Captains Corner

Our longstanding captain, Ryan Griffin (aka "El Capitan"; aka "Cap"), is an inspiration to us all. A model citizen both on and off of the ice, Ryan takes great pride in his leadership role within the Dare Devils organization. El Capitan is the main conduit between the coaching staff and the players and this is a forum for Ryan to speak directly to the players on a regular basis. Without further ado, Cap will now share his wisdom:

Hey all, Captain Ryan here! The past two weekends have been awesome! First in Brick on October 27 and then the Buffalo tournament November 2 and 3! If you wanna see how we did, check the game summaries here using these links: https://www.nj-dare-devils.com/news/game-summary-brick-stars-10-27-24/16212 and https://www.nj-dare-devils.com/news/buffalo-tournament-11-2-24-to-11-3-24/16351 

Anyway, we move on to this weekend. Coach Myles and his crew worked us hard again at practice. Still, we had lots of fun! Some of us will be going to Blaine, Minnesota for a tournament next weekend from November 15-17. It’s gonna be lots of fun! For those not going to the tournament, practice will be held on November 16. 

Another couple of reminders: November 25 will be our group night at the Prudential Center when the Devils face off against the Predators. We can’t wait to see you! It’s gonna be a great night!

No practice will be held November 23 due to the NJYHL (New Jersey Youth Hockey League) playoffs being held at the rink. We will have it on November 30 though.

And December 1, we have another road game in Brick at 7:50 AM.

Anyway, that’s it for my Captain’s Corner this week! Keep up the hard work, guys! Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

Buffalo Celebration:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here! Boy, that Frankenfest tournament last weekend was sure great! We’d like to thank our volunteers, teams that attended, and of course, our team for showing up! It was an awesome success thanks to you all! It was a tournament full of sportsmanship and friendship! We’d also like to thank our good friends at Turtle Back Zoo for letting us party hardy on Saturday night, October 12, following the first set of games. We rode the train, rode the carousel, ate great food, and got tons of candy! Now, we move on to this week! We had another hard fought practice in preparation for next Sunday’s game on the road against the Brick Stars. Game will start at 7:50 AM at the Howell Ice Arena. And, we’re not that far away from our Buffalo tournament either on November 1-3! That’s gonna be a lot of fun too! We can’t wait to see you there! Anyway, that’s all the time we have for this week’s Captain’s Corner! As always, Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

The Red Team at Frankenfest 2024:

Hey all, Captain Ryan here once again! It’s almost time for Frankenfest! We are only a week away! Today’s practice was at full capacity with Coach Myles and the other coaches worked us hard so we would be ready for the big tournament. With lots of energy and hard work from our squad, it was clear that we were ready for next week! 

And now, we head over to the NJDD Spotlight segment. This week, the spotlight is on #54, Shea Pasikoff! He’s 14 years old and started with the Daredevils in 2015 at age 5. He hails from Clifton and is a freshman at Clifton High School. He lives with his parents, Brendon (one of our own managers) and Mishiko and his pet gecko Kitz. When off the ice, Shea likes skiing, surfing, and talking to his grandparents on the phone. And that’s Shea! 

Well guys, we can’t wait to see you next week at Frankenfest! It’s gonna be a lot of fun! Until then, Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

Shea at the Prudential Center during last years group night:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here! Welcome to another edition of Captain’s Corner! We are only two weeks away from Frankenfest! Can you believe it? It’s gonna be an awesome time! The game schedule is gonna be released very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for any games that we have! Coach Myles and his crew have worked us hard on the September 14, September 21, and September 28 practices to ensure that we are ready to go. In the next edition of the Captain’s Corner, we’ll be starting up the NJDD Spotlight again. If your player would like to be in the NJDD Spotlight on the Captain’s Corner segment, be sure to email me at rgman1995@gmail.com with your player’s name, age, where he/she is from, who he/she lives with, and his/her favorite hobbies. Well, that’s all the time we have on this week’s edition of the Captain’s Corner. Keep working hard and showing great sportsmanship, guys! Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

