Captains Mazzella (25) & L. Campomenosi (12) celebrate 1st period goal
Wayne – After a grueling semi-final game, a 3-2 overtime win over Glen Rock (see Burns’ goal below), the Ironmen where poised to take a on a familiar foe. Cross-town rival Ramsey High School, for the 3rd straight time in the Bergen County Final.
Playing two of its finest periods of hockey of the season, Bosco opened up to a 4-0 lead on goals by Seniors Chris Mazzella and Marcus Gurega, followed up by Freshman Tyler Sedlack and Junior Brendan Hansen. The latter two goals, both brilliantly setup by great passes from Sophomore Defenseman Aaron Bohlinger and Junior Toby DiPaolo.
“The maturity level of our team continues to rise,” said Toskos. “Look at Glen Rock the other night in the semifinals. We were short-handed nine players on our injury list, some played, some didn’t, but the fact that they were able to come from behind against an outstanding goalie, someone who really could have shut us down, said a lot.”
Facing a revived Ramsey team in the 3rd period, Bosco allowed two goals in the final frame, but added an empty netter to capture their 5th straight Bergen County Championship, improving to 15-0 all time.
On the heels of a 4-0-1 start and a win over #1 ranked CBA, Don Bosco Senior Forward Chris Mazzella joined an exclusive list and earned The Records HS Male Athlete of the Week for his strong start to the young season. With five goals and six assists through 5 games the Senior Captain once again is leading the team in scoring, picking up where he left off from a year ago.
“We’re a pretty young team,” he said, “but we have a lot of speed. I think we’re faster than a lot of teams.”
Mazzella and the Ironmen look to continue their winning ways as they take on Bishop Eustace next Friday night.
Ice Hockey and Mickey Corcoran never crossed paths. Well, maybe a little, (he was, after all, the
The teacher with the student, Hall of Fame Induction.
grandfather of the Bergen County Coaches Assoc.), but he didn’t attend his first hockey game until he was 90 years old. I should know, I took him, November 16, 2012.
There wasn’t a gym in the tri state area that Mickey hadn’t refereed in, coached in or watched a game in. Simply put, he’d been to every single one of them. Including West Points’ Holleder Center (and yes, Mick knew Holly too). Maybe you heard of two legendary coaches that came out of West Point, Coach Knight & Coach K? Mickey knew them. Personally. The list of coaches that Mickey knew, or should I say knew him, is a who’s who and it is more than a few pages and much more than just basketball. In fact, Mickey even knew the legendary West Point Hockey Coach, Jack Riley, “great, great guy,” Mick would say.
But on this evening, Mick, Bobby (Mickey’s longtime friend) and I, walked into Tate Rink and took our seats to watch the Army West Point Hockey Team take on Sacred Heart. And we got treated to a thriller. Army took an early lead only to have Sacred Heart answer back twice, but in the opening minutes of the third period, Army scored the eventual game winner. Mick, was thrilled, turned to me and said, “Andrew, I can’t believe I never came to a hockey game, especially here at West Point, what a great time!”
Couldn’t resist the chocolate!
Undoubtedly, many will write about how Mickey was the link between NJ coaching legends, coached by Lombardi in High School at St. Ceclia in Englewood and the mentor and coach to Bill Parcels at River Dell. Many people knew Mickey, a lot of people. He was a true legend and touched hundreds if not thousands along the way, this was his true legacy. Most coaches now a days don’t even know who Mickey is. And to be honest, up until 2010, I never had either. I’ve always tried to seek out advice from those who have more experience, always wanting to learn something new from someone thats been down that road. In 2010, that opportunity landed in my lap.
Nobody had the seat I had for the last 5 years…from 2010-2013, I was his boss. Well not exactly, but about as much as anyone could be his boss (except his wife Dolores), it was me. Mickey spent 66 years as the starter at Alpine Country Club. In my four years at Alpine I got to spend just about every Saturday & Sunday with him. Many times he would show up during the week too, just to hang out. Alpine was like the locker room to him. The staff, we were like his players. There isn’t a single person up there that doesn’t have a Mickey story, or he didn’t impart some sort of wisdom on. But in many aspects that is where he was most comfortable. He just wanted to be around the action.
Mickey with Coach Belichick at Hall of Fame Induction.
No one can ever take away those 4 years that I got to spend with Mickey. I’ll never forget the time I spent with him and lessons I learned along the way, especially his best line, “Andrew, you’ll learn in this world that there are two types of people…those who get it and those who don’t!” Great wisdom and so true.
I used to tell Mickey that he never had a bad day in his life and he always agreed with me. “Pretty tough to argue that,” he would say. And I always did my best to pull out as many nuggets as I could about coaching, after all the man did have Parcels, Knight, Coach K and a few other notables in his rolodex. But it was Rudyard Kiplings’ poem “If” that Mickey always used to preach, and probably what made him so successful as a coach:
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated, don’t give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk to wise…If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run – Yours is the Earth and everything thats in it, and which is more, you’ll be a Man my son”
Congrats to former Don Bosco Ironmen standout Cole Maier, on scoring his first NCAA goal vs Sacred Heart. In his first game for Union College, Cole scored the Dutchmen’s lone goal of the game in a 1-1 tie to open the season.
The first period was a tight-checking battle and evenly played until Vecchione broke free in the Pioneers’ zone and neatly centered the puck to a driving Maier, who was coming down the right side of Magnus.
“Wilky (Matt Wilkins) made a really good play, chipping it through there to Vex and he gave me an awesome pass on the two-on-one,” Maier said. (Courtesy of the Times Union)
Bosco Hockey is proud to announce forward Chris Mazzella will be joined by fellow senior, Luke Campomenosi and junior, CJ McGee as the Captains for the 2015-2016 campaign.
Mazzella ’16, a four year varsity player, was second on the team last year with 32 points in 21 games (17 G, 15A). Joining him will be three year varsity Defenseman CJ McGee ’17 (1G, 7A) and second year varsity Defenseman Luke Campomenosi ’16 (0G, 2A). All three players will play an integral part in leading the Ironmen in 2015-16.
“The entire coaching staff is excited to have these three young men lead our team this upcoming season,” said Head Coach Greg
Toskos. “Chris is a four year varsity player that brings a lot of experience, Luke made huge strides as a first year Varsity player last season and CJ has earned the respect of his teammates through his tremendous work ethic since he was a freshman. I have no doubts that we have a solid leadership core that will serve us well this upcoming season.”
Don Bosco Hockey would like to congratulate Sophomore Goaltender Alexei Masanko who earned 1st team All State and Senior Captain Hunter Garlasco on his 2nd team All State Selection. Click here to view NJ.com’s entire end of season coverage and Non-Public Team Selections.
