* Practice sessions have concluded for the 2024-2025 season*
5/2/25 - 5/4/25 - Friday to Sunday: ASHA Pittsburgh Tournament - Details to follow.
5/10/25: The End of Season Party is scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 1pm-3pm at Bowlero bowling alley in Belleville, NJ. Please RSVP by filling out this form.
6/23/25 - Monday: 14th Annual Bruce Giger Memorial Golf Outing - Details can be found here. Register Here.
No sleep 'til Brooklyn! Were the Beastie Boys prophetic when they wrote their 1986 classic? Is it possible that the famed street poets were predicting the 2024-2025 Dare Devils season? Decide for yourself based on some cherry-picked lyric excerpts below:
The Dare Devils have been around the world and back this season. There were planes, long drives, tussles on the ice, and I'm pretty sure that Coach/Manager Bernard has gone a tad bit mad. Now the players and families can finally get some rest because the Dare Devils season concluded today in Brooklyn, NY (we do have the Pittsburgh tournament in May, but for all intents and purposes the season is basically over).
Today we played our annual "Bridge and Tunnel" derby game against the talented Central Park North Stars at the picturesque Lefrak Center Ice Rink in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Knowing it was our last game of the season, the players came ready to play today, led by ad interim Captain, Reese Citro (aka the superstar's superstar). As has been the case over the past several weeks, the Dare Devils were a cohesive unit, played with solid defensive structure and went out of their way to make the extra pass.
The main highlights of the game were Henry Barrios scoring his first goal of the season and Tony He recording the first point (a beautiful assist) of his Dare Devils career. Owen Silverstein opened the game with a breakaway goal (assisted by Reese Citro) and Patrick Hung followed that up with two quick scores. That was all superstar net-minder Alex Anson needed as the Dare Devils rode his near perfect goaltending to a hard fought victory.
The Dare Devils making the box score were as follows: Shea Passikoff (7 goals, 1 assist); Owen Silverstein (5 goals); Patrick Hung (4 goals); Reese Citro (2 goals, 2 assists); James Cooney (1 goal, 1 assist); Sean Glassett (1 goal, 1 assist); Henry Barrios (1 goal); Tony He (1 assist); and Ayden Duran (1 assist). In addition to the offensive heroics, particularly strong defensive efforts were put in by Connor Hung, Sean Glassett, Reese Citro and Henry Barrios. Liam Smith was all over the ice today but he was thwarted on multiple occasions by the talented North Stars goalie.
Frank made the trip to Brooklyn and the gallery of his photos and videos can be found here. Thank you, Frank!
Lastly, we would also like to thank our great friends with the Central Park North Stars for hosting us today. They were great hosts, strong opponents and showed great sportsmanship. In addition, they treated us to an awesome pizza party and picnic in Prospect Park immediately following the game. Thank you North Stars. We can't wait to see your new digs in Central Park when we visit you next season!
The Dare Devils made their way to Bethpage, Long Island today for the annual Long Island Winter Classic. This year, the format was slightly different than previous iterations, as there were only four teams participating in the tournament: the Dare Devils, the Long Island Blues, the FDNY hockey team (yes, that's the NYC Fire Department) and the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department hockey club. The NJ collective was slated to play their opening game against the Suffolk County Cops and the final matchup versus our fierce rivals, the Long Island Blues.
A lot of Dare Devils players signed up to travel to the Island today, but the coaching staff started receiving word that several players were backing out as we neared the opening game. We couldn't understand why so many players were canceling their plans, but it started to make sense in the locker room. The chatter amongst the players was that they had to be on their best behavior or the consequence could be that they would be carted off to "Juvie" by Suffolk County's Finest. Perhaps some of the squad couldn't handle that pressure and they decided it was best to lay low in NJ for the day. However, the fear of being locked up was unwarranted as the Suffolk County team couldn't make it as they had to deal with wildfires in Eastern Long Island (we hope our friends from Suffolk County were able to limit the damage). In their place, the FDNY team stepped in and played an extra game against the Dare Devils.
3/8/25 @ 4:15pm vs the FDNY Bravest:
Coach Skip from Long Island pleaded with us to bring our biggest and baddest "A" players to the festivities this weekend. Skip's request became clear when we saw the FDNY squad step onto the ice for our opening game. They were big, they were strong, they could skate and they could shoot the puck. But the Dare Devils came prepared with some ammunition of our own - we rolled three lines, including our superstar "A" line of Captain Ryan Griffin, Kory Wadleigh, Will Milazzo, Reese Citro and cagey veteran Nick Ritter.
