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A Few Clouds Second V.S. squad added to ice hockey league
Valley Stream’s middle-school-age ice hockey athletes now have an opportunity to represent their hometown, with a second official village team now its inaugural season after its first was introduced last year.
“The coolest thing is the bonding that these kids have had,” said club president and head coach Eric Dominique. “We joke about it all the time — the parents can not get the kids out of the locker room after a game.”
The creation of a middle-school squad comes one year after the High School Hockey League of Nassau County added a team for freshmen and sophomore Valley Streamers, breaking a more than 20-year stint of not having an official village team. Before 2015, Valley Stream athletes interested in ice hockey were drafted to play for other towns.
Will Ehrlich, 13, said he’s now able to play on a team with his friends, many of whom have long been interested in hockey.
“I’ve played for a long time and I’m really excited now that there’s a team,” he said. “It’s growing, and that’s good because the more players you get, the more teams you play, and the more stadiums you get to go to.”
The league isn’t affiliated with the county or schools, and is self-funded. Seven teams compete in the junior varsity age group, which is open to students in grades nine and 10, and 23 teams compete in the middle school age group, which is open to students in grades six through eight. Tom Leyendecker and Pete Mastrota, assistant coaches to the middle school squad, said they’re hoping to start building a reputation for the program.
“Already, we’ve seen the interest grow,” said Mastrota. “People are just finding out that we have a team now. Kids are wearing their jerseys to school now.”
The team is so new that they still don’t have an official name. Mastrota said that although no decision has been made, they want to highlight the fact that the teams include athletes from different schools in the high school district. He said they’ve considered naming themselves the Eagles, after the Valley Stream club teams in the 1970s.
“The hope is to next year add a varsity squad to the program,” Mastrota said. “Valley Stream is a hockey town. It went away for a while but now it’s back.”
Both teams can be found on the ice at Grant Park for practice every Wednesday during the season from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. For more information about the club, send an email to: VSHockeyCoach@gmail.com, or visit Valley Stream High School Ice Hockey’s Facebook page.
