willows and Chris McIndoe. Willows is currently on pace to set the state record for points in a season, while McIndoe is the only goalie in Section 1 with state playoff wins on his resume. It should be an interesting show, and of course everyone will get a chance to ask Chris, Matt and me whatever they want (although I can’t promise it will get through the moderator). Hopefully a big response tonight will ensure a weekly broadcast going forward — there’s certainly a ton of guests I’m hoping to have in the studio over the next two months.
The hockey gets going early today, with Suffern playing defending state semifinalist Lancaster at 11 a.m. The Mounties beat Oswego 3-0 yesterday, dropping the Bucs to 1-7 (five losses were by one goal). Despite both programs’ success through the years, this is the first time Suffern and Lancaster will meet. At noon, Pearl River plays Nyack/TZ in the Nyack tournament consolation, while Pelham takes the ice at 1 p.m. against Saranac Lake (3-4-1) in the championship of the Niskayuna tournament.
Two more champions will be crowned at 6 in the Nyack and Fox Lane tournaments. I know the Nyack matchup is North Rockland-Newburgh at Palisades but I’m not sure about Fox Lane (anyone?) and Fox Lane is playing at Pawling up at Brewster. We will have a reporter at Brewster tonight to cover the action. Congrats to Fox Lane, by the way, who may be winless in League 3 but just had a nice win against League 2 Brewster. Meanwhile, Pawling picks up a good win against League 1 John Jay.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 1:45 am by Harold Gutmann. 
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did Fordham win their game last night? anybody know which Arlington HS they played?
Mimi: Fordham lost last night. 6-3 I think. No excuse but they played everyone vs. a Arlington who had only 9 kids or something. Pretty poor showing for Fordham.
Harold-
Fox Lane is playing Pawling in the finals of the FL tourney at 6.
Rams lose 6-3 to Arlington. Arlington played hard with only 9 skaters.
Thanks LoHud,
I definitely would not have predicted that
fordham lost 6-3
any suffern updates? 11am champ game vs. Lancaster
fair,
which school was it? the one in lagrange(doubt it)? the one in mass.? ohio? indiana? illinois?
Direct from a highly reliable source in Oswego, it is 3-1 Suffern after 2. I will post more when I hear.
Suffern beat Lancaster 4-2
Mimi the school is in La Grange NY a hour away. They had 9 skaters and a goalie.
nice job Suffern way to represent Section 1!
Any news on the Pelham vs. Saranac game?
Arlington is a club high school team in LaGrange, NY – Dutchess County. Section 1 power in soccer. Their hockey program is actually on a downside this year. John Jay in East Fishkill is the power school in that Hudson Valley High School Club league …. The (John Jay) Patriots would be a strong league one contender. I don’t think the club teams can play the Section 1 teams, but I guess they can play the CHSHL teams.
East of River: It is hard to tell in these games cause the Fordham coach players everyone. He put kids who rarely see the ice on power play and penalty kill. He played all his goalies and basically got everyone in. Seemed like winning wasn’t on hi mind till it was too late.
let’s see what Stepinac does tonight at NJ’s Gordon Conference powerhouse St. Peter’s Prep
Pelham up 3-0 going into the third period.
Pelham 6-0 late in the third
Pelham up 6-0 late in the third
Pelham wins 6-0
St. Peters Prep is not a Gordon Conference power this year. They’ll finsih towards the bottom of this 9 team league, They are currently in 8th place.
2 or 3 years ago they made the NJ private schools finals game with the NJ player of the year, sophomore Kyle Palmieri currently of the USHL and committed to Notre Dame next year. This name may be familar to some as he spent some of his youth hockey years with the Ramapo Saints.
Never-the-less, SPP is a good team, very young this year, and the Gordon Conference of New Jersey is likely the strongest Non-Prep high school league in the tri-state area.