The Bravest got on the scoreboard first, putting one past our guest goalie, Hung Boy #4, on the opening shift. It looked like we had some tough sledding ahead of us, but Shea Passikoff went to work on the forecheck, powering the puck out of the corner to beat the fire goalie on the short side. Two shifts later, Nick Ritter took the puck into the offensive zone and rifled a shot into the upper corner of the net that the FDNY goalie had no chance on. The game stayed close throughout but the Dare Devils started pulling away in the last ten minutes and won the game by a score of 13-7.
The Dare Devils on the stat sheet were: Shea Passikoff (3 goals, 1 assist), Patrick Law (3 goals, 1 assist), guest player Linus Donahue (2 goals), Patrick Hung (2 assists), Hung Boy #4 (2 assists), Nick Ritter (1 goal), Aaron Quintana (1 goal), James Cooney (1 goal), Micayla Shields (1 goal), Kory Wadleigh (1 goal), Owen Silverstein (1 assist), Will Milazzo (1 assist), Orion Lee (1 assist) and Connor Hung (1 assist). Owen Silverstein, Captain Ryan Griffin, Will Milazzo, Nick Ritter, Andrew Katz, Liam Smith, Kory Wadleigh and Reese Citro all put in spirited defensive efforts. Hung Boy #4 played a solid game in net, settling down after the opening goal.
A special thank you goes out to New York's Bravest for taking the time to show our team a great game today. We appreciate you today and we appreciate you for everything you do for your community. Thank you!
3/8/25 @ 5:30pm vs. The Long Island Blues:
With the Suffolk Cops unable to make it to the rink, the schedule was thrown into disarray, and the Dare Devils found out that they would be playing back-to-back games. In the 2nd game, the Dare Devils took on the well-coached Blues team from Long Island. This was truly a battle of the special hockey heavyweights. As discussed with Coach Skip during warmups, both coaching staffs ensured that each team's "A" line would be matched-up with each other throughout the game. This led to some chippy, unbelievable, evenly-matched hockey across all of the lines. The game was tight, but the Dare Devils prevailed by a score of 6 to 3.
The Dare Devils jumped out to a quick lead and never took their foot off the gas as the game progressed. Will Milazzo opened the scoring by blistering a shot past our good friend, Taylor Esposito, Superstar Reese Citro scored a hat-trick (including putting home a penalty shot), Micayla Shields snuck in a rebound and Patrick Law scored a beautiful breakaway goal. Kory Wadleigh and Captain Ryan Griffin both received assists. Patrick Hung, Connor Hung, Captain Ryan Griffin, Kory Wadleigh, Liam Donahue, and Will Milazzo all put in solid defensive efforts. Once again, Hung Boy #4 was solid in net.
3/8/25 @ 7:30pm vs. The Long Island Blues:
After a cut of the ice, the awards presentation (where the Dare Devils received some more hardware), a captivating rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, and a delectable barbecue dinner in the party room, we played a second game against the Blues. Several Dare Devils players left after dinner so this time, we were only able to run two lines during the game. Line 1 consisted of Captain Ryan Griffin, Kory Wadleigh, Patrick Law, Patrick Hung, Connor Hung, and Micayla Shields. The 2nd line was James Cooney, Shea Passikoff, Liam Smith, Orion Lee, Linus Donahue and Aaron Quintana.
Despite being short handed, the Dare Devils acquitted themselves well. Long Island threw out their most talented players throughout the game but the NJ squad kept up. After Patrick Hung put in a breakaway goal to give the Dare Devils an early lead, the Blues answered with four unanswered goals. The Dare Devils had their opportunities but they ran into the hottest goalie in ASHA, Taylor Esposito. Last week, the Dare Devils had the pleasure of playing in front of Taylor but this week they experienced the nightmare of playing against him. Taylor stood tall in goal today - he flashed his glove on multiple occasions and showed great lateral movement, while tracking the puck perfectly all evening. Liam Smith, Captain Ryan Griffin, Patrick Law and Kory Wadleigh all had several Grade A scoring opportunities but had trouble solving Esposito. It wasn't until the final minutes of the game that Kory Wadleigh and El Capitan were able to break the plane of the goal-line. But it was too little too late. The Dare Devils ultimately lost a hard-fought battle by a score of 5 to 3.
In another physical match-up, we experienced a scary moment with about 20 minutes remaining in the contest. After being attended to by the medical staff, our superstar Patrick Law needed to shake-off a heavy collision, but he seemed to be in good spirits after the game. We hope you are feeling good Patrick and you definitely earned the game puck!
Thank you Hung Boy #4 for filling-in the goal today. You played inspired hockey and definitely had a hand in helping us win the cup. In addition, we owe a debt of gratitude to Coach Skip, Coach Rob, Coach Jim, the Blues players and all of the Blues support staff and family. Today was a great tournament. We loved the competition and the sportsmanship. We can't wait to come back again next year. Thank you!
