The Don Bosco Prep Ironmen finished up the 2017-2018 regular season undefeated – the first ever undefeated regular season in program history – with a 4-1 win over St. Joe’s Metuchen. The Ironmen finished 22-0-1.
Article courtesy of Darren Cooper, northjersey.com: https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/darren-cooper/2018/01/17/cooper-bosco-looks-better-than-ever-behind-burns-company/1042998001/
WAYNE – Early this season, Don Bosco coach Greg Toskos looked at practice and swore that senior centerman Mickey Burns had gotten faster.
“His commitment off the ice has turned him into an exceptional hockey player,” said Toskos. “Last year he was great, he got offered a scholarship, this year he’s taken it to a different level.”
Thanks to Burns, who had a goal and assist, and his speedy running mates, the Ironmen (16-0-1) claimed their seventh straight Bergen County Tournament title Wednesday night at the Ice Vault, taking down a physical but overmatched Indian Hills squad, 6-1.
It’s not quite time to discuss whether or not the Ironmen may be better served not playing in the county tournament, honestly, where else are they going to go? They have won the seven county finals by an average of margin of three goals in the finals. But it may be time to look at whether this Don Bosco ice hockey team is the best it’s ever had.
The Ironmen have had an ice hockey program dating back to 1966, and it has yet to win a state championship, losing in the finals three times. Delbarton has always been the biggest road block, but earlier this season the Ironmen topped the Green Wave, 3-0. They two teams meet Sunday back at the Ice Vault at 6 p.m. and could see each other two more times down the road.
“Honestly, it’s a big game because it’s a possible two more points in the Gordon Conference for us,” said Toskos when asked about Sunday.
While Burns, who has committed to Vermont, has become the Don Bosco headliner, he is not alone. Senior defenseman John Campomenosi, “Campo” to everyone, is a third generation ice hockey player at Don Bosco and was named Tournament MVP (Burns won it in 2017). Toskos still remembers the defense he played in the state semifinals last year against Pope John, and the way he changed the game against Princeton Day this year in one shift.
“There were Division 1 players all over the ice, and Campo didn’t like the way we were playing so in one shift, he put up two clean, massive checks,” said Toskos. “He didn’t say anything, but it changed the way we played. Two minutes later, Burns scored and we win the game. I have seen that over and over, his ability to change the game at any moment.”
Burns has speed to, well, burn. He entered Wednesday night’s game with a team-high 15 goals and 29 assists. At one point in the third period, he maintained the puck long enough to circle the offensive zone twice by himself with the Braves in pursuit.
“A coach sent me a text the other night and paid Mickey the highest compliment I have ever seen a Don Bosco player get,” said Toskos. “He said Mickey is the best high school hockey player he’s seen since [CBA graduate] James van Riemsdyk, and the coach is right.”
But Burns is not just an offensive catalyst, he’s become a two-way player, establishing himself defensively with back checks.
Off the ice, the three captains, Burns, Campo and George Weiner, who had a third period goal, come across respectful and kind. Toskos tells another story about how when the captains were chosen, it was a difficult decision. You can only have so many certified leaders on the team, but without hesitation, the troika decided that even though he didn’t wear a C, senior Graham Garlasco would get the sacred hockey honor of having the “captain’s cubicle” in the locker room.
Then when the Ironmen wanted to honor Kai Woods, the 5-year old son of a Navy Seal who died in Benghazi, it was the captain’s idea to make a short hype video for Kai to watch, inviting him to come up to the Ramsey school. When Kai came, he was given the full “Ironmen for a Day” treatment.
“All my senior kids are like this, polite and respectful,” said Toskos. “They think a lot about what the right thing to do is off the ice.”
Toskos and his staff meet with the captains before every season and have dinner together. They discuss team goals and aspirations, and also silly things like, pasta parties, laser tags, who sits where on the bus.
No doubt the Ironmen voiced that they want to get a state championship. They looked like winners Wednesday night. And Toskos is right, what they do off the ice may end up being the difference in what happens on the ice.
