Archives (Game and Practice Summaries)

Dare Devils:

There was not a halloween hangover as all of the players put in the extra effort today. Coach Myles and Coach Billy ran a tight ship at practice to prep the players for tomorrow's early morning game at Brick and next weekend's tournament in Buffalo. The standouts at practice today were Max Baranowski (showing off deft stickhandling and passing skills), Ryan Scorsune ( ripping shots into the corners of the net) and Danny Giger (leading the charge during the power skating drills).

Kory Wadleigh learned an important lesson about "old man strength" at practice today. Kory challenged the team managers to a push up contest but quickly realized the error of his ways and tapped out accordingly. Kory regrouped after an on-ice meditation session and led the team through the stickhandling drills.

Frank was at practice today. The gallery of today's practice can be found here.

For the players not traveling to Buffalo next week, on Saturday (11/11), Coach Billy will be leading our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

Good luck at Brick tomorrow!

A few housekeeping notes:

Brick Game: The game starts bright and early at 7:50am tomorrow (11/5) at Howell Ice Arena, 269 Squankum Rd, Farmingdale, NJ 07727

Buffalo Tournament: For those traveling to Buffalo, there are currently three games scheduled (Saturday, 11/11 at 9am and 2:30pm; and Sunday, 11/12 at 10am). Please see Bernard's email for additional details.

Neck Guard Policy: All players are now required to wear protective neck guards on the ice. The team purchased neck guard shirts for all players last year and distributed them at the holiday party. Please wear your neck guard shirt during all games and practices.

Captains Corner: Captain Ryan Griffin is writing a Dare Devils focused blog on this website. This week he added a new segment called the "NJDD Spotlight" where he details a Dare Devils player. This week he is highlighting #35, Owen Silverstein. Great job Cap! Captains Corner can be found under Resources/Captains Corner or here.

Group Night to see Devils vs. Flyers at the Prudential Center on 12/19 @ 7pm: All player and junior coach tickets will be covered by the team. Additional tickets will cost $35 each. Additional details and the order form can be found here. All orders must be made on the website. Please reach out to me (brendon.passikoff@gmail.com) with any questions.

Today was team picture day. A special thank you goes out to Frank and his helper for graciously snapping team photos of the Dare Devils in the retro red and green jerseys. We'd also like to commend all of the players and coaches for listening, sitting still and smiling for the photo. Most of the parents listened too - we only witnessed a few that were openly defiant of Frank's instructions to wait until he was finished taking the team photo to take personal phone pictures (on a side note, Bernard chose the under on this and wins a one week reprieve from providing us with a head shot to put up on the website). Thanks again Frank! We can't wait to see the team picture! Frank has already posted the action photos of today's practice and they can be found here.

During the actual practice, Coach Myles was all business. He had the players working hard the entire time doing power skating drills, suicides and net races. The players can now safely enjoy their halloween candy knowing that they burned so many calories today.

We also welcomed our newest addition to the team: our gold-plated "shooter tutor" arrived during the week and Captain Ryan took the ceremonial first shot on it (video evidence of "Cap" taking the inaugural shot on the shooter tutor can be found here in our photo gallery section). We now have a viable backup plan if our star goalies, Matty Brighton and Ari Berlin, can't make it to a practice or game.

A few housekeeping notes:

As a reminder, all jersey, shell and warm-up suit orders need to be submitted by 10pm tomorrow (10/29/23) per the instructions in Bernard's emails. The order form can be found here.

If your player is planning on attending the games in Brick, they will only be permitted to play if they are registered for USA Hockey. Please see Bernard's emails for additional details.

The team store is up and running and there is a lot of Dare Devils spirit wear available to purchase. I ordered several items that arrived this week and I am very happy with the quality. The direct link to the team store can be found here. You can also navigate to it via the "Resources" section of this website.

Pam Saunders (Matty Brighton's mom) is running a winter clothing drive and we will be accepting collections at practice through December 2nd. More details can be found in Andy's previous post.

Next week (Saturday, 11/4), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30. We also have an away game at Brick next Sunday, 11/5 at 8:30am. If you are planning to attend, please update your availability on the website and you must be registered for USA Hockey.

Dare Devils,

We survived a day without our fearless manager, Bernard. Andy came out of retirement and did an admiral job as ad interim manager while Bernard was being court-martialed (or something) at the Naval Academy.

On the ice, Coach Myles and Coach Billy led the players through the learn-to-skate session, power-skating, shooting and passing drills and a hard-fought 20 minute scrimmage. Led by Captain Ryan Griffin, several of our more seasoned players took on a leadership role at practice today. Ryan Tomkievicz assisted one of his younger teammates through the drills and Kory Wadleigh was motivating his peers through the power-skating drills. Kory was overheard saying, "the pain you feel in practice is the strength you feel in the games." Sage advice, Kory!