The annual Rochester Friendship tournament was scheduled earlier than usual this year. Thirteen Dare Devils skaters and our favorite guest goalie, Taylor Esposito, made the trek up to Tim Horton's Ice Plex in Rochester, NY for the weekend event. The players started trickling into town at various times between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Fortunately, the tournament schedulers did us a solid and scheduled our first game for 11:20am on Saturday (although there was a mandatory coaches meeting at 8:30am on Saturday where the Dare Devils representatives were schooled on the Canadian translation for a lacrosse ball). Just like in Binghamton, Coach Jordan took on the lead bench coaching duty and once again found some magical line combinations. The Dare Devils were on point all weekend long, displaying great puck movement, defensive structure and sportsmanship. As has been the case at recent tournaments, the Dare Devils were a cohesive unit and found themselves lifting the championship trophy at the end of the weekend. Below is a summary of the events:
Saturday 3/1/25 vs. Cambridge Ice Hounds @ 11:20am
The Dare Devils opened the tournament against a talented group of players from Cambridge, Ontario. Continuing the trend from the championship game in Binghamton last weekend, the Dare Devils played solid defense and were consistently making passes to their open teammates. This was a matchup of two of the most talented goalies in special hockey - Taylor Esposito made countless strong saves and he was matched throughout the game by his Cambridge counterpart.
Cambridge opened the scoring several minutes into the game and the Dare Devils had their opportunities early but had a difficult time solving the Cambridge netminder. Shea Passikoff, Riley Chilselko Seickel, James Cooney, Owen Silverstein and Patrick Law all had grade A scoring chances in the opening minutes but they were stonewalled by the talented Ice Hounds backstop.
It wasn't until Liam Smith found a streaking Owen Silverstein about 7 minutes into the game that the Dare Devils were able to get on the scoreboard. But even then it wasn't easy - Smith sprung Silverstein on a breakaway but Owen's initial shot was stopped by the goalie. Silverstein kept his composure, gathered the rebound and found the back of the net on a pretty wraparound. Once he scored the first goal, Silverstein gained some confidence and quickly put two more into the net, with an assist going to Mike Benoff on the 2nd goal, to secure a hat trick before the game was halfway over.
Cambridge kept the pressure on and went up by a score of 4 to 3, but then Shea Passikoff deked past a couple of defenders and fooled the Cambridge goalie with a wrist shot from the hashmarks to tie the score up at 4. Cambridge answered to go up by one, and then Captain Ryan Griffin found rising superstar TJ Howard at the blue line where TJ took a few strides before rifling one through the goalie's five-hole.
Sensing an opportunity, Coach Myles pleaded with the team to go hard on the forecheck. James Cooney and Patrick Hung heeded the coaches advice and went to work in the corner. Cooney wrestled the puck from a Cambridge defender and setup Patrick Hung for a score to put the NJ squad up by one. However, the lead was short-lived as Cambridge tied the game up at 6 on a pretty passing play. The teams battled in the closing minutes but neither team could score another one as the game ended in a tie.
Solid defensive efforts were put in by Captain Ryan Griffin, Connor Hung, Richie Sherman and Ayden Duran. In addition to leading the charge with his stellar goaltending, Taylor Esposito acted as a third defenseman as he made several strong passes out of the defensive zone to free-up his teammates.
Lastly, the Dare Devils and Cambridge showed great sportsmanship, led by Captain Ryan Griffin and his Cambridge counterpart, to ensure that both teams had opportunities to touch the puck and get shots on net. Way to show the world the camaraderie that Canada and the US have historically displayed towards one another!
Saturday 3/1/25 vs. Buffalo Sabres Thunder @ 3:10pm
In the afternoon tilt, the Dare Devils faced off against the Buffalo Sabres Thunder. Once again, star goalie Taylor Esposito stood on his head, this time leading the Dare Devils to a victory that was decided via shootout. The players must have had a protein fueled lunch because they were jumping from the first shift of the game. But it wasn't all pedal to the metal for the Dare Devils - the team made the coaching staff proud by showing great sportsmanship throughout the contest.
Shea Passikoff opened the scoring by burying one past the Buffalo goaltender off of the opening faceoff. On the subsequent shift, Theodore Howard continued his precipitous rise by back-checking hard, using his reach to swipe the puck from the opposition, and quickly turning up ice and hitting Patrick Hung with a perfect pass that ultimately made its way into the back of the net.
Coach Jordan and Coach Myles advised the team that they needed to focus on teamwork and the players obliged for the remainder of the contest. Patrick Law scored three unanswered goals, all assisted beautifully by his line-mates. The first was setup by Ayden Duran, his second goal was the result of a perfect feed from Captain Ryan Griffin and the third was the completion of tic-tac-toe passing from Riley Chiselko Seickel and Ryan Griffin.