Coach Myles giving us instructions:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here! We just had our first practice on Saturday and boy it was a lot of fun! As usual, Coach Myles worked us hard and made sure we had lots of fun! I wanna welcome back everyone to Daredevils hockey and I hope you guys had a great summer! We wanna give a special welcome back to a couple of Daredevil returnees: Lyndell Lu and Michael Benoff! Welcome back to the team, guys! Today’s practice was a joint practice, but starting next week, we will go back to split practices. That means the younger guys start at 9 AM and the older guys start at 9:45 AM. And of course, next month in October on the 12th and 13th is our Frankenfest tournament! It’s gonna be so much fun! So anyway, we’ll see you guys at the next practice! Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

Yours truly during a drill at practice today:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here. I hope you’re all enjoying the rest of your summer. Well, hard to believe, but in about two weeks, we’ll be back on the ice. Our first practice will be on September 7 at 9:00 AM. I can’t wait to see you all! On today’s Captain’s Corner, we’re gonna discuss some of the summer events that we’ve done. First, the golf outing on June 24 at Knoll Country Club. It was a gorgeous day, but boy was it WINDY! Despite this, the golf outing and dinner were very successful and we managed to raise over $70,000 for our team. I want to thank our special guests who attended the outing that day, who were Ken Daneyko, Milan Lucic, and Andrew Fernandez. Another big thank you to all the other attendees and teammates who came to the outing as well. You guys are the reason why our team is so successful. Now, we move on to the summer camp in Philly. It was held at the Northeast Skatezone on July 20 hosted by the Philadelphia Freeze special hockey team. Even though Owen Silverstein was the only participant representing our squad at the camp, it still turned out to be an awesome success as other teams from the area took part and showed great friendship and sportsmanship having lots of fun. Finally, we ask for your continued support, prayers, and thoughts for teammate Jake Simon’s continued healing. Anyway, that’s all the time we have for Captain’s Corner today! See you on September 7 for our first practice! Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

The team hanging with Milan Lucic at the golf outing:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here! Well, another great season has come and gone. I just wanna say thank you very much to all our coaches, Myles, Billy and Terence, our other senior coaches, our junior coaches, our parents behind the scenes making it all possible, and our managers Bernard and Brendon for all they do for us! You guys are terrific! And I wanna say thank you to everyone for making this season another awesome one! Keep working hard out there and showing great sportsmanship! We wrapped up the season with three tournaments in Binghamton, Long Island, and Rochester. On all those tournaments, we showed wonderful sportsmanship, had lots of fun, and made friends along the way. And just a reminder, our Bruce Giger Golf Outing will be on June 24 at the Knoll Country Club in Boonton, NJ. Tell your friends and family about us and tell them to support our team! If you guys are going to the golf outing and/or the summer camp, I’ll see you then. Otherwise, I hope you guys have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you back on the ice again in September! I’m so proud of all of you! And I’m very humbled to be your captain! Until next year, Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

Team photo in Rochester:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here! Well, another great season has come and gone. I just wanna say thank you very much to all our coaches, Myles, Billy and Terence, our other senior coaches, our junior coaches, our parents behind the scenes making it all possible, and our managers Bernard and Brendon for all they do for us! You guys are terrific! And I wanna say thank you to everyone for making this season another awesome one! Keep working hard out there and showing great sportsmanship! We wrapped up the season with three tournaments in Binghamton, Long Island, and Rochester. On all those tournaments, we showed wonderful sportsmanship, had lots of fun, and made friends along the way. And just a reminder, our Bruce Giger Golf Outing will be on June 24 at the Knoll Country Club in Boonton, NJ. Tell your friends and family about us and tell them to support our team! If you guys are going to the golf outing and/or the summer camp, I’ll see you then. Otherwise, I hope you guys have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you back on the ice again in September! I’m so proud of all of you! And I’m very humbled to be your captain! Until next year, Happy Hockey!

