Thursday, October 1, 2026
With the Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs hopes of winning their first-ever Nassau County hockey championship sitting on the end of his stick in overtime against No. 2 Long Beach on Feb. 26, junior Jon Olson (Mepham) scored perhaps the biggest goal of his Bulldogs’ career — and that’s saying something, as minutes earlier he had scored the game-tying goal with just 1:22 remaining in the third period.
Olson, among the Bulldogs’ top scorers all season, converted a penalty shot with 18.5 seconds left in overtime of Game 2 in the Michelino Division championship with the Marines to give Bellmore-Merrick a thrilling 5-4 win at Long Beach Arena. The Bulldogs won Game 1, 4-3, two days earlier at Newbridge Arena setting up the potential for a series sweep.
“The playoffs were magic,” coach Chris Patten said. “Long Beach is the standard of high school hockey on Long Island. [Jon] Olson has [been among our] best players and your best players play their best against the best teams.”
The game-ending penalty shot — awarded when a Marines’ defenseman covered up the puck with his hand in the crease — completed an undefeated campaign in Nassau County for the Bulldogs, who finished 21-0 before advancing to the Varsity Pure New York State Tournament at Jamestown Savings Bank Arena last weekend. In the six-team round robin tournament, Bellmore-Merrick finished 2-2 in four games, falling 3-2 to Starpoint (the eventual champion) in the semifinal round last Sunday.
“It was a fun and eventful weekend,” junior Anthony Scoca said of the trip upstate. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to go up and compete for a state title with. The way we competed [at Jamestown] was the best we had competed all year. I couldn’t be happier to be part of a team that created history.”
Olson’s late-game playoff magic against the Marines put an exclamation mark on a wild game that saw senior co-captain Joe Grice (Calhoun) score twice and senior co-captain Tyler Anzelone (Calhoun) add a goal of his own to stake the Bulldogs out to a 3-0 lead before the Marines showed their mettle and stormed back with four consecutive goals of their own in front of a standing room only crowd of 1,500 people.
One quality helped set the team apart from the rest of the competition when Long Beach forged ahead with its own scoring spurt according to Patten — heart. “There was never any quit on this team,” he said. “Other teams would have folded when it [became] 4-3.”
Freshman goaltender Eric Smith (Kennedy) was up to the task of helping guide the Bulldogs through tough waters once Long Beach took the lead and had an impressive run in the playoffs. “It showed his poise,” Patten said. “I don’t know [many] goalies that could handle [playing] in front of 1,500 people.”
Along with Olson up front, the returning Bellmore-Merrick core also includes junior Tommy Condon (Calhoun), who hit the 50-goal mark — in just 25 games — but has an impact that goes beyond the scoresheet. “He eats, sleeps and breathes what it means to be a Bulldog,” Patten said. “Their job is to carry on a tradition and establish themselves as members of the community.”