Passing is often times contagious, as was the case during the game this afternoon. Liam Smith had a particularly strong passing game, setting up his teammates with multiple pretty passes throughout the afternoon. Owen Silverstein fed James Cooney for a goal, Shea Passikoff scored his second of the game, with helpers from Captain Ryan Griffin and Patrick Law, and Richie Sherman concluded the regulation scoring, by converting his first goal of the season, off an assist from Patrick Hung.
Between the outstanding goaltending from Taylor Esposito, and the offensive fireworks from the team, victory seemed like it would be easy to come by in this game. However, Buffalo was a feisty organization and they clawed their way back into the game and tied the score up at the end of regulation. The game went to a shootout, and Richie Sherman, Michael Benoff, Connor Hung, Theodore Howard and Captain Ryan Griffin all converted their chances. That was all Taylor Esposito needed, and the Dare Devils rode his quick reflexes to the shootout victory.
Sunday 3/2/25 vs. @ 9am vs. Steel City Ice Bergs
After staying up late attending the western themed Dance Party in regular NJ attire at the Doubletree Hotel on Saturday night, there was concern that the Dare Devils would be a step slow for the Championship Game on Sunday morning. With the exception of Coach Myles, everyone showed up spry for the game and took it to our Pittsburgh based opponents.
Liam Smith opened the scoring on the first shift, converting a nice breakout pass from Shea Passikoff, and the Dare Devils never looked back. Taylor Esposito was once again spectacular in goal and led the Dare Devils to the championship. All of the players made the scoresheet, led by Reilly Chiselko Seickel getting the monkey off his back and burying a beautiful wrister halfway through the game. Reilly had been stonewalled by spectacular saves during the first two games and celebrated his goal conversion with his patented skeet shooting the glove routine. The box score is as follows: Patrick Hung (4 goals, 1 assist), James Cooney (2 goals, 1 assist), Patrick Law (2 goals, 1 assist), Owen Silverstein (2 goals, 1 assist), Theodore Howard (1 goal, 1 assist), Richie Sherman (1 goal), Connor Hung (1 goal), Liam Smith (1 goal), Shea Passikoff (1 assist), Mike Benoff (1 assist), and Ayden Duran (1 assist).
A special thank you goes out to Taylor Esposito for stepping in and playing goal for us this weekend. We love playing in front of you and you were the main reason we took home the hardware - thank you Taylor!
3 vs. 3 A Games (2 games Saturday, 1 game Sunday)
Superstar Captain Ryan Griffin represented the Dare Devils in the A games this weekend. Similar to Binghamton, Ryan found himself on the scoresheet in all of the weekends A contests. He converted 5 goals on Saturday morning, 1 goal on Saturday afternoon and 1 goal on Sunday morning. Way to go Cap - you made us proud!
Saturday morning practice at Codey (last practice of the season)
For the players not traveling to Rochester, Coach Steve Toledo ran practice at Codey on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it was our last practice of the season. Thank you Coach Steve and thank you Frank! Frank attended practice and captured everything. Frank's gallery can be found here. Thanks again, Frank!
There are hockey tournaments and then there is the annual Broome Includes International Special Hockey Festival in Binghamton, NY. This tournament always gets the Dare Devils out in masses and this year was a record setter in terms of attendance. We had 21 B/C skaters participating, four A players (Patrick Law, Captain Ryan Griffin, Will Milazzo and Reese Citro), superstar Goalie Matty Brighton, and veteran leader Ryan Tomkievicz (who provided inspiration to the team while he continues his comeback). The tournament opened with a family skate at the Farm Rink on Friday afternoon followed by a party at Dave & Busters. On Saturday morning, the real action began as the Dare Devils had two games on the schedule and the A players saw action in the all-star contests. On Saturday night, many members of the team took in the Binghamton Black Bears game at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. All of the players were mesmerized watching the pros play on the same ice they skated on earlier in the day. Dare Devils, keep working hard and you may find yourselves in the big leagues one day. On Sunday, the Dare Devils were back on the ice looking for glory. Please read below for a summary of all of the action.
Saturday, 2/21 @ 9am vs. NY Raptors at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena
The Dare Devils opened the tournament with a tense matchup against the NY Raptors. Given we had 20 skaters participating, Coach Jordan had to get creative in setting up the lines and maintaining order on the bench. There was a method to her madness as she created 4 evenly matched lines and had them rolling all game long. The game was close from start to finish but the Dare Devils escaped with a narrow victory, led by stellar goaltending from superstar Matty Brighton.
The first line of Andrew Piccirillo, Andrew DePiero, Vincenzo Racamato, Shea Passikoff and Owen Silverstein showed great chemistry throughout the game while excellent defensive efforts were put in by Theodore Howard, Kevin Plunkett, Owen Silverstein, James Cooney, Henry Barrios, Ayden Duran, Andrew Piccirillo and Madison Mitchell. Theodore Howard, Michael Benoff and Samantha Ciemiecki all played what could be considered their strongest games ever. All three were all over the ice and made several key contributions in all three zones.