I’ll say SPP 4 – Stepinac 2. Please update score if anyone becomes aware of it.
east of the river,
“club” (nysaha) teams, although nonsanctioned, have played chshl teams in the past, you’re right…st. mary’s, st. anthony’s before this year, st. joe’s (buffalo), syosset, long beach, massapequa, niagara catholic, kingston, orchard park, cold spring harbor, etc. have played the catholics in the past
fyi, the hudson valley high school hockey association (hvhsha), part of nysaha, i believe consists of the following:
arlington
cornwall
hendrick hudson
john jay
ketcham/millbrook
kingston
roosevelt
valley central
There are other teams in that league as well. Warwick & Washingtonville both have teams that play in the HVHSHA, and there is a team called Orange County West, but I’m not sure what area that is comprised of (aside from the obvious, which would be the western portion of Orange County).
Pelham defeated Saranac Lake 6-0 to win the Niskayuna tournament. The first line was dominant again — Andrew Emerson had three goals and two assists, Marc Flory had two goals and three assists and Mike Mamone had a goal and three assists. Gavin Lambdin made 18 saves to record his first shutout.
Pelham needed a last-minute goal by Emerson to win at Saranac Lake 3-2 two weeks ago.
what is the point of having a club team and not a varsity team? are these club teams not associated with the school? and if there not then why doesnt the school make a team and we could all play in the same state tournament like baseball?
They beat them 2-1 the first time, not 3-2.
Flory has 19 goals. Is he leading league 1?
Suffern/Lancaster Recap
Suffern trailed 1-0 after one.First shot of the game for Lancater hit the cross bar and went in. Again a ton of penalties called in this game. I believe we had 11.Suffern only had 3 shots on goal after one to Lancaster’s 8. Schelling must have broke the chalkboard at intermission, because they came out blazing! Hill scored on a rebound off the boards to knot it at 1. Minutes later Hiller put a wrister through a defender and the Lancaster’s goalie five hole to make it 2-1. Several minutes later Greg McCaron scored on a top shelf slap shot from the blue line. End of 2, 3-1 Mounties.Shots 17-16 in favor of Lancaster.
Joe Modica Stuffs a rebound home early into the third to make it 4-1 Suffern. Gabriel had several huge saves in the 3rd. A poke checked save on a breakawy and a nice sliding save on a 2-1. That was the first breakaway and 2-1 I witnessed against them all year long.
Lancaster managed to get another goal with a little more than 4 minutes to goal when a shot hit the shaft of Gabriel’s stick and trickled in. Final 4-2 Mounties.Shots 27-22 in favor of Lancaster. Hiller tourney MVP and McCaron and Gabriel were selected to tourney team.
mamk,
i know for a fact that the powerhouse programs (st. mary’s, st. anthony’s years ago) stay(ed) club b/c it basically entitles you to do what you want
no official start of season
no official end
as many games/practices you want
etc
thats why st. mary’s attracts alot of talent from the tri-state (many of which live w/ host families). the school is not even part of a division/conference of any sort…they are an independent and play twice as many games as the high schools around here…
mamk, essentially it is a “club”, it’s not a sanctioned sport run by the athletic dept. most of the schools mentioned above have a JV and Varsity level team. I’m sure there are lots of reasons and history behind each schools decisions to support a club vs. a varsity athletic team – and most of them would involved $$. . And mimi is right, while there are rules (govenered by USA hockey), many of these club teams practice, on and off ice close to all year.
