Brick club team heading to national tournament
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

MIKE JONES Brick’s Brett DePalma tries to carry the puck into the offensive zone during a scrimmage on Saturday at the Ocean Ice Palace.

They play for high school hockey teams at Monsignor Donovan, Christian Brothers Academy, Brick Memorial, Brick Township and prep schools.

But they have one common thread — they’re all from Brick Township and they play for the Brick Hockey Club Midget Green AA Minor team. And for this year, that’s a special bond.

After being denied twice of a trip to the national championships, this group of 18 youngsters in the 15-16 age group is headed to Richmond, Va., for a chance to play for a national championship. Games start next Wednesday, March 30.

With the Brick Hockey Club celebrating its 35th year, only three other teams have qualified for the nationals — Bantam teams in the 13-14 age group in 1982 and 1994, and a pee-wee team in 1991.

But this is the first team from Brick to advance to the nationals out of the losers’ bracket in the Atlantic District double-elimination tournament.

And the players did it after being denied in heartbreaking losses on championship weekend the two previous seasons.

“Just to get there is a huge accomplishment,” said head coach Alex DePalma, who is assisted by Frans Van Riemsdyk and Dustin DePalma (no relation), a former player on the Pee Wee team that reached the nationals 14 years ago and who joined the staff in recent weeks.

“It’s great; as soon as you play hockey, it’s one of the biggest goals, and to do it with a bunch of kids you’ve played with for so many years is something special,” said Alex DePalma Jr., the coach’s son and one of the co-captains along with Jerry Malanga.

Six of the players have been on the same team since they were 6 and five others joined at age 10.

“It’s a huge accomplishment and we’ve been so close to making it before,” said Malanga as the players dedicated their season to Lou Manzione, an integral figure in Brick youth hockey who died two years ago. They presented the championship medal to Manzione’s widow after the districts

“The big thing now is that our work ethic and intensity have to be 110 percent,” said Malanga, who is a center on the team. “We don’t want to just show up. We want to win.”

Brick teams in the past that made the nationals did not advance as they faced the tremendous challenge of playing against teams that drew players from much larger geographic areas.

“When you talk to those people about it, they talk about how they made it to nationals. That’s the thing,” coach DePalma said.

Fund raising has continued for the trip, and anyone wishing to help sponsor the trip still can send a tax-deductible donation to the Brick Hockey Club, P.O. Box 2071, Brick, NJ 08723. They will receive back in the mail a confirmation letter of receipt with the Brick Hockey Club’s tax number on it for deduction.

“It was pretty hard [coming out of the losers’ bracket] but it’s our friendship with each other and how we pull together,” said young DePalma, who is a wing on the team. “I’ve been to championship weekend so many times, I did not want to lose it this time. We just went all out.”

“The No. 1 thing is their friendships and how they never get down on each other,” said coach DePalma. “Even the parents are close.

“And the key is that we have three lines and six defensemen, so they don’t get too tired. That third line shuts down teams and did not give up a goal [in the tournament].”

Two years ago, this same group on the Pee Wees AA team went unbeaten en route to the state title, but on championship weekend, lost the best-of-three series to Wissahocken, Pa., after winning the opening game. The players came back on the Midget Green AA team last year and finished second in the state. They reached the district championship weekend in Aston, Pa., only to get beaten in the best-of-three series by South Jersey team Hollydel.

But this year’s team, that went 35-5-1, got a measure of revenge against the same Hollydel team by ending its bid to return to the nationals.

With the New Jersey Youth Hockey League splitting into two divisions for the first time, Brick won the Southern Division and earned a return to the district tournament as one of the top four teams from New Jersey playing against top teams from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

It was part of a memorable year of accomplishments for the Brick Hockey Club, whose squirt team made the state playoffs, and whose pee wee and bantam teams were district playoff qualifiers.

The uphill climb of four victories in the losers’ bracket of the districts in Aston, Pa., started in late February with a 5-1 loss to Wilmington, Del., the team that Brick would meet again on championship weekend. The defeat was worsened when co-captain Frank Ryan suffered a back injury that would knock him out for the season.

