In the four years since the Covid pandemic, youth hockey on the South Fork has come a long way, Brendan Goldstein, one of the coaches, said recently. The under-14 team coached by Bryan Wish of the Southampton Ice Rink played in the state tournament — a first for youth hockey here — after winning a Long Island championship this season, Goldstein pointed out.
“It shows you what a lot of hard work and training can do. . . . That kids from these small towns, from Sag Harbor, East Hampton, and Southampton, can now go toe-to-toe with the established programs up the Island is quite something.”
The youngsters’ skills have been honed over the past few years at the Southampton rink, the Buckskill Winter Club, and, since the fall, at the Peconic Hockey Foundation’s bubble in Calverton. There are reportedly 50 to 60 6-to-7-year-olds practicing a couple of nights a week at the Southampton rink in Mini Mite and Mite programs that Wish oversees. More than 100 South Forkers from 10 through 18 years old are now playing the sport pretty much the year round. Moreover, the Southampton rink’s U12 team, coached by Jason Craig, a team whose players hail from East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Southampton, and Westhampton Beach, recently won a regional tournament in Rhode Island, besting teams from that state and from Massachusetts and Vermont.
Concerning the recent tournament, Craig reported, “We won three and lost one game in pool play, and then defeated the team from the Boston area that had beaten us in a pool game. . . . We trailed 3-0 in the first half of the final, but battled back to 3-3 on goals by Brody Maniaci, Ayden Gabrielsen, and Luca Pisano, who deflected into the cage a shot taken by Laird De Vera.”
“The other team took a 5-3 lead into the third period, but, again, our team battled back on goals by Grady Craig, his second one coming with fewer than three minutes left to play in regulation.”
The teams vied in a five-person shootout in overtime, as is common in soccer. “Pisano and Cam Minardi scored on their tries, as did the other team’s first two shooters. Then our goalie, Teddy Teriazos, shut the door with three straight saves. Because we were still tied, the shootout went to a sudden-death second round. Pisano led off with a goal for us, and their first one to go scored as well. Cam Minardi then scored what proved to be the game-winner as Teddy, facing their second shooter, made an incredible stop.”