NJ Freeze Peewee A Atlantic District Champions

This past weekend the NJ Freeze Peewee A team was proud to become the Atlantic District Champions. Finishing our league season with an impressive 19-1-2 record making the Pee Wee A's the NJYHL National Division Champions, taking us straight to Districts as the #1 seed. The team's victory was led by Head Coach Walt Keiper and Assistant Coaches John Laden, Kevin St. Germaine and Kevin Keiper. Playing in the round robin preliminaries, NJ Freeze, NJ Colonials and the Red Bank Generals Black played against 3 Delaware Valley teams. The Freeze team's hard play once again led them to placing 1st going into the championship game with an outstanding 12 point spread, playing against the Red Bank Generals Black.
 
Before arriving to Northeast SkateZone in Philadelphia, the NJ Freeze knew they would be facing tough competition. Due to an injury, the team was down a strong defenseman, Zach Mazzarisi. Coach Walt Keiper moved Tyler Hardgrove from forward to defense. Tyler proved to be up for the task.
 
The 1st game on Friday against the Quakers was a 7-3 victory with a scoreless 1st period.  30 seconds into the 2nd period, defenseman Walter Keiper scored the first goal, followed with a goal by defenseman Jarrad Laden with an assist from Jacques St. Germaine. The game was close with a score of 2-1 when Zack Potten scored a shorthanded goal. Another goal scored by the Quakers at the end of the 2nd period, brought the score to 3-2. Anthony Zaragoza opened the 2nd period with a goal, followed by another goal from Jarrad Laden. The Quakers played hard, scoring a 3rd goal, but with shorthanded goals from MJ Melillo, and Cory Chaplin at the end of the 3rd period sealed the victory. 
 
Saturday morning the NJ Freeze PWA team showed up determined to win against the Delco Phantoms. Less than 2 minutes into the 1st period Cole Skelly scored the 1st goal getting them off to a good start as well as ending the period with a goal assisted by Michael Hanley. Brian Andrzejewski and Chris Rupp with back to back goals and assists with each other finalized the score of 7-1, giving the team an overall goal spread of 10 points by this time. 
 
Saturday night's game against the DVHL Champions, the Pocono Pirates proved to be tight competition. Solid goaltending by Adam Katz along with the last goal scored by MJ Melillo assisted by Brian Gruelich put the Freeze at a commanding lead winning the game 4-2.
 
The NJ Freeze advanced to the Championship game as the 1st place team with the highest point spread ready to play against the Red Bank Generals Black. NJ Freeze Pee Wee A players and coaches were pumped up for the final round, with 100 Freeze fans watching and cheering them on. The game opened with a goal scored by Cory Chaplin with less than 1 minute into the 1st period. The nail biter game continued in the 1st period as the team played shorthanded 4 on 5, 10 out of 15 minutes. Brenden Siegel dominated the defensive play working hard to clear the front of the net, ending the 1st period 1-0. The 2nd period continued as a hard fought battle when Zack Potten scored giving the team a lead of 2-0. The Red Bank Generals ended the 2nd period with a goal, cutting the Freeze lead in half. Zack Potten didn't waste any time scoring the 3rd goal at 14:28 of the 3rd period giving the Freeze a 2 goal lead. Gavin Spray was rock solid as he turned in his strongest goaltending performance of the tournament with 23 saves on 24 shots. The game ended with a 3-1 win,making the NJ Freez PeeWee A team the Atlantic District Champions.
 
Congratulations to all the NJ Freeze Pee Wee A players and coaches for winning the Atlantic District Championship. It was the greatest victory with a total team effort of determination and perseverance. It was the best way to end an awesome season finishing with an outstanding record of 48-6-4.

Story by Dianne Melillo

Photo by Bill Greulich 

Peewee B Blue Finishes Strong

The NJ Freeze PWB Blue/Black team set a new playoff record when their game against the Colonials went into six overtime periods and lasted 69 minutes. The Freeze was down by two goals early in the first period, but battled back to tie during regulation. In the first two overtime periods the Freeze players fought hard with many shots on net while Kevin Coiley held the Colonials at bay. In the third overtime period, the Freeze received a penalty. All penalties during playoff overtime are penalty shots. Kevin stopped the shooter and the game continued for an additional three overtime periods. Late in the sixth three-on-three overtime, the Colonials scored and ended the match. Thought the final outcome was not in favor of the Freeze, the team had great conviction and played with passion. The Freeze PWB Blue/Black entered the 2009 playoffs seated #1 in the central division. Congratulations to the team on a great season. 

Story by Stephanie Biery

16UA Black Heads to District Playoffs

The 16U Black team began their 2008 Short Season with the Labor Day Tournament in Aston, Pa.  Despite going 3 - 0 in the tournament, the team failed to advance to the playoff round due to the goals against differential tiebreaker.  The boys returned to New Jersey in good spirits, ready to begin NJYHL league play.

Under the guidance of Coaches Bruce Shatel and Gerry Dolan, the team got started right out of the gate, going 7-0-1 in their first eight league games enroute to a 15-2-1 league record and a 22-2-1 overall record. Completely buying into the Coaches’ systems resulted in effective play and exemplary discipline on and off the ice.  The team finished first in its division and qualified for the USA Hockey District Tournament to be played in Hatfield, PA  February 26 – March 1.  They are the first New Jersey Freeze team to qualify for District Playoffs. 

The offense was led by Matt Schlagenhaft, Jim Donnelly and Mike Walako with key contributions delivered by Brett Cibischino, Pat Dolan, Brad Lindquist, James Loveys, Connor Manning, E.J. Satkowski and Rob Snyder.  The blue line was defended by Matt Schiksnis and Sean Reilly with the additional defensive lines of Jim Downs, David Gionco, Nick Spadone, and James Toolen with Brad Lindquist occasionally swinging back to aid defensively.  The goal was carefully protected by Mike Impellizeri and Joey Wiggins.

The team demonstrated good chemistry, communication and enthusiasm on and off the ice and is looking forward to competing in the District Playoffs at the conclusion of the High School Season.

 

Story by Jim Reilly

 

Mites Win NJYHL Championship

Squirt B Wins NJYHL Championship

After finishing regular season league play with an outstanding 16-1-0 record, NJ Freeze Squirt White advanced to the NYYHL playoffs with a 1st round bye as a result of their 1st Place regular season finish. 

It was the 2nd seed Jaguars and the team our boys outlasted in 5-4 nail biter during the regular season, who met the Freeze in the Championship game. Powered by a Hat Trick Freeze White dominated offensive and defensive play backstopped by solid goaltending and jumped out to a commanding 5-0 lead, which they carried into the 3rd Period. While the Jaguars never gave up by scoring 3 goals in the 3rd Period, the last coming with just 1 Second remaining on the clock, it would not be enough. With a final score of 5-3, Freeze Squirt White Won the NJYHL State Championship! 

Led by Head Coach Joe Scarpa and Assistants Chris Rupp and Steve Markey, the boys have had an outstanding campaign, with their season record standing at 40-7-3 with 262 GF and 81 GA. 

The team looks forward to closing the season with their remaining NL games, the NESC March Classic tournament in Boston and the Congressional Cup tournament in Washington, DC. 

Squirt White is proud of their Championship Win and the trophy they bring home to Aspen Ice! 

Congratulations to the Freeze Squirt White team and their coaches. 

Story by Marie Markey