The winter season is upon us, but varsity ice hockey has been underway since September. With the Thanksgiving break behind us, we’ve reached the halfway point of the Suffolk County High School Hockey League (SCHSHL) season. We’re going to take a look at how our Eastern Suffolk County teams are doing so far.
Leading the way are the Smithtown/Hauppauge Bulls, who sit comfortably in first place with a 10-1 record. The Bulls have four players in the top ten in scoring: Marcus Derrico with 14g-12a-26pts, Luke Anderson with 6g-18a-24pts, Brayden Beltrani with 12g-11a-23pts, and Brandon Reidy with 11g-11a-22pts. Offense is hot as they’ve outscored their opponents 89-17. The boys are coming off last season as state champions, their first since 2020.
In second place, East Islip is sitting with a 9-2 record. The Redmen are up in the standings this season, something that wasn’t the case in prior seasons. Captain Evan Lafata is having himself a season, scoring 20 goals and 5 assists for 25 points, thus putting him at third in the league in scoring. In the top 20 in scoring are Logan Barton, Jack Fontaine, and Tierny Recenello.
The Sachem Arrows are holding it down in fourth place with an 8-1-1 record. The Arrows are consistently in the top five in the standings each season, always making a run at the playoffs. This season, they’re the lucky team who has the SCHSHL leading scorer on their team. Cameron Kalberer sits atop the scoring chart with 14 goals, 14 assists for 28 points. Chase Saunders is also in the top-10 with 12g-9a-21pts.
In the middle of the pack is Kings Park/Commack, sitting in sixth place with a 6-5 record. The Knights are lower in the standings than usual. After losing Jesse Lemza to graduation, their offense is certainly missing him. Unfortunately, a majority of their losses have come in the form of a thrashing. Other teams took advantage and put the puck in the net frequently.
The T-Birds of Connetquot currently sit in seventh place with a 4-7 record. Not great, unfortunately. Luckily for them, there’s still plenty of games left in the regular season to turn it around and finish off with a winning record. Joseph Villani and Logan Booth Alam lead the T-Birds in double-digit scoring.
The Ward Melville Patriots are in eighth place with a 3-7 record. They’re not having a great season so far. Tyler Curley leads the Patriots in scoring with 14 points.
Middle Country has had a tough time scraping out wins, as they’re in ninth place with a 2-7-1-1 record. There is not much to say about their season at the moment.
West Islip holds a 2-9 record in tenth place.
Last but not least, Pat-Med comes in at the bottom of the league with a 0-11-0 record.
If you’re a New York Hockey fan, you’re either happy or mad about how your professional hockey team is doing. If you want to enjoy some ice hockey without having a real stake in the game, head over to The Rinx to catch some fun, competitive high school hockey. The boys look to fight for playoff seeding as the remainder of the regular season kicks off this week.