Sportswriters Rankings as of 12/18
Rank Division 1 Record Rank
= ================ = =
1. West Genesee-3 10-0-0 1.
2. Greece Athena/Odyssey-5 7-0- 2.
3. Williamsville North-6 6-0-1 3.
4. Massena-10 6-2-0 5.
5. Suffern-1 5-1-0 8.
6. Clarkstown North-1 7-0-0 4.
7. Fayetteville-Manlius-3 8-0-1 6.
8. Potsdam-10 8-0-0 7.
9. Saratoga-2 5-1-1 9.
10. Pittsford-5 6-1-1 10.
Rank Class A Record Rank
= ================ = =
1-T Queensbury-2 5-0-1 1-T
1-T Cazenovia-3 5-0-1 1-T
3. New Hartford-3 8-1-0 4.
4. Glens Falls-2 3-2-1 5.
5. Webster Thomas-5 7-1-2 3.
6. Hilton-5 6-1-1 6.
7. Pelham-1 6-1-0 NR
8. Spencerport-5 3-4-0 8.
9. Skaneateles-3 5-2-1 9.
10. Webster Schroeder-5 4-2-3 10.
What happened to Ossining haha
Matt and Chris – great job on the show tonight! keep making CN proud!!!
North Rockland beat Newburgh 5-0 in the championship game of the Nyack tournament.
Al Bundy,
Thanks for the update on the Gordon Conference. I remember playing Bergen Catholic and Don Bosco a few times back in the day when I was playing, but just know that the conference is basically the top teams in the State (i know its non-geographic and strictly on ability). BC, Bosco, Delbarton, St. Augustine, SPP, Christian Brothers, Seton Hall Prep, etc…
Scores from the FL tournament:
Consolation: John Jay 8, Brewster 5
Championship: Pawling 4, Fox Lane 1
Too bad we can’t see updated stats. Is Flory the league 1 leader i goals? That whole Pelham 1st line seems to be putting up some big numbers.
too bad they are all seniors. Pelham is going to go through a rough patch the next few years.
actually 1st line defense is a sophmore and junior, so we’re set there. but ya, our goalie and offense are graduating, so it’ll be rough for a bit. a lot of good, albeit small, freshmen are coming up, some who are already getting respectable playing time on d (lambin/landis).
this is for sure “our” year for pelham hockey, but don’t put us down for the count for the next 4 years. expect a strong season or two in the upcoming years when the freshmen get older
Didnt a good number of freshmn leave. Including little mcginnis
McGinnis is still on the team. McDermott left.
Reilly, Shea, McGinnis, Landis and Lambdin all play at least 10 minutes a game.
o. I thought mcGinnis was in fordam
sec1fan, is that the mcdermott currently on iona jv (a frosh i believe)?
Pelham will have a very decent team even when their top seniors graduate this year.
Reilly, Landis, Shea and Mackinnis all 9th grade get plenty of ice on that team. You can be sure they will be productive in the next 3 years.
Pelham is always deep the youth program is the Ed Witz Estuary. They PlAY together in the program in the HS off season As Pelham Youth Hockey “Midgets” which skirts the rules of HS practice legally making them even stronger. Non-Pelham players in the youth program are excluded from Midget play and have to latch onto other programs. Thus Ed gets to work his young players for the future HS years.
If there is a weakness in the Youth Program as in most who play in Westchester the Hudson Valley Hockey League is not a great league year to year.Long Island talent is always better and conscistent. The other weakness would be good goaltending as the goaltending coaching is sparse in Southern NY State.
Every season the four top teams Suffern Mamaroneck Pelham and Rye are always mentioned as teams that will suffer devastating graduating losses. Every year those teams get through it and have outstanding seasons. Suffern was supposed to be so down losing the goalie, quality Def and forwards and they are doing fine. In Pelhams case they always seem to be in the championship game in February, they have some crazy long finals streak thats pretty amazing.
wait a second,
very true…hudson valley hockey league is a joke, especially for the older kids…stupidly weak…that’s why Rich Guberti’s Mariners program wins most, if not all, of the divisions year-over-year (a few quality sources last season told me he was thinking about creating a Jr. B team…)
if you don’t travel to LI or Jersey, you’ve gotta go up and play out of Brewster, New Fairfield, or some of the Jr. B’s in Fairfield County in order to play competitive…
Mid Fairfield i meant, not New…
Hudson Valley Hockey League is generally competitive until Bantam division or middle school years.
