Pawling High School Ice Hockey
By John M. Benson
November 19, 2007
When Pawling High School adopted the high school team from Pawling Youth Hockey for the 2004-2005 season, head coach Bob Reid said Pawling was facing a challenge in the quality Section One competition. He said it would be a four-year program to build the Tigers into a winning team in the interscholastic conference.
The fourth season, 2007-2008, will open on the road on November 24 against Ossining at the Westchester Skating Academy.
The second game will be at the Brewster Ice Arena on November 25, the next thing to a home game, on November 25 against Lakeland/Panas.
The team will stage in intra-squad scrimmage at 4:00 p.m. on November 20 at Trinity-Pawling.
This program grew out of Pawling Youth Hockey, the organization that continues to provide instruction and playing time to kids from five years old through high school.
To sign up for this year, to get involved or to learn about Pawling Youth Hockey, visit the website at www.pawlingyouthhockey.org.
Last year, in the third season in Section One, Pawling had an overall record of 11-7-1, qualified for the sectional playoffs, and upset Pelham 6-4 on the road in the first round of the playoffs. Pawling traveled two hours to play at Rye in the second round and lost, but Reid was very upbeat after that game about the future of ice hockey at Pawling High School.
As Reid said after the final game with Rye, “We can walk away from our third season in the interscholastic league with our heads held high. I thought the kids worked hard, and I thought they did a great job on the whole over the season. We had a winning record in our first year. Our second season we dropped down, but this year, we are above .550 at 11-7-1 overall. We are 8-5-1 in conference and 7-2-1 at home. All of our losses were by one or two goals, and some of those second goals came when we pulled our goalie, so these kids can be very proud of what they have done this season.
“We really want to thank Pawling High School Principal Frank Tolan, Athletic Director John Bellucci, Superintendent Frank DeLuca, and the Board of Education for their tremendous support.
“And as always, we are very grateful to Trinity-Pawling School for the support they give us and the excellent facility they provide for us.
“Rye is a very good team, and I thought our offense and defense really held their own in this game. If all of these kids return next year, they can expect to have an outstanding season together.”
The completely rebuilt rink at Trinity-Pawling School is larger, and that will fit well with the personnel on the Pawling High School team.
As Reid said after one week of practice with his 2007-2008 team, “We are a small team on what is now a big home rink, so we are going to try to play a speed game. Last year we had some people who played the body pretty well, and our home rink was smaller, so we played a more physical game. But this year, if we go hit for hit with people, we will be down to 12 players pretty soon.
“We are looking to have a lot of speed and have a lot of puck movement. In hockey, it is called puck support, where we are looking for the guys without the puck to really get their feet moving and be open and ready to receive the pass. If you are free, you are helping the team, if you sit back, you are not helping the team. That is what we are shooting for, and we will see how it goes.”
But Reid said he is very concerned about the work ethic and leadership on this team, saying he has not been satisfied with the effort at practice so far.
Reid said, “We have the numbers, but we are looking for some better practices, and we are looking to step things up. As I said, we have a lot of good competition, and it is going to come up quickly. These kids are fighting every minute for a shot to play, and we have told them that, but they are not really playing like it yet.
“We are in League III this year, and you have some pretty big schools in there, like Lakeland/Panas, North Rockland and Ossining, and we will also be playing teams from Leagues I, II and IV, so we have a very tough schedule and some very stiff competition.”
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