During the scrimmage, the goalies were once again the stars of the show. Matty Brighton stonewalled Riley Chiselko Seickel on numerous point blank attempts in front of the net. Nick Ritter had a brilliant sequence where he went from defense to offense in a split second. He poke-checked the puck from an opponent, turned up the ice and shook off a few defenders with a spin-o-rama move and found himself one-on-one with goalie Ari Berlin. Nick made a quick move and shot for the upper corner but his shot was no match for Ari's cat-like glove hand. Jimmy McTernan and Trevor Shaw both scored on end-to-end breakaways. Great practice and scrimmage, Dare Devils!

Pam Saunders (star goalie Matty Brighton's mom) is running a winter clothing drive and we will be accepting collections at practice through December 2nd. More details can be found in Andy's previous post.

We added an "availability" function to the website and you can now let the coaching staff know if you will be attending practices, games and tournaments. Here is the direct link to the availability section or you can find it under the Teams/Dare Devils 2023-2024 tab.

As a reminder, if you plan on attending the away games at Brick, you are required to register for USA Hockey. If you do not register, you will not be allowed to play. Your USA Hockey registration will be reimbursed by the team. Please send your USA Hockey credentials to Bernard after your registration is complete. 

Finally, as per Bernard's email, we plan to order new jerseys and shells (the piece that's worn over hockey pants) for players who need them. We will also order new warm-up suits as a holiday gift. Players must be registered on the team website to place a request for a jersey or other item. We will not accept requests that are made in person, via email, text message, or any other method that's not the team website.  Here is the link to place jersey, shell and warm-up suit requests. You must answer all the questions for your request to go through. Do not leave any fields blank.

Next week (Saturday, 10/28), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30. As a reminder, our team picture will be taken during the 10/28 practice. Frank plans to take the picture around 9:30-9:45AM during practice. Please wear your retro (red/green) jerseys.

Way to go Dare Devils! The coaching staff was worried that there would be some letdown after an action packed Frankenfest weekend. The concerns were unwarranted as everyone on the team gave it their all at practice today. Coach Billy filled in as head coach today while Coach Myles was glueing his catalytic converter back into his car. Coach Billy and the junior coaches worked hard during the learn-to-skate session, led the players through skating, puck-handling and shooting drills and finished off practice with an intense 15 minute scrimmage.

Matty Brighton and Ari Berlin kept their momentum going from the Frankenfest games and were both outstanding in goal during the scrimmage. The offense was led by Will Milazzo with a goal and two assists, a goal and an assist by Captain Ryan Griffin, and a goal each from Jimmy McTernan, Connor Hung, Patrick Hung, Alfonso Mosca and Andrew DePiero. James Cooney rounded out the scoring with an assist. Austin Hom, Aaron Quintana, Bahad Worley, Ryan Kientz, Andrew Katz, Liam Smith, Sean Glassett, Kyle Rivers and Ayden Duran all contributed with solid defense.

Frank and Bentley Po both were in attendance at today's practice and were taking pictures of the action (thank you both). Here is the link to the gallery.

We added an "availability" function to the website and you can now let the coaching staff know if you will be attending practices, games and tournaments. Here is the direct link to the availability section or you can find it under the Teams/Dare Devils 2023-2024 tab.

As a reminder, if you plan on attending the away games at Brick, you are required to register for USA Hockey. If you do not register, you will not be allowed to play. Your USA Hockey registration will be reimbursed by the team. Please send your USA Hockey credentials to Bernard after your registration is complete. 

Next week (Saturday, 10/21), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

Our annual Frankenfest tournament concluded yesterday. Thank you to all of the players, coaches, junior coaches, volunteers, arena staff, zoo staff, families and visiting teams for making the tournament and party a successful event. Frank and his gang of photographers graciously documented everything that occurred over the course of the weekend. All of the galleries will be posted under the Resources/Photo Gallery tab on this website and they can also be found on Frank's website. A special thank you goes out to Dare Devils player and resident artist, Jonah Barnes, for designing the art work on this year's tournament t-shirt.

There are a few updates to the upcoming game schedule. The away game that was originally scheduled against the Brick Stars on 10/22/23 has been cancelled. In its place we have scheduled two additional away games against Brick: the first game is on Sunday, 11/5/23 at 8:30am and the second game is on 12/10/23 at 8:30am. Players and coaches can only attend the Brick games if they have registered for USA Hockey, per the instructions that were previously emailed.