The HVHL mites, squirts pee wees and bantams are relatively equivalent to New Jersey or Long Island leagues “A” level hockey for the HVHL “A” teams. Some of the organizations teams can compete with the “AA” programs, but usually not consistently.
Of course if your looking for thourough AA or AAA competition HVHL is perhaps not for you.
The HVHL midget (high school) divisions are very weak this year. The Mariners are very good, Vipers are respectable, but after that their remains just very weak teams. I do not agree with a long season midget program which HVHL advocates. I think this ultimately hurts the league as more kids choose to play high school and forego local midget travel. 8 or 9 kids showing up for a midget game in mid-January does not promote good hockey.
Mimi,
Yes that is the McDermott kid on Iona. Why isn’t he on Varsity. He would be a second line forward for Pelham.
sec1fan,
same reason why patalano, logolfo and #8 (gino) aren’t. turnbull won’t cut returning seniors who are 4th line/healthy scratch level…and…by mcdermott, patalano, logolfo, gino (#8), di goia, lipsky, etc. staying back, the V will only be that much better next season and the season after
The Clarkstown Capitals Mites, Squirts and Pee Wee teams last year were very very good. In fact, last year’s Pee Wee team won the states. I’m assuming those teams are all doing good this year as well. The Capitals are really one of the travel organizations that are thriving at those levels – lots of local kids playing – you wonder if the real good kids on those teams will eventually go to their local high school (Clarkstowns, Nyack etc.) or will they call to the local Preps.
The Capitals Midget teams, on the other hand, are very weak this year.
I believe the Capital Bantams, which presumably are many from last years pee wee tier III state champs, are struggling.
This may sound harsh, but once you get out of the lower NY region, tier state III titles are very attainable, as tier III upstate teams are intended for very low poulation areas or towns.
So in effect teams like Great Neck, Mariners and Capitals which are located in very populated locations are competing with small town central and upsate NY for the tier III titles. This is one reason that the Vipers and Polar Bears moved up to tier II, to face better competition at the state playoff level.
I agree with AB thoughts. A rumor is that Mariners may try for AA States at the midget level this year as major and minor teams have been very competitive in LI league this year. At A level they would probably be clear favorites.
Also, based on the Clarkstown South, North and Nyack recent years performance the Capitals have not been providing enough kids for the high schools to be more competitive.
The more successful teams in the county, Suffern, North Rockland and Pearl River seem to have their own specific youth organizations, which while not more than house league teams, get kids specifically interested from those school to play hockey.
The Capitals and the Clarkstown schools need to work better together. Also see Mamaroneck, Suffern amd Pelham youth programs for the blueprint to do this.
Willow, Shuman and McIndoe of CN, which have helped CN this year, I know did not play for Capitals.
agree with al bundy
when you’re tier 3/tier 4, any tourney win is possible…
The capitals should go Tier 2 at least. I am sure with that move they may be able to attract more players.
Right now they are a glorified in house league.
They should take a page from the Vipers who moved up and are now taken more seriously…The caps aren’t a brand new program…its time to get some good travel hockey at the mall.
Oh and is there actually a Tier 4 Mimi, or were you just being sarcastic? With the AAA,AA,A,B,C nonsense I am not sure…....
acha, in all seriousness, tier 4 does exist. in those big tournaments in michigan, PA, minnesota, i’ve seen a tier 4 level be competed for…
Doesn’t look like Guberti’s Mariners win most or all of the HVHL. Three is good, though.