The Dare Devils making the scoresheet were as follows: Owen Silverstein (2 goals, 1 assist), Andrew DePiero (1 goal, 2 assists), Connor Hung (1 goal, 2 assists), Theodore Howard (2 goals), Patrick Hung (2 goals), Riley Chiselko Seickel (2 goals), Vinny Racamato (1 goal, 1 assist), Danny Giger (1 goal, 1 assist), Liam Smith (1 goal), and Samantha Ciemiecki (1 assist).
Saturday, 2/21 @ 12pm vs. Ottawa Bandits at Riverbend Ice Center
In our 2nd game of the tournament, the Dare Devils faced off against our friends from Canada's capital city, the Ottawa Bandits. Backed by otherworldly goaltending from superstar Matty Brighton, the Dare Devils prevailed by a score of 5-1, but the game was much closer than what showed on the scoreboard.
Living up to the Canadian mantra, "The True North strong and free," the Bandits played inspired hockey and gave us one of our best matchups of the season. Both teams came out of the gates flying but neither side was able to get one past the talented goalies until Patrick Hung buried a breakaway off a beautiful assist from Ryan Kientz, about 10 minutes into the game. That goal was quickly followed by a Danny Giger goal, with assists going to Aaron Quintana and Michael Benoff.
The Dare Devils continued to attack with Patrick Hung channeling the sage wisdom of Coach Myles by using the boards to break out of the defensive zone to free himself for a breakaway, where he was able to bury his second goal of the game. Continuing his progression this season, Sean Glassett played a strong game and his hard work paid off when he banged in his own rebound to put the NJ squad up by a score of 4-0. The Bandits were finally able to solve Brighton to get Ottawa within striking distance but Vinny Racamato put the game out of reach when he buried a beautiful goal in the final minutes of the game.
The game continued to be a back and forth affair as the clock wound down, and the Dare Devils were able to come away with the victory because Brighton made numerous high danger saves, including a beautiful glove save in the closing minutes to seal the win. In addition to Brighton, a solid defensive effort was put in by Connor Hung, who thwarted several Ottawa chances in front of his goaltender. Theodore Howard, Joel Gooblar and Samantha Ciemiecki were all strong on pucks and were able to play possession hockey to keep the ice tilted towards the Ottawa net.
Saturday, 2/21 @ 2:30pm: Long Island Blues/NJ Dare Devils vs. Nova Cool Cats/Montgomery Cheetahs at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena
Our good friends from Long Island put out an SOS for additional players as they only had 5 skaters and goalie Taylor Esposito make the trip up here from downstate. Liam Smith, James Cooney, Aaron Quintana, Shea Passikoff and Michael Benoff answered the call and were more than happy to get the extra ice time while helping out the Blues.
Understanding the importance of continuity and familiarity, Coach Skip decided to keep the Long Island boys together as one line and the Dare Devils all played together on the second line. In what can be described as a tale of two states, the contrast between the lines spoke volumes towards the strong Long Island coaching provided by Coach Skip, Coach Rob and Coach Jim. The Blues quintet played with structure in both the offensive and defensive zones and continually went out of their way to make the extra pass. Meanwhile, the NJ boys didn't seem too keen on playing defense and left superstar Taylor Esposito on his own to make numerous high danger saves. In fairness to the Dare Devils players, it was their 3rd game of the day and it looked like they were tired. At any rate, hopefully Coach Skip's offer of an apprenticeship to Coach Myles still stands as the Dare Devils can use some work in terms of structure and teamwork.
While the Dare Devils didn't play much defense, they did make their presence felt as they were on the ice for the final shift of the game, and Shea Passikoff was able to break up a 14 to 14 tie by burying a shot through the five-hole of the goalie to seal the victory. All of the Dare Devils who participated made the score sheet, led by Shea Passikoff (4 goals), James Cooney (1 goal), Aaron Quintana (1 goal), Liam Smith (1 assist) and Michael Benoff (1 assist). In addition to his unbelievable goaltending, Taylor Esposito also recorded an assist on Shea Passikoff's second goal of the afternoon.
A special thank you goes out to Coach Skip, Coach Rob, Coach Jim and all of the Blues players for graciously welcoming our players onto your squad today. We loved playing with you and can't wait to see you in Long Island in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, 2/22 @ 12pm vs. Central Park North Stars at the Farm Rink
Continuing with the trend of recent tournaments, the Dare Devils found themselves undefeated heading into Championship Sunday. This time, they faced off against our Hudson River rivals, the Central Park North Stars, under cloud cover at the famed Farm Rink in Vestal, NY. Perhaps the players had been reading their press on Sunday morning because it seemed like they were making a concerted effort to make the extra pass and play structured defense all game long.
