Kevin Gaughran at the New York Empire Games Pawling Youth Hockey Alum

Kevin Gaughran of Pawling won a place on the Hudson Valley Ice Hockey Team for the 2007 New York State Empire Games, and after working together for months, the team excelled at the Games and won the Ice Hockey Bronze Medal.

Gaughran has also won a place on the prestigious Junior B Team of Apple Core Junior Ice Hockey, and has already begun playing in tournaments with the team that are part of the 2007-2008 season in the Empire League.

“Pawling Youth Hockey is where Kevin learned the game of ice hockey,” said his father, Ed Gaughran. “Oh, yes, definitely. He started in Pawling Youth Hockey when he was five years old. He played with Keith Clarkson as his coach all the way from the Mini-Mites as they called them then right up through the Bantams, and then he moved up and played for Bob Reid on the varsity teams for three years. He and Cody Clarkson came up all the way through the program together, and they are both high school seniors this year.”

Kevin would have liked to continue through his senior season with Cody Clarkson and all the rest of his friends from Pawling Youth Hockey, but because he wants to play with Apple Core Youth Ice Hockey in Long Island in order to have a chance to eventually play at the college level, he will attend St. Mary’s High School this year. It would have been impossible to attend Pawling High School and make the commute to Long Island every day to practice and play in the Apple Core program.

Branden Gaughran, Kevin’s younger brother, played on the Pawling Youth Hockey Bantam Team that won the Connecticut Hockey Association Championship last year, so Ed and Mary Gaughran will continue to be among the most active parents in Pawling Youth Hockey.

“The Empire Games was a great experience for Kevin, and he had a great time,” said Ed Gaughran. “With ice hockey in the Empire Games, tryouts are by invitation, and they invited about 60 players to try out for the Hudson Valley Team this year. The tryouts were over at Ice Time in Newburg and at the Brewster Ice Arena. They had four tryout sessions, and then they cut it down to about 30 players, and they called that the training team. They kept 30 for the continuing practices and tryouts. They all skated together twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, one in Newberg and one at Brewster, for about five weeks. At that point, they cut down to 20 and that was the team that played in the Empire Games. The whole thing started back on May 8-9-10 for the first tryouts, so it has been a long process and a very good experience for Kevin. They want to be a cohesive team by the time they get to the Empire Games, so they do practice together a lot.”

New York Empire Games

New York State is divided into six sections for the Empire Games, Hudson Valley, Western, Central, Long Island, Adirondacks and New York City

On the history and spirit of the Empire Games, from their website at www.empirestategames.org:

On the 16th of August 1978, 4,500 men and women paraded through the old Archbold Stadium on the campus of Syracuse University and ignited the torch for the Empire State Games and, along with it, a new spirit and the beginning of a new and exciting grassroots amateur sports movement in the United States.
Today, more than 40 states around the country have instituted state games programs attracting nearly a half-million participants each year. New York's Empire State Games are not only the first program of its kind in the nation but is often considered to be the most successful, setting a standard for multi-sport amateur athletic programs and offering opportunities to all of New York's athletes.
Of course, none of this would be possible without our parent agency, the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation or the generous and continuing partnership of the New York Lottery. They, along with thousands of volunteers from across this state, are what have made the Empire State Games the wonderfully exciting program it is today.
The real focus, however, is on the athletes. Each year, more than 30,000 men and women, young and old, tryout for the chance to be a finalist at the Games in scholastic, open or masters divisions. And in each of our 28 sports competition is keen. Through the years, many athletes have been part of the Games and moved on to national, international and Olympic competition. Games' alumni include world champions, Olympic gold medalists, college and high school All-Americans, professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL - as well as figure skaters, skiers, soccer players and many more. But for every Olympic Dream Team member (we have two) there are thousands of athletes for whom the Empire State Games may be the pinnacle of their athletic career. And that is what makes these Games so special.

Hudson Valley won the Bronze Medal with a record of 3-2, with losses to Western and Central. Western won the Gold Medal with a record of 5-0, and Central won the Silver Medal with a record of 4-1. Hudson Valley had a chance to force a three-way tie for first place on the final day, if they had been able to defeat Western, but the loss put them in third place.