Article Courtesy of Darren Cooper, northjersey.com: https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/darren-cooper/2018/01/03/high-school-ice-hockey-cooper-ironmen-revel-opportunity-play-citi-field-don-bosco/1002306001/
NEW YORK – The signature sounds of planes flying overhead was constant. So was the sound of the goal horn.
Don Bosco scored early and often Wednesday evening at Citi Field, downing the Hun School, 8-1, on the same ice that hosted the NHL’s Winter Classic between the Sabres and Rangers on New Year’s Day.
Over the years, the final score will surely be forgotten, but what will linger was the opportunity that the Ironmen had to play in one of the more unique settings in all of sports.
“This is one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life,” said Don Bosco junior Tyler Sedlak, who had a hat trick. “It was awesome.”
“I just thought the atmosphere was pretty cool,” agreed Ironmen sophomore Robby Greenleaf. “The ice, walking out the tunnel with the fans behind you. It was a good experience.”
Dean Toskos and Jack Foye, sons of the Ironmen head coach and assistant coach, respectively, led the Ironmen out onto the ice just after 4:30 p.m. with the sun still peeking through the clouds.
During pregame warm-ups, even one of the referees called what looked to be his son on to the ice for a quick picture.
How did the Ironmen get to play at the home of the Mets? Four years ago, Don Bosco had the chance to play at Yankee Stadium when part of the NHL’s “Stadium Series” was staged there. The Ironmen tied CBA. When Greg Toskos, the Ironmen head coach, found out about this year’s Winter Classic being at Citi Field, he began to make some phone calls to see about whether the ice would be available.
Before the game, Toskos downplayed his role, but it was obvious this was something he wanted to do for his team and school. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“This is something different,” said Toskos. “This doesn’t come around every year. We didn’t plan this. This may not come around for 10 more years, who knows what the NHL will do? But if it does, we will put our name in the hat and love to do it again. This is pretty cool stuff.”
After some pregame introductions, the puck was dropped, and Don Bosco scored on its initial rush. It only took 14 seconds.
That just opened the floodgates, as the Ironmen demonstrated precision passing at close range and bombarded the Raiders net. It was 3-0 after the first period, 6-0 after two.
Toskos said every player got a chance in the game and was clearly pleased with how his team performed.
“We had some beautiful goals,” said Toskos. “Some of the goals were tic-tac-toe goals. Sedlak has a Division I release, the way he shoots the puck. And it’s nice to see some of the other guys get on the scoresheet too. That helps everyone get into the flow of the game.”
Don Bosco senior defenseman George Weiner was the talk of the locker room, because after his first goal, he mimicked hitting a home run out of the ball park with his stick, looking up into the stands.
“He got a little creative with that one,” said Toskos with a smile.
“That was pretty funny,” said Sedlak. “He said he would do that before the game. He scored and did what he said.”
The Hun School was unable to match the Ironmen’s firepower and depth, but the Raiders shouldn’t feel bad. Don Bosco has been the dominant force in North Jersey ice hockey for quite some time.
Toskos stopped short of calling this his best team, but did say at this point in the season, well, it’s hard to find many faults.
“Clearly, we have a lot [of talent],” said Toskos. “The core of this team has been together since they were mites, and they have been playing together for what, 12, 13 years? This is a culmination of all that time playing together. And it’s not just Sedlak and [Mickey] Burns, it’s Campo [John Campomenosi] and [TJ] Schweighardt and Weiner and [Graham] Garlasco, all of them playing together. It’s cool to see.”
Near the end of the game, Toskos was still pointing out good efforts made by his back-ups. They were talking about how much they wanted a snow day from school Thursday.
Before the game, Toskos had made a point of telling the kids to soak it all in, the stadium, the ice…the airplanes. The time was going to fly.
Article courtesy of Greg Tartaglia (Northjersey.com): http://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/high-school/hockey/2017/12/22/don-bosco-defeats-hockey-rival-stay-unbeaten/977709001/
WAYNE – Even when shorthanded, the Don Bosco hockey team seems not to be at too great a disadvantage.
