Ice hockey team pumped for season
By: John Beisser
After posting a dominant 17-2-2 record as a first-year jayvee squad last season, the Hillsborough High ice hockey team believes it’s ready to mix it up with the big boys this winter.
The Raiders will compete as a varsity team in 2005-06 as a member of the Central Conference Blue Division, along with Jonathan Dayton Regional of Springfield, Governor Livingston of Berkeley Heights, Millburn, Livingston, Watchung Hills, Arthur L. Johnson Regional of Clark and West Orange. There are three divisions within the Central Conference the Red is the strongest, followed by the White and then the Blue Division.
It will be interesting to see just how competitive the Raiders will be in the Blue Division. A similar 17-2-2 mark could get them elevated to the White Division in short order.
One person who is definitely raring to go is head coach Jeff Kampf, the relentlessly high-energy and positive leader of the Hillsborough program.
"We’re ready for it," Kampf said. "I think we’re going to have a great season. We were varsity capacity last year, we just didn’t know it. The kids have had some really great practices and we beat a very good Bishop Eustace team in a scrimmage last week. I can’t wait to get started."
Matt Zeeman returns as an assistant coach, while Phil Shambach has taken over the duties as head jayvee coach. Kampf also will be ably assisted by Jay Casey and Andrew Marolla, who coaches the goaltenders. Kampf will miss his senior captains from last season Nick Urbano and Eric Yates a pair of competitors who helped build the foundation.
It all starts for real on Friday night when the Raiders lace up their skates for the first time as a varsity team vs. Jonathan Dayton at the Union Sports Arena with the face-off set 9:15 p.m.
"I’m particularly looking forward to the game because Dayton is my alma mater, although I don’t want to tell you what year that was," Kampf added with a laugh. "It should be a lot of fun. We’re playing our home games again in the Aspen Ice Hockey Rink in Flemington and it will be really interesting to see how we do this year."
Hillsborough returns virtually its entire roster from last season, including many players who have been teammates on club teams for upwards of 10 years. Kampf is excited about pretty much everything connected to Hillsborough hockey, but one player who really gets him excited is junior forward Matt Janos, a newcomer to the Raider roster.
"Matt had four of our five goals in the scrimmage last week and he can really play," Kampf said. "He was concentrating on club hockey last year and wasn’t on the team but he’s really happy he decided to come out and we are really happy to have him. With basically our whole team back, plus Matt, that’s a pretty good lineup."
Hillsborough will feature a potent offensive attack, spearheaded by the combination of Janos, junior Michael Lysyj and junior Alexander Merry. The Raiders boast plenty of depth on the offensive end with the likes of senior alternate captain Dominick Valenzano and sophomore dynamos Corey DeFranco, Matthew Daugherty and Joseph Kubrak.
While his defensive lines are not as deep, Kampf is excited about his defense, which is headed by junior captain Eric Psihoules, alternate captain Kevin Nunes and junior Jeffrey Pagano.
In goal, freshman David Palo has been extremely impressive and has earned the starting nod. Others expected to make important contributions to Hillsborough’s fortunes this winter include sophomore defenseman Trevor Bierwirth, junior defensemen Sean Burke and Gregg Calvaruso, senior forward Matthew Ellis, junior forward James Nobilo, senior forward Christopher Szulc, and sophomore goalie Eric Visnovsky.
When the referee drops the puck on Friday night, a new era in Hillsborough High athletics will be underway, and these 18 young men who comprise this season’s team will become a part of Raider history.