Next week (Saturday, 10/14), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

Mixed Squad A Game, Red vs. Black at 9am:

The Dare Devils top players once again competed with the Red squad in the early morning A game. It was a hard fought game that was ultimately won by the Black team. The Dare Devils were represented by Captain Ryan Griffin, Will Trampota, Reese Citro, Trevor Shaw, Will Milazzo, Kory Wadleigh and Vinny Racamato. Wadleigh opened the scoring with assists from Griffin and Trampota but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Black squad.

Gallery of Mixed Squad A Game at 9am on 10/8

Mixed Squad A Game, Red vs. Black at 11:30am:

The Dare Devils A players of Captain Ryan Griffin, Will Trampota, Reese Citro, Trevor Shaw, Will Milazzo, Kory Wadleigh and Vinny Racamato made up the majority of the Red squad in a battle versus the A players from the visiting teams. The Red team came up short but were led by Captain Ryan Griffin who netted two goals in the loss. A special thank you goes out to Taylor Esposito of the Long Island Blues who played brilliantly in net for the Red squad in all of the Frankenfest A games.

Gallery of Mixed Squad A Game at 11:30am

Dare Devils B Team vs. SCT/Bing/Mer/Rich/Wash at 12:15pm:

The Dare Devils B team won a tense battle against a contingent of players from Southern CT, Binghamton, Mercer, Richmond and Washington. The defense was anchored by goaltender Matty Brighton who made numerous acrobatic saves in the victory. The offense was led by Jimmy McTernan with 5 goals, Shea Passikoff with 4 goals, Liam Smith with 2 goals and 1 assist and 1 goal from Patrick Hung.

Gallery of Dare Devils B Team vs. SCT/Bing/Mer/Rich Wash at 12:15pm on 12/8

Dare Devils C Team vs. Woodbrige/Central Park/Binghamton at 1:00pm:

The Dare Devils C team ran into a hot Binghamton goaltender and lost a thriller to the team made up of Woodbridge, Central Park and Binghamton by a score of 3-2. Dare Devils goalie Ari Berlin made over 50 saves in the loss. The offense came from goals scored by PJ Visicaro and Alex Anson.

Gallery of Dare Devils C Team vs. Wood/CP/Bing at 1:00pm on 10/8

Dare Devils Mixed Squad vs. Venom Hockey at 2:00pm:

A group of A, B & C Dare Devils players put a hurting on the Venom Hockey beer leaguers. Dare Devils goalie Ari Berlin embarrassed her counterpart, Coach Terence, in an 11-4 beatdown. The Dare Devils offense was provided by a Samantha Ciemiecki hat trick, two goals and two assists from Jimmy McTernan, two goals from Will Trampota and one goal each from Alex Anson, Liam Smith, Captain Ryan Griffin and Patrick Hung. Rounding out the Dare Devils scoring was a secondary assist from Coach Myles. The Venom tried hard but they couldn't keep up with the the younger Dare Devils. Better luck next year, Venom.

Gallery of Dare Devils A, B & C Teams vs. Venom Hockey at 2:00pm on 10/8

Dare Devils C vs. Philadelphia Freeze at 9:45am:

The Dare Devils C team put forth a valiant effort but were stonewalled by an amazing Freeze goalie. The Dare Devils ultimately lost 5-2 but played a strong game. Highlights included a multiple high danger save effort by goaltender Ari Berlin and goals by Shea Passikoff and Patrick Hung.

Gallery of Dare Devils C game vs. Freeze on 10/7

Mixed Squad A Game: Red vs. Black at 1:15pm:

The top skilled players from all of the teams participating in Frankenfest joined forces in a hard fought A game at 1:15pm. The black team was victorious, winning by a score of 7-2 in a game that was closer than the score indicated. The Dare Devils were represented by Captain Ryan Griffin, Will Trampota, Will Milazzo, Kory Wadleigh, Trevor Shaw and Reese Citro. Citro lead the way with two goals and Shaw played inspired defense laying his body on the line to block a shot.

Gallery of Mixed Squad A Game on 10/7

Dare Devils B vs. Montgomery Cheetahs at 2pm:

The Dare Devils B squad won a hard fought 5-3 game over the Cheetahs. The Dare Devils were led by goaltender Matty Brighton who stood on his head making numerous point blank saves. Pacing the offense was Jimmy McTernan with 2 goals, Andrew Piccirillo with a goal and an assist, and Patrick Hung with a goal and an assist. Patrick Law and Alex Anson each contributed a goal.

Gallery of Dare Devils B Game vs. Cheetahs on 10/7

Dare Devils B vs. Lehigh Valley Polar Bears at 4:30pm:

The Dare Devils played an inspired game against the Polar Bears and prevailed by a score of 5-2. The Dare Devils B squad was once again led by a brilliant performance from Matty Brighton in nets. The offensive contributions came from Jimmy McTernan with 2 goals, and a goal each from Andrew Piccirillo, James Cooney and Vinny Racamato. Nick Ritter got onto the score sheet with an assist on the opening goal.