2008 HUDSON VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
MITE A HUDSON VALLEY POLAR BEARS
MITE B CLARKSTOWN
SQUIRT A BRONXVILLE
SQUIRT B1 CLARKSTOWN
SQUIRT B2 PUTNAM
PEE WEE A HUDSON VALLEY POLAR BEARS
PEE WEE B1 MILLBROOK
PEE WEE B2 WHITE PLAINS PLAINSMEN
BANTAM A MARINERS
BANTAM B1 RYE RANGERS
BANTAM B2 PELHAM
MIDGET MINOR MARINERS I
MIDGET MAJOR MARINERS
Pearl River always has alot of kids on their high school roster and they do have a solid youth organization – but honestly, where has it gotten them? i mean honestly – correct me if i’m wrong, but they have been a league 4 team for years now, correct?
The Pelham stuff is way off. Our kids play spring and fall against them every year and I asked about that. The Pelham youth allows out of towners, which of course hurt or impacts the high school team. Those “midget” teams that they put in the spring and fall leagues do take out of towners if they were in Pelham youth and they even have to keep the kids that may be going to Iona or Fordham. Although I understand those going to Iona and Fordham do go with those teams in spring and fall to get in early on. I know for a fact that those Pelham high school kids who play in spring and fall to improve for the next season do get saddled with out of towners as long as they played Pelham youth in the previous winter
Clarckstown only leads in the Pee Wee Divisions so far in the HVHL this year.
hudsonvalleyhockeyleague.com
You are totally wrong about Pelham Midget teams. They did not allow any out of towners or prep school kids on the Midget team.
Pelham midgets? the Fall and spring? they never stop anyone, they had kids from other high school teams on it before, I know that for fact. I am sure they probably rather their own kids be on it as I assume the goal is to help the high school team but I know they do not stop kids who play in the youth from playing. Mamaroneck has been in the spring league for ages and we get a lot out of it and we only take kids that are going to play for our jv and varsity teams. I know Pelham had a few weaker kids that did not go to Pelham but they had to take them cause they were in youth hockey at Pelham
You obviously don’t live in Pelham or participate in the Midget program. Your info is incorrect. Witz isn’t forced by Pelham Youth Hockey to take any kid who is not planning on going to Pelham in the Fall. Pelham has the same idea as your Mamaroneck Midget team, train the kids that will be feeding into your program.
looks like two people say yes and one person says no?
Does it really matter? I remember the Reycroft kid went off to Taft but played in the spring and fall. Thats all I remember about that stuff
There are a few problems with Pearl River and there youth program…They actually do a decent job with it. However, they lose many kids, both Hickeys aren’t playing, one is at Harvey and the other picked another sport. They lose some players to the Jersey schools….At Pearl River HS, it is a big deal for kids to go to Joes or Bosco probably more so than the other Rockland schools and they lost Surace this year to Canterbury. Also they too are in a very weak league, their travel teams in the past (I don’t know how they are this year)are barely better than house league. Finally many of their good travel players don’t even belong to the PR district….There are a few good products that they have developed though, Arguably their best player McManus has moved on to play with the Vipers, and the Varsity team is good, league 4 just happens to be a lot better than people think.
guberti’s mariners = high school ages won championships
bantam
midget
you can’t be serious about mite/squirt/even some pee-wee…playing house league is almost even better, just so you can skate more and get more touches on the puck…then all of a sudden you’re fast with a shot and all they have to do is mold/coach you…
Pearl River is probably the 1 or 2 smallest school in section 1 hockey. The youth program does a very good job with the players in its youngest ranks.
Far more than other programs they lose kids to the jersey private schools. If 2 or 3 of these kids were back at PR (out of the 6 or 7 not playing PR high school hockey) they’re a legitimate D2 section contender. And who can blame the older Hickey kid, he’s a legitimate D1 college track scholarship kid..it makes no sense for him to play hockey.
The school/youth program has done a far better job at it’s hockey prgram than the larger Clarkstown schools in the area. In addition the school district is lately been fielding quality boys basketball programs. Good sports programs in PR.
according to the NY public high school web site in ascending order Pawling has the lowest with 357 followed by Pelham with 556 and Rye with 604 and Byram Hills 623 then Pearl River at 634
The Mariners play in the Long Island hockey league Tier II Division this year. Their 18UAA and 16UAA teams are a combined 30-4-8. Both teams have qualified for the tier II states by finishing in the top 2 positions by the looks of it. Seems pretty good to me.