Kevin started the tournament on the fourth line. By the end of it he had moved up to the third line, and he was out on most of the power plays, because they wanted him to be in front of the net on the power play.

Apple Core Junior Ice Hockey
http://www.applecorejunior.com/

This year, Kevin will be playing with the Apple Core Junior B Team, based on Long Island. Apple Core has three levels of junior ice hockey, Junior A Team that plays in the Eastern Junior Hockey League, the Junior B Team plays in the Empire League, and the Junior C Team that plays in the Connecticut Hockey Association.

Kevin played on the Brewster Junior B Team in the CHA last year, and he will be playing against his old teammates this season with Apple Core. He has been a leading scorer at Pawling High School for the past three years, and that is what was formerly the high school team of Pawling Youth Hockey. He will play for St. Mary’s High School this year, in addition to the Junior B Apple Core Team.

“Kevin is the one who wanted to go out to Apple Core because he is looking at the future,” said Ed Gaughran. “The real reason he went to Apple Core is because of the EJHL A Team that they have, that he wants to be on next year. Brewster has the same level team that he is playing on this year, and he will actually be playing against Brewster this year. But he figured if he went to Apple Core this year, he would have a better chance of making their EJHL A Team next year.

“In the long term, his goal is to play college hockey, and it is not an easy road. He also wants to play the highest level of ice hockey that he can. He has his goal set on NCAA Division I Ice Hockey. That is a tall order, and he has a lot of work to do before he reaches that level.

“In addition to playing a high level of hockey, Apple Core players get a lot of exposure to college programs, and a good amount of the EJHL A Level players are playing ice hockey in Division I and II and III. At the end of the season last year, they had a regular Wednesday practice where his team actually practices with the Apple Core EJHL Team. There is a lot of talent out there on the ice, which gets you to pay better. Some of the kids come back to practice who are playing in college programs now, so he is getting some great experience at the practices.

“You can play juniors with Apple Core until the age of 20 or 21. He will play in the Junior B this year, and hope to play on the Junior A next year. The men’s hockey is a very tough road to the Division I College Ice Hockey. If you go through the college rosters, it is pretty common to have 19 and 20-year-old freshmen because of the road they have to follow. After they graduate from high school, they have to play Junior A for a year or two before they move on to Division I. You have to be willing to put in that extra time if you want to play at that level. At this point, that is something Kevin wants to do. Most of the players who have graduated from high school, and while they are playing Junior A, they will take a few courses at a junior college and try to use that towards their college credits when they move on. At this point, he is playing at the right level for his age, to continue on his way to playing college hockey.”

Actually, Kevin is already playing in tournaments with his Junior B Apple Core Team, an indication that ice hockey is a year-round commitment for young men who aspire to play at ever higher levels of competition.

“Kevin is having a great time,” Ed said. “His Apple Core Team has played in three tournaments already. He is playing wing. He has been playing mostly with the first or second line in those tournaments, so he is doing well. They have been about .500 in those tournaments, and they are playing in a very high level of tournaments, and Kevin has been scoring, so he is doing well. All of the tournaments have been up in Massachusetts. This next one is an EJHL tournament, and it is in Haverhill, Ma. For these guys, ice hockey is year-round activity, although he would have had a little bit of time off if he hadn’t played on the Empire Games Team. But now, he is right back into an EJHL Tournament as soon as he finishes with the Empire Games.

“After this next tournament, he will have two weeks off, and then training camp starts for the Apple Core Junior B Team, and then it goes straight through from there. And they have to be in shape when they report to the training camp, so they are expected to stay in shape all year round.”

Kevin is going to St. Mary’s High School because he can’t commute to that area to play Apple Core. They have an arrangement that is called “billeting”, where he will be staying with an ice hockey family. It is common in junior hockey in Canada, where the players travel a long way and stay with host families, and they refer to it as “billeting”. Kevin will be staying with a family that has been doing this for some time, having kids stay with them who are playing for Apple Core. The family has two younger kids who play youth ice hockey, so it all stays within the total ice hockey world.