Gallery of Dare Devils B vs. Lehigh Valley Polar Bears on 10/7

Dare Devils C vs. York Polar Bears at 4:30pm:

The Dare Devils C squad lost a nail biter to the York Polar Bears by a score of 6-5. Ari Berlin was awesome in goal with a ton of acrobatic saves. The offense was led by an Alex Anson hat trick and a goal each from Liam Smith and Riley Seickel. Kyle Rivers, Sean Glasset and Ari Berlin each contributed assists.

Gallery of Dare Devils C vs. York Polar Bears on 10/7

9/30/23 Practice Summary:

Outstanding job at practice today Dare Devils. Coach Myles ran a spirited practice and all of the players look to be in tip-top shape and ready for all of the games next weekend at Frankenfest.

Please note that we will not be holding practice next Saturday (10/7/23) due to the Frankenfest tournament.

Frank Ingram once again documented our practice today and he also had the assistance of Bentley Po (thank you both). The gallery of today's practice taken by Frank can be found here and the GoPro videos taken by Frank can be found here.  Bentley's gallery can be found here. We also want to give a shout out to all of the coaches and junior coaches that have been helping out the first several weeks of the season. It's nice to see such a high coach to player ratio out there. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by the Dare Devils organization!

Frankenfest Info:

Our Annual Frankenfest tournament is almost here - we have an action packed schedule for next Saturday, October 7th & Sunday, October 8th. The current game schedule can be found under the Frankenfest tab (or here). All games impacting the Dare Devils are highlighted in yellow. Additionally, current locker room assignments are included with the schedule. Please note that these are subject to change over the course of the weekend. We recommend keeping an eye on our welcome desk for any changes related to locker room assignments.

All players are welcome to attend the tournament and will be assigned to a Dare Devils team (A, B or C) based on their skill level. B & C team assignments have been communicated to the players/families via email. Coach Myles will be in contact with the players assigned to the A games. We will have coaches available to skate with learn-to-skate players during the games, if necessary. Junior coaches are encouraged to attend, as your schedule permits, as we can use your help throughout the weekend.

We will once again be holding our Costume Party at the Turtle Back Zoo on Saturday, October 7th. The festivities will kick off around 5:30pm. There will be dinner, trick or treating, a DJ and dancing, access to the carousel/special exhibits and much more! We can't wait to see everyone having a good time in their costumes! All players/families, coaches and junior coaches are encouraged to attend - even if you aren't skating during the weekend.

A special thank you goes out to Allison Silverstein and Grace for heading up the party planning. Thanks to everyone else who has agreed to help out. If any other folks would like to volunteer to help with the party during the weekend, please contact Allison at agoldstein119@hotmail.com or Grace at gwill29@gmail.com.

Way to go Dare Devils! The team all worked hard today and finished practice off with an intense scrimmage. Thank you Coach Billy and all of the junior coaches for holding the fort down while Coach Myles recovers from eating a bad ham sandwich. The stars of the show today were our goalies - Ari Berlin and Matty Brighton were both in mid-season form and didn't concede any goals during the scrimmage. Our defense also played extremely well and solid efforts were put in by the forwards. We look like we are ready for Frankenfest in two weeks on October 7th and October 8th (please see the previous post for details on Frankenfest). 

Frank was kind enough to take pictures of today's practice and scrimmage (thank you Frank). Here is the direct link to the gallery: Gallery of 9.23.23 practice and scrimmage

Next week (Saturday, 9/30), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

DareDevils - Way to work hard at practice today! We had a few additional players and coaches join us today - it was great to see everyone!

We did our best without Frank today - We can thank Coach Terence for the photos (thanks coach).

Next week (Saturday, 9/23), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

Today we kicked off the Dare Devils 2023-2024 season! Thank you to all of the Dare Devils players and families who came out to our first practice. It was great seeing the returning players and our new teammates. Special thank you to Coach Myles, Coach Terence, Coach Billy, Captain Ryan and the rest of the coaches/junior coaches for making the players work so hard. We will be the best conditioned team in ASHA this year!

A thank you also goes out to Grace and Andy for overseeing the welcome desk and fielding the off-of-the ice questions.

As always, we owe a debt of gratitude to Frank Ingram for graciously taking pictures! Frank's gallery of today's practice can be found here: Frank's Gallery of 1st Practice (9.9.23)

Next week (Saturday, 9/16), we will have our normal split practice with the learn-to-skate session going from 9 to 9:45 and the advanced/intermediate practice running from 9:45 to 10:30.

Thanks again,

Bernard & Brendon