Coach Jordan had been tinkering with the lines during the games on Saturday, and by Sunday, she found the perfect line combos and strategically matched them up against the talented North Stars throughout the afternoon. The Dare Devils came out buzzing and kept the pressure on Central Park the entire game. After a brief feeling out period, star goalie Matty Brighton found Owen Silverstein breaking out of the zone and Owen was able to best the talented North Stars goalie to give the NJ team the early lead. Later in the same shift, Shea Passikoff broke up a clearing attempt and quickly snapped the puck into the net to give the Dare Devils a 2-0 cushion.
That was all Matty Brighton needed on the afternoon and the Dare Devils rode his spectacular goaltending to the gold medal. The Dare Devils making the box score were as follows: Shea Passikoff (3 goals, 2 assists), Owen Silverstein (2 goals, 2 assists), Theodore Howard (2 goals), Riley Chilselko Seickel (1 goal), Danny Giger (1 goal), Aaron Quintana (1 goal), James Cooney (1 assist), Liam Smith (1 assist), and Matty Brighton (1 assist). In addition to the offensive heroics and outstanding goaltending, all of the Dare Devils made key defensive contributions to seal the championship, including shut down efforts by the Hung Boys (Patrick and Conner), Owen Silverstein, Riley Chiselko Seickel, Henry Barrios, Sean Glassett, Kevin Plunkett, Ryan Kientz and James Cooney.
A special shoutout goes out to Madison Mitchell and Samantha Ciemiecki, who both showed great sportsmanship by volunteering to play with the shorthanded Central Park team. Both had several chances but were continually denied the back of the net by their good friend, Matty Brighton.
A Team All Star Games - Saturday 2/21 and Sunday 2/22
The biggest, baddest, strongest and most talented Dare Devils participated in the vaunted A All Star Games all weekend. Captain Ryan Griffin represented the Green team, superstar goalie Matty Brighton played for the Reds, defensive stalwart Will Milazzo and power skater Patrick Law teamed up in the Blue sweaters, and the superstars superstar Reese Citro suited-up for the Yellow squad. All five all stars made the Dare Devils proud by representing our talents so well.
As usual, the play was anchored by our longtime captain, Ryan Griffin. Ryan's Green team was described as quite possibly the most talented collection of special hockey players to ever play together on the same team. Ryan finished the weekend with 3 goals and 1 assist, chipping in points in all three games. Will Milazzo and Patrick Law showed great chemistry all tournament, highlighted by Patrick burying an assist from Milazzo in their Saturday afternoon contest. Reese Citro played a solid all around tournament for the Yellow All Stars and Matty Brighton capped an unbelievable weekend by stopping over 100 shots in the collective all star games.
Today was the big day. After months of coordination, Frank was finally able to gather the vast majority of the Dare Devils players, coaches and front office folks for the annual team picture. Almost everyone showed up to Codey today, with a few notable exceptions. Esteemed former team manager Andy Piccirillo is still vacationing on the Italian Riviera (or maybe he was just in Brick). But don't fear, Frank assured us that he will be able to superimpose Andy's image into the team photo, patent leather loafers and all. We can't wait to see how the picture turns out. Frank also took pictures of the action at practice and the link can be found here. Thank you, Frank and team!
Given the great turnout for picture day, Coach Myles had a lot of players to work out at practice today. We started with a leisurely warmup and then all of the players headed over to the arena seats to cheese for the team photo. Once Frank was comfortable he captured the perfect depiction of the 2024-2025 Dare Devils, he released the players back onto the ice to proceed with practice. Veteran superstar Ryan Tomkievicz gave a spirited pep talk to the team prior to the commencement of drills. It was great to see you back with the team today, Ryan!
Ryan got all of the players fired up for the power skating drills. I've never seen the players skating with so much focus and determination. Once the edge-work concluded, Coach Myles split the team into three stations to finish-up practice. Coach Eric led passing and shooting drills, Coach Ray coordinated puck-handling/skating and Coach Myles ran the players through a gauntlet of breakout drills, holding the blue-line and shooting practice. Great work today Dare Devils.
Next weekend, we have our annual Binghamton tournament for the traveling players. For the team members not making the trip, Coach Steve Toledo will be running a standard practice for the team at Codey, with the learn-to-skate session from 9:00am to 9:30am and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:30am to 10:30am.
The hills of Austria were alive today with Coach Brendon's sound of music and skiing. Meanwhile, back in West Orange the Dare Devils' storage closet was alive with the sound of . . . success: we were able to get two new players--Joshua and Tony--on the ice thanks to a team effort, including Kelly Scorsune and Ms. Grace. Thank you everyone! - Bernard
And here's John Smith's recap from practice (thanks John!):
The Dare Devils stayed ahead of the incoming inclement weather as they held practice this morning in their normal 9am time slot. Despite missing a few regulars (who were hopefully in more alluring locales), practice was well attended as the steadily increasing roster added two more players to their ranks welcoming Joshua Chen and Tony He. A good sign that there are new players is when the “legacy” jerseys start showing up on the ice while the newer players await their own jerseys. Today, veteran Dare Devil Nick Ritter sported his own version of a legacy jersey, wearing a yellow jersey that legend says goes back 40 years.
