The NEP Wildcats Again Reign Supreme, Ending Upstart PA’s Hope to Gain Crown in Last Event of the 2009/2010 NESHL Season

DANBURY, CT—The Pennsylvania Center-Pedes had a remarkable season, bouncing back from a sub-par 2008/2009 year, but their impressive and improbable run ended this past Sunday in the NESHL season finale, falling in what amounted to be the Championship game against the NEP Wildcats, 5-1.  With their victory against PA, the Wildcats secured their third consecutive league title, and their 6-2 win against the Connecticut Wolfpack afterwards gave them a record of 10 wins and 2 losses.  Valentine’s Day proved to be doubly unkind to the Center-Pedes, who lost both of their games, including an intense upset loss to the New York Rangers, 4-3.  The Rangers, by comparison, finished the season strong with a 6-1 win against the Vermont Sledcats and the aforementioned victory versus Pennsylvania.  Connecticut went 1 and 1, with their victory 5-0 coming at the expense of Vermont, who finished Sunday winless.

       It was a tough first season for the Sledcats, who ended up with a record of 1 win against 11 losses, but perhaps they can find inspiration in the fact that the reigning three-time NESHL champions won only 2 games in their first year in the league.  Promising talents Jillian Duda, Eric Gissendanner, and Bryan Bathalon were the top scorers for the Sledcats.  The Connecticut Wolfpack finished fourth in the NESHL standings this season, but their record of 4 wins and 8 losses was a marked improvement over last year’s winless campaign of 0 and 8, and with another solid year between the pipes for Karen Smith and the presence of real-deal scoring threat Ryan Pelletier, who finished with 20 goals on the season (third-highest in the league), their future looks bright.  New York’s final record of 7 wins against 5 losses put them in third place, but this tally is misleading: because they were short of players in the Green Mountain Classic earlier this year, they had to forfeit all 4 of their games, meaning that they lost only one game when their team was actually on the ice all year.  Furthermore, they notched wins against both the PA Center-Pedes and the NEP Wildcats this season, proving that they were indeed a dangerous squad.  Chris Miegel lead the team with 22 total points, and goalie Andrew Schwartz lead the league with a save percentage of 85.09%.

                Despite their disappointing finish to the year, the Center-Pedes have nothing to hang their collective heads about.  After finishing with only 3 wins last year, they nearly tripled their output in 2009/2010, ending up with an 8 and 4 record.  Their core of Danny McDevitt (who led the team with 20 total points), his brother Mike (who finished with an excellent 17 total points), Jeremy Lubin (whose 13 assists were third-best in the league), and Paralympian Tim Jones (who ended up with 15 points despite playing in only 6 games) performed remarkably well, and collectively contributed the team’s stunning turnaround.  But the day, and the season, belonged to the Wildcats, whose overwhelming speed and firepower could not be matched.  The Wildcats were a true offensive juggernaut throughout the season, consistently outscoring their competition with a non-stop barrage of shots from several dynamic scorers.  In fact, five of the eight NESHL point-leaders wear Wildcats sweaters: Josh Moran with 41, Bryan Genovese with 36, Paralympian Joe Howard with 31 (a staggering total considering he played in only 6 games), Taylor Chace with 18, and Kip St. Germaine with 17.  And they saved their best for last, playing what Wildcats coach Tom Carr called their best game all year against PA, in what was a truly dominant performance.

                During the trophy presentation, the founding commissioner of the NESHL, Dale Wise, announced his retirement from the league.  A tireless supporter of sled hockey and a truly great ambassador for the sport, Mr. Wise served the NESHL well and will be missed by the New England sled hockey community.

                The final slate of games on February 14 at the Danbury Ice Arena was a great capper to the NESHL’s fifth season.  Congratulations to the champion NEP Wildcats, and to all the players and coaches who helped to make the 2009/2010 NESHL season a memorable one.  For more information about this season’s statistics, standings, and schedule, please visit the NESHL website, www.neshl.org, and for more information about this and other adapted sports, please visit www.wheelchairsportsfederation.org.