FYI
Don’t forget Pawling is combined with Dover. I think all the good hockey players come from Pawling, but Dover still gets added on to the number, so Pelham and Rye are the two smallest programs enrollment-wise
Of course good job to Pawling, Rye and Pelham with such small school enrollments to have such good hockey programs.
Pearl River is not far off these school enrollments but is probably hurt more than the other schools by competition from private schools.
I had no knowledge that Pawling is another combined team. My error, and that does leave Rye and Pelham as single standing small schools with real good teams. Rye had a few lean years but is back and Pelham has nt really missed a beat.
Ironically I just got back from Dunkin Donuts and ran into a Mother with her 4 kids from Mahwah, NJ with hockey jackets on, she told me her kids play for the Pearl River travel teams and a lot of the kids aren’t from preal River.
Thats certainly a factor. If the local youth program allows out of towners it certainly impacts the local high school team. Its up to the youth coaches, do they want to win more youth games or develop the local talent for the high school?
It will always be difficult to maintain a full team of Pearl River kids on a house or travel team. Todays numbers just would not support it. The goal of a Pearl River, or Suffern or Nyack or North Rockland youth program should be to identify kids in the district who want to play hockey, teach hockey, place a team in a league they can compete with. If the team needs to be supplemeneted by “out-of-towners” they should be welcome, especially at mite and squirt levels.
Ultimately your goal is to get 3-5 kids for each birth year, in the target district, playing and enjoying hockey. By time they get to high school they are skilled in hockey fundamentals.
In a 4 year high school program (freshmen to senior) that should support a roster of 18 – 20 skaters/goalies and should ensure a resoectable/competitive team
Rich Guberti coaching ability has an IQ of about 5.
The older Mariner teams are made up of just about every
high school team. I believe Flory from Pelham played last season for them.
To That Guy, FYI Guberti resume: 2 HVHL Championships, 2 Tier III runner ups, several AA and AAA tournament wins. plus as a player travled to Toronto in HNA world championships. You (that guy) are trying to live through your kid who by the way skates like Michelle Kwan : (
Gurberti is an A$$. A player? He can’t skate, where did he play Juniors? College? I didn’think so
He is a parent converted coach who relies on players talent with no interest in improving players skills
ok, so he is not or was not a great player. Sometimes great players are not great coaches, and sometimes great coaches were not great players. He obviously is strong organizer and he has a niche that draws players. He brings in some good hockey people to help him. I know he can be a little shady at times, and can sometimes be a “hockey parent” but hes not a bad guy
That guy: You sound like a parent whose kid couldn’t make the Mariners or played on a team that Guberti beat. He has helped countless players who wanted to learn hockey. My kid went on to play in college and was nothing but helped by him. He won the last two HVHL bantam titles and both 16&18 titles last year. He took 3 teams to NYS finals. He is the first to admit he isn’t a great player but neither is Witz, Chapperelli, Scanlon or most of them. This is a HS blog anyway so let’s get back to talking about HS hockey players. Oh I forgot a lot are Mariners and that must be how this all started anyway.
You sound like someone whose kid got cut from the Mariners or whose team got beat by them. The Mariner teams Guberti coached won 4 HVHL titles(2 bantams-16U-18U) , one Midget finalists and numerous NYS championships finalists.
Guberti helped my kid since he started playing for him. My son now plays in college and wishes Guberti was the coach. The guy never says he was a great player just someone who loves the game.
You make my point his titles are all at the higher levels.
He does not develop players he uses players based on their already developed skills. And maybe he has people skills but not sell him as a coach.
On to the next topic.
