Zelanka said that the league was very balanced this season and the margin for error in every game was slim. “You had to come to play every night,” he said. “We took nothing for granted.”

The team turned one of its projected weaknesses into a strength, Zelanka said, when two forwards, Nicholas Roepken (Lynbrook) and Vincent Boccia (Valley Stream) were converted to defenseman before the season began. Ray Mohler (Lynbrook) and Spencer Kaminsky (Lynbrook) were also added to the defensive mix, which was anchored by Paul Trowbridge (East Rockaway) and Ian Kantor (Lynbrook). The team’s defensemen frustrated opposing forwards all year, Zelanka added.

Since Lynbrook-East Rockaway was the defending champion, Epstein said, there were targets on the players’ backs in every game. Torlincasi, who has been on the squad for two years, agreed. “Every single game we played, no matter what team we played, last place or first place, there were always close games,” he said. “They always wanted to beat us.”

The road to the division title was far from smooth after Lynbrook-East Rockaway cruised past Manhasset in the opening round of the playoffs, 7-1, and earning a spot in the championship series. In game one, Levittown-Hicksville came out firing and had a 4-1 lead in the second period. Lynbrook-East Rockaway found the net late in the period to cut the deficit to two, but saved its major offensive output until the third, when it scored three unanswered goals to win 5-4. Torlincasi, who scored one of the third-period goals, said the comeback was “the best feeling ever while playing a hockey game.”

Game two got off to a similar start, with Levittown-Hicksville jumping out to a 2-0 lead. This time, however, Lynbrook-East Rockaway couldn’t mount a comeback and fell 5-2.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on the loss, as game three began after a brief intermission. Zelanka said that he and the other coaches, Jim Laurelli, Frank Leone and Gerry Nizich, were concerned that team members would get down on themselves, but that wasn’t the case.

“We just came out knowing that if we worked hard we could get it,” Hendrickson said.