Whatever they were wearing, all the Dare Devils looked sharp today. The practice pace was fierce as the players fired pucks in all directions. Team Manager Bernard Cooney should have earned combat pay as he put his life on the line fishing pucks out of the net. We may have to get him a Kevlar suit if he is to continue that line of work. For the second half of practice, coach Myles put the team through their skating drills and the players responded with high intensity and determination. It looks like they all want to be in tip top shape for next week’s team picture. The team was then split into two groups to work on skating, passing, and shooting drills. As usual, the junior and senior coaches did an excellent job with the newer players and the veterans as well.
Crab cakes and hockey, that's what Maryland does! According to the neighbors, Coach Bernard can be heard screaming this while practicing crossovers on his ODR in the wee hours of the night. The Dare Devils can now attest to the fact that Maryland does indeed have hockey, with a bit of Old Bay seasoning sprinkled on top. Seven Dare Devils players travelled down to Ocean City Maryland for the annual Special Hockey Beach Bash 3 vs. 3 tournament, held at the historic Carousel Resort. Below is a summary of the events (spoiler alert, the Dare Devils won the Championship):
Friday, 1/31/25 @ 2:20pm vs. Baltimore Saints B Capitols:
In a matchup of tournament heavyweights, the Dare Devils opened the weekend against the talented Capitols squad, based out of Baltimore. The Caps scored a quick goal in the opening minute, but the Dare Devils regrouped and answered with two goals of their own, scored by Patrick Hung and James Cooney. There was a lot of action throughout the contest but the goalies for both teams (including Dare Devils guest goalie Kieran Coughlin) were amazing and made countless high-danger saves all afternoon. However, the Dare Devils continued attacking the net, with Connor Hung burying a goal and Shea Passikoff scoring a hat trick to put the Dare Devils up by the score of 6 to 3 with three minutes remaining in the game. Just as the Dare Devils were feeling confident that they would prevail, the Baltimore squad put in 3 unanswered goals to tie the score up at 6, in the final minute of the game. The teams traded chances as the clock wound down but the game justly ended in a tie. The score sheet for the game is as follows: Shea Passikoff (3 goals), Patrick Hung (1 goal, 1 assist), Ayden Duran (2 assists), James Cooney (1 goal) and Connor Hung (1 goal). Liam Smith played a strong game but was stymied by the talented Capitols goaltender on multiple occasions. In addition to chipping in a goal, Connor Hung played solid defense all game.
Saturday, 2/1/25 @ 8am vs. Nova Cool Cats B:
After an early wake-up call, the Dare Devils took on the DC based Cool Cats on Saturday morning. Similar to Friday's game, both teams matched up well and played an exciting, back-and-forth game. Led by guest goalie Ethan Davidson, the Dare Devils had a well balanced attack and ultimately prevailed, winning the game by a 3 goal margin. The Dare Devils were aided by the cheering section, who lifted the players spirits while razzing baby brother Bernard at the same time. All of the Dare Devils contributed to the score sheet: Owen Silverstein (6 goals, 1 assist), James Cooney (4 goals, 2 assists), Shea Passikoff (4 goals), Patrick Hung (3 goals, 1 assist), Connor Hung (3 assists), Liam Smith (1 goal) and Ayden Duran (1 assist).
Saturday, 2/1/25 @ 2:20pm vs. Washington Ice Dogs B:
After some morning naps and lunch, the Dare Devils were back at it in this early afternoon battle against the Washington Ice Dogs. In another evenly matched game, the Dare Devils kept the pressure on and gutted out a victory over the talented Ice Dogs. James Cooney opened with a goal on the first shift and the NJ squad kept attacking as the game progressed, backed by stellar goaltending from guest goaler Joey Del Guidice. The Dare Devils were led by Patrick Hung (4 goals, 1 assist), Owen Silverstein (4 goals), James Cooney (3 goals), Liam Smith (1 goal, 1 assist), Shea Passikoff (1 goal), Ayden Duran (1 goal), and the defensive efforts of Connor Hung. The Dare Devils efforts in the round robin portion of the tournament have put them in a great position for Championship Sunday - we will find out our opponent for the Championship Game later this evening.