I agree move on, heres my top 10 LOHUD teams: 1) Suffern 2)Mamaroneck 3) Clarkstown N 4)Iona Prep 5) Pelham 6) North Rockland 7) Stepinac
Pearl River 9) Mahopac 10) Tie Rye and Fordham. as of 1-2-09
Word on street is that the Mariners just offer the hockey consumer what they are looking for: Good coaching, reasonable price, shortened season, high school friendly environment.
Other local clubs should take note.
1st and 2nd team All stars; 1st: F) Willows (Clarkson N) F) Flory (Pelham) F) Miano (Stepinac) D) Ciotti (ETB) D) McCarron (Suffern) G) Gabriel (Suffern). 2nd: F) Marasco (Somers) F) Hagan (ETB) F) Fleming (Brewster) D) McCardle (Iona Prep) D) Eberhardt (North Rockland) G) Gluck (Scarsdale) This based on 1/2 season and games I attended.
Suffern
North
Mamaroneck
Pelham
Rye
White Plains
Iona
Regarding best players, I cannot go by potential (Hagen) I go by performance Gluck??? for what??? Theres at least 5 goalies in Section 1 having better years than him.
Willows Flory Hiller Hagan (Mamaroneck)Mc Carren Gabriel
Oh yeah most overrated team: F) Cambria (IONA), F) Molanari (IONA) F) Urban (Rye Town) D)McGuinness (Fordham) D) Sganga (Rye) G) Fusco (Fordham)
Willows Burdick Flory
Dzenis Hagan
Gabriel
Shuman Emerson Hiller
McCarren McGee
McIndoe
Scotty Bowman,
I think you forgot Shuman and McIndoe from CN (1st team), Hill from Suffern and Meany from NR on your list (2nd team).
I don’t know Guberti but from what i can gather, the AAA kids that stop caring and go to the mariners like him. The kids that had been playing for the mariners thru squirts and pee wees then get cut seem to hate his guts with a passion.
That being said i give mariner people credit for defending their man. I’m a viper and our coach has won 2 state championships (1 at a higher level than mariners play) and nobody ever says anything nice about him.
Put a folk in the Vipers your done like this night.
It’s over!
The Vipers are no longer what the use to be. For 4000.00 what do you get overhyped coaches and non- league schedules that duck the top teams (Mid-Faifield, LI Gulls and the Avalanche). Look at Viper alumni where are they??? Guys like Menza ruined the program, try outs were political not based on talent. The coaches were influenced by the ultimate dollar. Southern Westchester needs a Tier II that will play a real Tier II schedule.
Mariners midget teams play all the Tier II teams in the winter starting with Silver Sticks in Philly. We paid $1900 for the season. The coaching is good and there is plenty of ice. In the spring they field Tier III tournament teams that play all over the East Coast. Two players got recruited to play DIII-one got a offer to play DI after playing this year in Canadian juniors. Most of the players go on to play club hockey at their schools. There is even talk of a college showcase this spring for the players.
Mariners bantams looked pretty tough today beating Pelham 6-5 at Ice Hutch. Coach whats his name must of used all 5% of his coaching skill to lead his team over Pelham. Hope you got a chance to catch the game, it was no joke.
If 4 mariners are ready to pounce on me for just mentioning i play for the vipers, they must be the better organization. I cant argue with that 1st guys logic. As for saying they are political, ya, the vipers tend to have a slight bias for kids who have been in the program before, which makes them different from absolutely nobody. Well, actually a few friends of mine who used to play for the mariners would agree the mariners are not political, unless they try out for the vipers and dont make it, in which case they tend to end up on a worse team if they get taken back at all. But the vipers have taken many kids from other organizations on their A teams and i really dont see where you got that accusation from.
As for the alumni thing, answer me this. How long did those kids who walked on to one of the worst DIII teams in the country (still an accomplishment, dont get me wrong)play for the Mariners. If the answer is more than, “just last year” i’ll stand corrected. And dont take the credit for some 20 year old that played with you guys in the spring. Thats like giving Fordham all the credit for Kevin Clare making it to the national developement program.