- Captain Ryan #4

The team in Binghamton at “The Farm Rink”:

Hey all, Captain Ryan here and welcome to another edition of Captain’s Corner! This weekend was certainly action packed! On February 17, some of us were at practice despite the snowy weather. Coaches Myles, Billy, and Steve Toledo worked them hard but still had lots of fun! On that same morning, me and seven other Daredevils joined the Brick Stars at the American Dream mall ice rink to square off against the Philadelphia Flyers special hockey team. With lots of hard work and great sportsmanship, the Daredevils managed to take home a 10-9 victory. Later that night, some of us were among the 70,000+ fans that went to the Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium to see the Devils come back to the Meadowlands for the first time since 2007 to face the Flyers. The Devils won 6-3 and the event included performances by the Jonas Brothers and Gaslight Anthem! It was amazing! Very cold weather, but still amazing!

We now move on to February 18 where we went to Connecticut to face the Storm. Our hard work and great sportsmanship continued to show as the Daredevils took home a 9-5 victory. Don’t forget, this upcoming weekend, February 23-25, we’re going to Binghamton for our tournament! There will still be practice on February 24 for those not going to the tournament. Boy, what a fantastic weekend we had! Let’s continue to be awesome both on and off the ice, guys! Happy Hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Micayla scoring the 1st goal against Woodbridge on 2/3/24:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here once again! Welcome to another edition of Captain’s Corner! ’Twas the weekend before Super Bowl and all throughout Daredevils nation, we had a practice and two games that were an absolute sensation! On that Saturday, February 3, it all started with Coach Myles working us hard at practice and still having fun, despite a small turnout. Later that day, we faced off against the Woodbridge Warriors. We came back from a 2-1 deficit thanks to some hard work and good sportsmanship! After that, on Sunday, February 4, we faced off the Freeze in The City of Brotherly Love. Once again, we showed great sportsmanship and hard work as we earned another victory! And this week’s NJDD Spotlight is on #1, MICAYLA SHIELDS! She hails from Edison, New Jersey and lives with her mother, brother, and dog Melo. Micayla also does Special Olympics bowling and softball. When not on the ice, she likes to sing, play the guitar, color, read, cook, and bake. She also loves the Devils! And that’s all she wrote for this week’s edition of Captain’s Corner! You guys were awesome this weekend! Let’s keep up the great work like always! Happy Hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Yours truly during a faceoff at the mall game:

HEY HEEYYYYYY DAREDEVIL NATION! It’s Captain Ryan, and welcome to another edition of Captain’s Corner! Today, we have A LOT to talk about again! First up, the Ocean City, Maryland tournament on January 19-21! It was a great weekend! The players that attended were James Cooney, the Hungs, Ayden Duran, Liam Smith, Theodore “TJ” Howard, Shea Passikoff and Owen Silverstein. For those who did not attend the tournament, Coach Myles, Coach Billy, and Andy ran an intense yet fun practice at Codey. It was great time had by all! Way to go, guys! 

Next up, the main highlight; the big practice held on January 27! The day we celebrated my birthday and Owen Silverstein’s birthday! Attendance was very high that day at practice. The advanced/intermediate players couldn’t wait a millisecond to join the learn-to-skate players due to the festivities. It was so crowded that Coach Myles split the ice in half. After the learn-to-skate session, the advanced/intermediate players resumed with their normal practice. Following the session, everyone gathered into the lobby for the birthday celebration of me and Owen! We had cupcakes, munchkins, and coffee! Mmmm, mmmm! It was an amazing celebration! 

Since it’s my birthday today officially, maybe I’ll highlight myself this week for those new players who don’t know me too well. I hail from Park Ridge, New Jersey and I live with my mother Georgene and my father Brian. I’m one of the original Daredevils members since the team started in 2002. Yep, I’m an OG! I am a special needs preschool teacher aide at the Valley Program and an assistant hockey coach with the New Jersey Falcons. I really enjoy the sport of ice hockey and the New Jersey Devils! When I’m not on the ice or teaching and coaching, I really love going to the movies, hanging out with my friends and family, playing my trumpet, and making and editing movies! And that’s me!

