The Manhasset Middle School club hockey team took home the championship trophy last month, defeated Massapequa Blue 5-2 in the Nassau County High School Hockey League finals on March 28.
The team, coached by Michael O’Gara and Will Sylvia, includes Jared Beschel, Shant Dadourian, Kurt Dillmeier, Luca DiRaimo, Nick DiTore, Marc DiTore, Emanuel Giouroukakis, Hunter Longobardi, Michael Mondiello, Christian Rontiris, Jack Roszko, Tyler Roszko, Brendan Sargent, William Scharfenberger, Steven Seltzer and Luke Sylvia.
“We had a large group of eighth graders who really led the way as well as a group of sixth graders who, despite being physically outmatched, not only stood up to the biggest and best players around the league but seemed to play excel against all opponents,” O’Gara said of the team’s season.
O’Gara said the team is built on a solid defensive core with Sargent, Nick DiTore, Dillmeier, Scharfenberger and Sylvia.
Seltzer, the team’s goaltender, was also selected as one of the All-Star Game’s most valuable players.
O’Gara said the group of forwards — Beschel, Dadourian, DiRaimo, Marc Ditore, Giouroukakis, Longobardi, Mondiello, Rontiris, Tyler Roszko and Jack Roszko — followed a simple recipe for success: Play your position and apply pressure.
“If one person wasn’t present, someone else would stand up and fill their role,” O’Gara said. “It was a truly great season. The boys played their hearts out and would always seem to find a way to win.”
The Manhasset Middle School team is comprised of players in grades 6 through 8. In previous rounds, Manhasset knocked out Cold Spring Harbor 11-4 on March 18 and Bellmore Merrick in a nail-biting 5-4 win March 25.
Teams from Bethpage, Wantagh-Seaford, Plainedge and Plainview also competed in the tournament.