Sunday, 2/2/25 @ 9:15am vs. Baltimore Saints B - Championship Game:
After finishing 2-0-1 in the opening round, the Dare Devils were on pins and needles wondering who they would face in the Championship Game. While the team was resting their weary muscles in the hot tub, word came in that we would play the vaunted Baltimore Saints B squad in the championship. The Saints B have some of the biggest, baddest, imposing players in special hockey, so it was important for the Dare Devils to get hyped up for this game. Sensing the importance of preparedness for this matchup, Coach Bernard scheduled a team dinner in the attic game room at The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille. It was a great bonding experience for the boys and most of them ate protein heavy meals to get ready for the big game the next morning. It seemed to have worked as intended - the Dare Devils came out flying and put in a very solid effort against the Saints. As expected, this was an intense game with the teams trading goals throughout. In a Hung heavy game, the Hung boys were all over the score sheet. Patrick Hung scored 7 goals and brother Conner netted 2 as the Dare Devils found themselves tied at 9 with the Saints in the final minutes of the game. James Cooney decided to take matters into his own hands and won a puck battle in the defensive zone and quickly turned up ice towards the goal. Cooney deked past two defenders and found himself alone in front of the talented Saints goalie. Coach Terence had been preaching all game that the Dare Devils need to aim for the high corners when shooting on the Saints net. Cooney heeded the advice of Coach T and buried the game winner in the top corner to seal the victory for the NJ squad.
Way to go, Dare Devils! We are proud of your efforts!
What's old is new and what's new is old. Today, the Dare Devils traveled south on the Parkway for a game against our good friends, the Woodbridge Warriors. Anyone looking at the Dare Devils bench could have easily thought that we travelled back in time to 2017. Esteemed former Head Coach Steve Ritter and our well-respected ex-Manager Andy Piccirillo took on the bench coaching duties for today's contest. Supporting Coach Ritter and Andy were Coach Jordan and part-time journalist John Smith. Coach Myles should be nervous as this was the most organized our bench and line changes have been in years.
In what most spectators agreed was the strongest refereed game in ASHA history, the teams battled back and forth throughout. However, both teams showed great sportsmanship. The Warriors were gracious enough to share their goalie with us and we returned the favor by letting the Warriors borrow some of our strongest players, Kory Wadleigh, Madison Mitchell, Nick Ritter and Alfonso "Fonzi" Mosca. From the 1st puck drop, the game stayed close until the final buzzer. The Dare Devils were always in the game but were unable to tie the score in a frantic final minute and ultimately lost the game by one goal. The Dare Devils making the box score were Lindell Lu (1 goal), Patrick Hung (2 goals), Shea Passikoff (1 goal), Patrick Law (1 goal), Sean Glassett (1 goal), Owen Silverstein (1 goal), Andrew Piccirillo (1 goal), Henry Barrios (1 assist) and Samantha Ciemiecki (1 assist). In addition to the offensive contributions, James Cooney and Connor Hung played strong defense, Liam Smith made several great passing plays, Kevin Plunkett was active on the forecheck and was continually disrupting the Warriors in the corners, and Riley Chiselko Seickel was a beast in the face-off circle all game.
The Dare Devils moonlighting with the Warriors all played strong games with Kory Wadleigh scoring 2 goals and 1 assist, Nick Ritter chipping in a goal, Madison Mitchell playing steady defense and Fonzi Mosca playing a spirited offensive game.
It's always fun playing the Warriors and we are extremely grateful that they hosted us today and their generosity will not be forgotten. Frank also travelled down to Woodbridge and his entire gallery of photos and videos from the game can be found here. Thank you Frank!.
In addition to the game, the Dare Devils also held our regular practice at Codey. With Coach Terence conspicuously absent (he was last seen at 6am smoking Malboro Reds at a low-stakes Vegas baccarat table), Coach Myles held the fort down, running the team through the learn-to-skate session and formal drills. After practice, Captain Ryan Griffin held a birthday celebration in one of the Codey party rooms - Happy Birthday Cap!
By John Smith (#70, Liam’s Dad)
The Dare Devils once again had to deal with a modified practice time. This time around they were able to keep it in the morning hours and the 10:45am start time seemed to agree with them. The ability to sleep in an extra hour and 45 minutes clearly gave them some added juice as they were crisp and sharp all practice long.
The practice started as usual with the learn to skate session from 10:45 to 11:30 and the turnout was great. Many of the recent additions to the team continued their impressive progress with the veterans in attendance helping out their new teammates.
For the second half of practice, coach Myles split the team into 3 groups and alternated the groups in 3 separate drill stations. The players worked on their passing, stickhandling, and shooting skills. Every player was focused and worked hard on improving their skills with great help as usual from all the junior and senior coaches.
Word around the rink was that Veteran Dare Devil Will Trampota found a dead wasp on the ice. This bodes well for the Dare Devils as seeing a dead wasp signifies the end of a threat, conflict, or negative situation and that new opportunities await you. Here’s to new opportunities.