Story by Peter Quartuccio

Photos by Carter Farmer

With the NESHL league title on the line the NEP Wildcats and PA Centerpedes took to the ice for the decisive game of the season.  Both the Cats and Bugs entered the day with identical 8-2 records.  Though the Centerpedes dropped a tough game to NY earlier in the day if they were able to defeat the Wildcats their records would still be identical with PA winning on the head to head tiebreaker!

The first period of the game was everything that fans of sled hockey could have hoped for.  There was lots of back and forth action with both teams having their opportunities.  However, strong goaltending and stingy defense had the game tied at 0-0 after the first period.

However, as the second period started the strain of playing two games back to back was evident on the faces of the Centerpedes players.  So when Josh Moran scored the first goal of the game you could see the Wildcat visibly move in for the kill.  Kip St.Germaine scored the Cats second goal  and then a third by Bryan Genovese off of a set play and the Centerpedes were exhausted and running on empty.

Wildcats goalie Aguinaldo Luis made a number of saves throughout the game and was only beaten by a laser from Danny McDevitt late in the third period.  “I am thrilled with how the team played today,” said Tom Carr Coach of the Wildcats, “we played well at times during the year but this was the first game where all the pieces really came together.”   With the win the NEP Wildcats won the 2009-10 NESHL Title, their third NESHL title in a row.

Story by Tom Carr

Photo by Carter Farmer

In the closing game of the season for the NESHL, the league champion NEP Wildcats defeated the CT Wolfpack in a hard fought but one-sided battle.

The game started out in classic Wildcat style with Josh Moran and Kip St.Germaine scoring back-to-back goals in the opening 5 minutes. The Cats controlled the puck and the pace of the first period forcing the play in the offensive zone and only allowing the Pack 2 shots on goal.

The 2nd started out almost identical to the first with NEP controlling the puck and putting CT goalie Karen Smith in front of the firing squad with a blistering 9 shots on goal. Things were not looking good for the Wolfpack with the ref making a questionable holding call on enforcer Tyler Konvent allowing the Wildcats to put a power play goal on the board making the score 5-0 at the end of the 2nd….But the Pack wasn’t quite ready to roll over and play dead just yet.

The Wolfpack came out in the 3rd with an anger of a wolf guarding a bone. The pack was hungry and they showed it by taking 6 shots on goal, Allowing NEP only 6 shots, goals scored by young guns Ryan Pelletier and Anthony Kuntz, and a wrecking ball type check in the closing minutes of the game from CT’s Tyler Konvent on Wildcat winger Mike Ciavarro which seemed to be brewing from way back to the opening games of the season.

Unfortunately for the Pack, the Wildcats proved to be too much with Kip St.Germaine putting the final nail in the Wolfpack’s coffin and their season with a last minute goal making the final score NEP Wildcats 6 and the CT Wolfpack 2, ending what was again an incredible and epic season for the NESHL.

Story by Tyler Konvent

PA Center-Pedes started out the scoring in period one. Dan McDevitt got the first tally, assisted by Bobby Keys. Mike Hallman made it 2-0, assisted by Athan Blaine.

Period two started out with the bugs Mike McDevitt redirecting a Hallman pass he had received from the other McDevitt ,making it 3-0. NY netminder Andrew Schwartz stopped every other PA offering. PA keeper Glen Schwarz was kept busy later in period two. Chris Meigel and Nick Teodoro each scored once unassisted and once with help from Fitzgerald and Meigel. Veteran oldie Doyle couldn't muster enough energy or speed to thwart the two NY offensive weapons from the defensive position.

PA outshot NY 20-10 and controlled a lot of the play in their losing effort. NY has seemed to recover from the attendance issues that plagued them during the Vermont tournament. NY was able to take all the wind out of PA's sails; killing the possibility of a repeat performance of the 2005/2006 season. No telling how NY would have finished if they didn't forfeit those season beginning games.

Story by Mike Doyle

Photo by Carter Farmer