Well, looks like that’s gonna wrap things up on this special birthday edition of the Captain’s Corner! Just a few reminders before we go: This Saturday, February 3, we’re gonna face off against the Woodbridge Warriors in Woodbridge at 11:00 AM. The next day, February 4, we’re heading to The City of Brotherly Love as we take on the Philadelphia Freeze at 9:00 AM. On February 18, we’re going to Connecticut to take on the Storm at 4:20 PM. And from February 23-25, we have our Binghamton Tournament. See you guys again real soon! Keep working hard! Happy Hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here again! I know this edition of the Captain’s Corner is a little late, but I’ve been extremely busy! So, we’re gonna recap last weekend first. Despite scheduling conflicts, we held our practice on Sunday, January 14 and all went well. On that same day, some of us went to Westchester County, New York to face off against the New York Raptors. With hard work and determination, we managed a big win over the Raptors. It was a wonderful time!

And now this week’s NJDD Spotlight is on one of our goaltenders, #64 MATTY BRIGHTON! Matty hails from Wayne, New Jersey, and is a REALLY BIG fan of the New Jersey Devils! One of his favorite players on the Devils is #41 Vitek Vanacek. He lives with his mother Pam and his brother Chris. When not on the ice, his favorite TV show is Saved By The Bell. And that’s Matty!

Now, we’re gonna move on to this weekend. This weekend, some of us are going to Ocean City, Maryland for a 3-on-3 tournament. It’s gonna be a lot of fun! And some of us are going to stay for practice at Codey Arena. We have a couple more practices coming up before our games and tournaments this February. On February 3, we’re gonna face off against the Woodbridge Warriors in Woodbridge at 11:00 AM. The next day, February 4, we’re heading to The City of Brotherly Love as we take on the Philadelphia Freeze at 9:00 AM. On February 18, we’re going to Connecticut to take on the Storm at 4:20 PM. And of course, from February 23-25, we have our Binghamton Tournament. Whew, a lot of things happening this February! It’s gonna be exciting and awesome! And on that note, we’re gonna wrap things up for this week’s edition of Captain’s Corner! Keep up the great work, guys! We're so proud of you! Happy Hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Below is a pic of Matty making a sprawling save:

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here once again! Happy 2024! I hope you guys had a great holiday break! We had a wonderful first practice of 2024! As always, Coach Miles worked us hard and it was a great turnout! Even though our game against the Connecticut Storm was postponed due to the snow, all that hard work will show that we’ll be ready for the next game and beyond!

And now, this week’s NJDD Spotlight is on #8, ANDREW DEPIERO! Andrew hails from Park Ridge, New Jersey, and lives with his parents, Donna, and Craig, and brother Brad. He’s one of our original founding players and loves the sport of hockey! He REALLY loves the New Jersey Devils! When not playing hockey, Andrew likes to hang out with his friends and family and listen to Big Time Rush! For many years, he was a hard worker at his family farm. Fun fact: Andrew is the cousin of real NHL player, Kyle Palmieri! Pretty cool, huh?

Stay tuned for the new date of the rescheduled Connecticut Storm game. In the meantime, we have a couple of things coming up this January. Next Sunday, we face off against the Raptors in New York! Game time is 3:10 PM. The weekend after that, January 20-21, some of our players will be heading to Ocean City, Maryland for a 3-on-3 tournament. And that should just about do it for this first 2024 edition of Captain’s Corner! Keep working hard and having fun, guys! Happy hockey! Stay safe and warm in the snowstorm! 

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Hey all, Captain Ryan here once again with this week’s Captain’s Corner! And boy, do we have lots to talk about! Let’s go back to last Saturday, December 16. Some of us were at practice at Codey being worked hard by Coach Billy and Coach Terence. Despite the small turnout, it was another great one! A few hours after practice, some of us went to Brooklyn to face the Central Park North Stars. Despite a one-goal loss for us, both teams played fantastic by showing hard work and good sportsmanship! Let’s now fast forward to this Tuesday, December 19. That was the night of our Daredevils group night at the Prudential Center (aka The Rock). The Devils hosted the Flyers and it was a great game to watch. In the first intermission, some of our players skated on the ice for a little scrimmage. It was fun to watch! Even though the Devils fell to the Flyers in OT, it was a great game and a wonderful time had by all! Special thanks to the Devils and Logan Kemp for letting some of our guys skate on the ice and a special thank you to everyone who went to the game representing our team!

