Hockey players compete at Lake Placid

Lake Placid - The Hudson Valley Polar Bears Squirt team (9- and 10-year old division) competed against teams from across the Northeast in the annual CAN/AM Challenge Cup Tournament held March 30-April 2 in Lake Placid. The Polar Bears are coached by John Matusch and Kevin Hoarty of Newburgh, Rob Feldman of Goshen and Rob Malota of Warwick. The Polar Bears’ first game was against the Warmister, Pa., Glaciers. The game was tightly played until the Polar Bear’s Eric Feldman of Goshen found his opening and scored on a beautiful end-to-end rush. His goal sparked the rest of the team, who responded by creating more offensive opportunities including goals by Patrick Havey and Sean Matusch, both of Newburgh. In addition to the offense, the defense and goalie James Varian of Beacon shut down all of the Glaciers scoring attempts. As a result, James Varian earned his first shut-out tournament victory and the team won by a score of 3-0. In their third game the Polar Bears picked up where they left off. This time against the Jersey Devils from West Orange, N.J. The Devils defense was no match for the Polar Bears’ offense, especially Patrick Havey who scored three goals. That earned him the nickname “Hatrick Patrick.” Other scorers for the Polar Bears were Nicholas Daigle of Warwick and Connor Mushlit of Washingtonville, who each found the back of the net. Once again the defensemen - Nico Martorello of Fishkill, Jack “Got” Dunkleman of Goshen, Cameran Icso of Washingtonville - and goalie James Varian came up big, stopping every shot and earning another shut out victory by a score of 5-0. Lake Placid, home of two winter Olympics, is full of sports history and the Polar Bears got to experience some of it. The hockey players played their third game in the Herb Brooks Arena, which is the same rink where Team USA defeated the Soviets and won the gold medal against Finland in 1980. The Polar Bears opponent was the Ice Dogs from Hatfield, Pa. Nicholas Daigle of Warwick scored the first goal of the game on a power play with an assist by David Malota, also from Warwick. At the end of the first period, the Polar Bears were leading 1-0 but the Ice Dogs came storming back in the second period, scoring three goals. Down by two goals, the Polar Bears continued to pressure the Ice Dogs. The hard work finally paid off when Patrick Havey scored, making it a 3-2 game. The third period was close but the Ice Dogs would score again for a two-goal cushion. The Polar Bear forwards Kyle Eng, Richard Kraft, Clayton Szelestey (all of Washingtonville) and Tommy Sibilla of Warwick continued to hustle and create scoring chances when Connor Hoarty of Newburgh scored with a nicely placed wrist shot. That would be the end of scoring, as the Polar Bears lost a heart-breaker by a score of 4-3. The Polar Bears lost their final game, 6-0, to powerful Mount Laurel, N.J., Jaguars. That made their tournament record 2-2. As a result, based on tournament points earned, the Polar Bears finished in fifth place in a pool of nine teams. Although the team did not win the gold, the Polar Bears had a great tournament and the Lake Placid experience will provide each player memories for a lifetime. This article was provided by Steve Daigle.