The Ironmen scored two shorthanded goals on the same Bergen Catholic power play Friday at Ice Vault. The tallies came just 1:02 apart in the third period of a 7-2 win over the Crusaders on Rivalry Night.
On the surface, it appeared to be a rare feat.
“Not for this team,” Don Bosco coach Greg Toskos said. “We actually had three shorthanded goals against CBA on Monday.”
The victory at Christian Brothers Academy gave the Ironmen (9-0-1) a season sweep over their NJIHL Gordon Conference American Division opponent. Throw in a win at Delbarton – the school that defeated Don Bosco in last winter’s Non-Public state final – and a road sweep of Massachusetts powers Catholic Memorial and Boston College High, and their unbeaten record seems that much more impressive.
“As a team, everyone’s jelling really quickly, and you can’t ask for more than that,” said Tyler Sedlak, who had two goals and two assists versus Bergen Catholic (1-5-1).
“Everybody loves each other in the locker room, nobody has any grudges against each other, and every day – practice, game, no matter what – everybody gives it their all.”
The theme of brotherhood runs deep at Don Bosco.
Last season, the squad honored a player of the game for each contest with a helmet covered in “TK” stickers – honoring the late Army Maj. Thomas Kennedy, a former Don Bosco player who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2012.
This winter, the postgame talisman being passed around is “Artie,” a red and gold field artillery baseball cap. It was sent to the Ironmen by Lt. Colonel John Nawoichyk, a longtime friend of Kennedy’s.
Friday, the hat went to Sedlak, one of a pair of four-point scorers along with Vermont-bound center Mickey Burns (shorthanded goal, three assists).
On a night when Don Bosco wore its “TK” camouflage jerseys, the team also dressed an extra, honorary player: 5-year-old Kai from Washington, D.C., whose father, Tyrone Woods, was a former Navy SEAL that died in the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“I know Kai had a blast, but I think it was even more fun for us to have him around,” Burns said. “He toured our school on Thursday, came to practice that night, and everyone here loved him.”
The youngster got to see the Ironmen score four times on special teams, including power-play tallies from Tsubasa Konishi and John Campomenosi. Net-minder Max Schwarz made 17 saves and was credited with an assist on Sedlak’s shorthanded goal.
The Bergen-Bosco clash will be the only one this season, since the Crusaders have moved down to the Gordon Conference National Division. They played virtually all of their American crossover games early on and notched their win and tie against division foes Gloucester Catholic and St. Peter’s Prep, respectively.
Chris Branch finished with 41 saves for Bergen Catholic, while Will Prinz and Tommy Kleinman supplied the goals.
The Don Bosco Prep Varsity hockey team will be facing off against the Hun School at CitiField on Wednesday, January 3rd as part of the Winter Classic Series, which includes the NHL’s primetime game on January 1st with the New York Rangers taking on the Buffalo Sabres. Puck drop is scheduled for the Ironmen at 4:30pm.
The Ironmen are set to face off against the Hun School at CitiField
The 2017-2018 Don Bosco Prep Ice Hockey team has enjoyed a nice start to their season, going 4-0-1 in their first 5 games of the young season, with an impressive 28 goals for and only 8 goals against.
The Ironmen started the season with a pair to back-to-back 6-1 victories against Pope John and Gloucester Catholic, respectively.
The Ironmen then traveled to Newark to take on the Pirates of Seton Hall Prep at the Prudential Center on November 29th. It was the goalies, however, who stole the spoils for any player hoping to score on the big stage, as the teams ended the game in a scoreless tie.
The sticks woke up once again for Don Bosco in the next game however, putting away Gordon Conference rival CBA 4-1 two nights later.
The aforementioned newly awakened sticks then exploded for 11 goals in a wild game vs. St. Augustine, who received a total of 8pts (2g, 6a) from their senior captain, Mickey Burns. Tyler Sedlak and Tsubasa Konishi each recorded three goals and three assists for Boys in Maroon and White.
Next up, the Ironmen hit the road to take on the Green Wave of Delbarton in a crucial Gordon Conference and Non-Public matchup at Aspen Ice Arena on December 12th at 4:45pm.