And now, this week’s NJDD Spotlight is on #71 Kory Wadleigh! Kory hails from North Arlington and was born in Jersey City. He likes being with his family and friends and staying fit both on and off season by working out. Kory enjoys being on the Daredevils because it’s a learning experience for everyone.

Well, that wraps things up for this edition of Captain’s Corner. I hope you guys have a great rest of your holiday break and a Happy 2024! A special thank you once again to all our coaches and managers for all you do! And of course, like my buddy Allen Mock always says, “Remember to thank your parents!” See you in January! 

Hey guys, Captain Ryan here. It's been a while since I last talked to you guys, but I have been an extraordinarily busy guy; especially at this time of year. I heard you guys had a great and productive practice last week and that most of you had lots of fun with the NJ Colonials girls’ hockey team at Mennen Arena last Sunday. Great job and thank you to the NJ Colonials for hosting the practice and scrimmage!

Now, moving on to the main highlight of this week’s Captain’s Corner: THE HOLIDAY PARTY! It started with an open skate/scrimmage session on the ice. Half of our guys were freely skating around having fun while the other half was scrimmaging with the New Jersey State Troopers. A special thank you to the NJ State Troopers and NJ Lenders Corp. Mortgage Bankers for volunteering at our party this year! We appreciate what all you guys do! After all that scrimmaging and skating, we got to meet Santa Claus! We got a group photo of our players first with the State Troopers and then another shot with Santa in it. After the ice session, the players, coaches, and their families filed into the party rooms in the rink lobby to feast on some yummy food! Another special thank you goes out to Alex Anson and his family’s food company, The Scoop for providing some of the great food that we ate! We also got some awesome personalized swag! It was totally awesome! Thank you, managers and coaches!

And now, we move on to this week’s NJDD spotlight, #37 Reese Citro! Reese hails from Pompton Lakes and lives with his parents, Jennifer, and John, and his brother Cameron. He loves to help the other kids and he’s a Special Olympian. Reese formerly played with the NJ Avalanche before moving to the Daredevils.

The Daredevils will face off on the road in Brick against the Brick Stars tomorrow bright and early at 7:50 AM. We have one more practice next Saturday at our usual time and some of us will be going to Brooklyn to face off against the Central Park North Stars at 11:45 AM on that Saturday. Well, that about wraps things up with this week’s Captain’s Corner! Happy hockey and Happy Holidays! 

Hey all, Captain Ryan here! Welcome to this special tournament edition of Captain’s Corner! We have a lot of good things to talk about, so get comfortable! This weekend, some of us went to Buffalo for our hockey tournament! Let me tell you, we had an unbelievably good time! We arrived on Friday, November 10 and some of us saw the Buffalo Sabres battle the Minnesota Wild. The Sabres were victorious by a score of 3-2. Attendees at the Sabres game included the Hungs, the Smiths, the Laws, the Cooneys, the Silversteins, the Howards, and of course, yours truly! It was a great time had by all!

The next day, Saturday, November 11 (Thank You all Veterans), we hit the ice for game one against the home team, the Buffalo Sabres Thunder Gold team. Thanks to amazing saves by Ari and a game-winning penalty shot goal from Patrick Hung, the Daredevils secured an 8-7 comeback win. After game one, we had lunch at at Consumers Pub Restaurant at Sahlen Field, home of the Buffalo Bisons baseball minor league team. 

They are the farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays. The food was so delicious! Yum yum! A few hours later, we hit the ice yet again for game two against the Niagara Jr. Ice Dogs. We won another come-from-behind game by a score of 7-6, thanks to a game-winner by Aaron Quintana! After that game, we had a birthday celebration for James Cooney since his birthday is today. We had a wonderful cake and some Tim Horton’s Tidbits (aka Canadian Munchkins)! They were so tasty! Thanks Bernard and Grace for organizing! Happy birthday, James!

Speaking of which, our NJDD spotlight for this week is on, you guessed it, #45, James Cooney! 