Brick pulled together as it would in so many games ahead as it took on Hollydel 7 a.m. the following morning in the losers’ bracket, taking an early lead on DePalma’s goal and pulling out the 3-2 victory with six minutes left on a power play goal by defenseman Anthony Indelicato.

Four hours later, after a team breakfast, Brick faced another hurdle in another losers’ bracket game when the Haverford (Pa.) Hawks came back with less than two minutes left to tie the game at 3-3 before Malanga’s goal won it two minutes into overtime.

Next up was a game against the Pennsylvania powerhouse Quakers. Brick scored early, and it was all that was needed as Justin Ferguson and Ryan Cuming shared time in goal and sealed the shutout. Indelicato put in an empty-net goal in the closing seconds as Brick won, 2-0.

Then came the game that pushed Brick into championship weekend against Wilmington, Del. Brick out-toughed the bigger Bridgewater Bears and broke open a 4-2 lead in the third period for a 7-2 victory as Adam Houli recorded a hat trick.

In the opener, two goals scored dramatically within seconds of each other by Anthony Bongermino and DePalma, the latter off a sharp pass from James Van Riemsdyk, gave Brick a 2-0 lead before Wilmington tied it in the second period. Malanga again put Brick ahead and then passed to DePalma for a shorthanded goal with 11:08 left. DePalma then completed the hat trick with three minutes left for a 5-2 victory.

It was a big turnaround from the opening-game loss in the districts to Wilmington as Brick had a 24-16 edge in shots on goal.

But then came game two and what could have led to a devastating collapse. Brick saw a 4-1 lead after two periods slip away when Wilmington tied it with less than two minutes left in regulation and scored on a breakaway midway through the second overtime off Cuming, who played goal in both games, to force a third game.

Brick had outshot Wilmington, 36-24, and took an early 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by DePalma while two more from Houli opened the 4-1 lead.

“It was devastating because we felt we had the game won,” said young DePalma. “We were thinking about going to the nationals when we got that three-goal lead, but we always take the hard road.”

Instead of being discouraged, Brick got more determined.

“We were in that spot before and didn’t want it to happen again,” Malanga said. “We were playing too conservatively. In the third game, we won a ton of loose pucks in the corners and we outworked them. We played a lot more physical than them.”

“All we cared about was going to the nationals,” said young DePalma.

But it was not without suspense.

Houli scored on a breakaway for a 2-1 lead that Brick took into the third period, and added another goal at the start of the period. Ferguson played in goal and made some sharp saves, but the tide seemed to turn a bit when Wilmington answered with a game-tying power play goal that lifted the players’ and fans’ emotions.

That’s when Brick finally got a break. After Brick suffered a costly high-stick penalty late in regulation that led to the tying goal in game two, it had the man advantage this time when Wilmington took a penalty with 2:54 left.

“We took a time-out and told the players not to worry about scoring a power play goal, but just to keep the puck on their end and we can run out the clock on the final 54 seconds,” said Coach DePalma.

Ryan Colwell took the puck from DePalma and fired it down the other end as time ran out, and the Brick players began a wild celebration.

The Brick Hockey Club Midget Green AA Minors

No.NamePosition

1Ryan Cuminggoalie

2Anthony Bongerminoforward

3Kevin Kolbenschlagdefense

4Jeff Farrdefense

7Connor Fieldforward

8Joe Tumolodefense

10Jerry Malanga (Capt.)center

12Steve Goldblattforward

15Anthony Indelicatodefense

16Brett DePalmaforward

17James van Riemsdykforward

18Sean Betterleyforward

19Alex DePalma (Capt.)forward

21Ryan Colwellforward

27Kevin Higginsdefense

28Adam Houliforward

30Justin Fergusongoalie

22Frank Ryanforward

HEAD COACH — Alex DePalma

ASST. COACH - Frans Van Riemsdyk

MGR. — Cany Indelicato