And to the last kid, rather than point out that Pelhams bantam is not their high school team and beating them by 1 is not impressive, i’ll leave you with one simple fact. Your bantam As are 1-1 against the Viper bantam Bs.
I wasnt dumping on the mariners before, all i said was some people love Guberti, some hate him. I was rooting for your midget teams to win states this year cause i have a few good friends on both those teams. I try to think of them while i write this and not you people. Ya, all vipers are stuck up, cocky jerks just like the only one lame enough to write on the blog.
PS- how are those vipers you “stole” from us working out? (thats a joke for all the kids on the 16u team)
The answer is more than last year! One played with the Mariners spring and fall 4 years and the other spring for years and last fall. Mariners: It’s the same like any place. Make the team you want at tryouts it is a great place. Get cut and it rots. See you at tryouts, I didn’t know it was you.
This is why it would be nicer to have more public ice facilities.
Look at the difference in tuition prices for full season Vipers and Ramapo Saints (WSA and SOR) vs. Capitals, Mariners and Bear Mountain (Palisades, Playland and West Point).
I’d bet it ranges from $1,000 to $2,000.
Now you can argue the merits of these individual organizations, but in todays harsh economic times I’d be looking at price for a youth hockey player. And for whatever it’s worth, most of the players from these organizations all end up playing in the same high school league
The public rinks like Playland, or semi-public like Palisades (mall only has to break-even on rink and Clarkstown town covenants require this rink to remain open) and West Point (I’d presume subsidized by the US Military Academy budget) can make youth hockey more affordable.
After reading this blog I wanted to give my feedback. My son played for the Mariners pre Guberti era. It was a wonderful organization for children to develop hockey skills. Winning was a goal but not the sole reason to play. Guberti came along after some coaching tenures there and became an autocratic leader. He lacked courtesy in handling coaching assignments and recruited the best players in the area so he could boost his insecure ego. The whole organization is about winning. While he has business skills he lacks class. He plays headgames with the kids and anyone who has a child in that organization should really concern themselves with the trust they place in this man. I long pulled my kid from the organization and HVHL and crossed the border to CT. I embraced the CT youth hockey leagues and the variety of teams that play in that state. HVHL is too varied in skill level or lack thereof. While some kids may like him there are children who probably will never touch the ice again because of his abusive behavior. The guy is a loser in my book.
This clown coached a Squirt team many years ago. His kid was goalie. They had a tourney in Marlboro and he has the nerve to tell the back up goalie to not even dress up for the tourney. I think the kids father was going to rip him a new one. The poor kid was crying for not getting to play in a travel tourney. He waited until they got to Mass.to tell them. As for no politics in the Mariners.. you’ve got to be kidding me.
Sounds like two old Mariners crying the blues that there kids didn’t make the teams they wanted. Many of us came from other programs to play for Guberti. He attracts players looking to win and go to states. The Mariners also have B teams and cut no one. Guberti and his coaches have won at every level and increased the organization to 12 teams and 240 players. As has been said before on this blog, make the team you want and play, he is great. Get cut and placed on the lower team he stinks.
I don’t think it is necessarily about getting cut from a team that is causing people to gripe. There are a lot of people who pulled their kids from Guberti’s teams mid season at the A level. Seems some people are missing the point. Sure there is a price to pay for creating a program for the pure goal of making states and winning championships but is that what a youth hockey program should be about? I don’t think so. Programs sole focus should be to create a competitive fun environment where their children can learn the sport of hockey. A program with integrity. Unfortunately that is not what Guberti created. I agree with other peoples comments. The man knows little to nothing about hockey. He may be a good leader in some ways but his interpersonal skills are lacking. He is mentally abusive to the children. His machismo attitude can be compared to Bobby Knight.