Today Monday, James is 12 years old and he joined the team in 2019. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his parents, Bernard and Grace. He loves to play defense and “stop the other team from scoring”. And he especially loves traveling to tournaments! His favorite foods are spicy buffalo wings and Chinese and Middle Eastern food. When not on the ice, James loves Google Earth, maps, and climbing trees. Who knows, he might climb Mount Everest one day! And that’s James!

Now, back to the tournament summary! After the birthday celebration, Reese, Aaron, James and I showed great sportsmanship by helping out the Cleveland Rockin’ Wild Cats in one game due to their light amount of players. We played against the Buffalo Sabres Thunder Blue team and made great passes to both teams! While the game ended in a 5-5 tie, we had a great game and enjoyed playing with them very much! It was lots of fun! Thanks, Wildcats! 

On Sunday, November 12, we played our third and final game against the same Cleveland Rockin’ Wild Cats. But this time, Aaron, Reese, James, and I went back to our Daredevils. It was an exhilarating game full of saves, goals, and most importantly, great sportsmanship as the Daredevils completed the sweep by defeating the Wildcats 8-4. Throughout the games just about all Daredevils had goals or assists, it was truly a team effort. We had a wonderful time in Buffalo and can’t wait to go again next year!

Meanwhile, there was practice back at South Mountain Arena for those who didn't go to Buffalo. Coach Billy led them through a hard-working, but fun practice. Through it all, it was an unforgettable weekend! Thanks to all the coaches, players, and parents for all your support! You guys made all of this possible! And that’s all for this week! I am very proud of all of you. See you guys again soon! Happy hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

James Cooney making a new friend at the Sabres game on Friday, 11/10:

Hey all, Captain Ryan here once again! This Saturday was another hard-working and fun practice led by Coach Myles, Coach Billy, Coach Brendon, and all the other coaches! In one week, some of us will be going to Buffalo for a hockey tournament, and some of us will stay at practice at Codey Arena. And tomorrow, some of us will be in Brick facing off against the Stars at 7:50 AM at Howell Ice Arena. It’s gonna be lots of fun and exciting! The schedule for Buffalo has been released, so be sure to check it out in Bernard's email!

Anyway, I have a new segment in my ol’ Captain’s Corner called the NJDD Spotlight! In this segment, I highlight one of the players on our team and tell some fun facts about him/her as well as how much that player loves being on the Daredevils!

This week, our NJDD Spotlight is on #35, Owen Silverstein! Owen is currently 12 years old and he lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his mother Allison, his father Michael, and his sister Emily. Besides playing hockey, he loves to play Roblox, watch sports (his favorite teams are the Boston Bruins, Houston Texans, and the New York Yankees), play with his toy race cars, and play knee hockey with his friends. Owen started with the Daredevils during the COVID-19 pandemic and loves playing hockey with all of his friends. He says that his favorite tournament was last year in Binghamton because he scored a lot of goals and he and his sister won a Stanley Cup of candy. And that’s Owen!

Well, guys, I can’t wait to see you guys next week for the Buffalo tournament for those who are going! For those not going to Buffalo, have a great practice and work hard! Until next time, happy hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)

Here is a picture of Owen in action against the Woodbridge Warriors during this year's Frankenfest Tournament:

Hey all, Captain Ryan here! Boy, this Saturday sure was exciting! A team photo and a practice! Can’t ask for anything better! I wanna say thank you to our photographer Frank Ingram and his assistant for taking the photos! You guys did great as always! As usual, Coach Myles worked us hard, but we were rewarded with a net race at the end. In two weeks time, some of us will be going to Buffalo for a hockey tournament, and some of us will stay at practice at Codey Arena. It’s going to be an awesome time! And this year, we’re going to the hotel right next to the rink, which is so convenient! And remember, wherever you are, whether it be a practice, game, or tournament, we will always show sportsmanship, work hard, stay positive, and have fun. The Buffalo schedule will be released very soon, so stay tuned! I’m very excited about the Buffalo tournament and I hope to see you there. For those not going to Buffalo, have a wonderful practice. Well, that’s all I have to say! See you guys soon! Happy hockey!

- Ryan Griffin (#4 El Capitan)