Mahopac struggles for wins against combined merger hockey programs

It’s tough enough to compete against the best of the best in just one school, but it’s grueling for an ice hockey program like Mahopac – one of just 12 programs still going solo in Section 1 – to challenge the combined merger programs like BYSNS (Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem), Clarkstown North and South, ETBE (Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont/New Rochelle), Cortlandt ( Lakeland/Panas/Putnam Valley/Hendrick Hudson/Haldane), Mt. Pleasant (Briarcliff/Valhalla/Westlake/Hastings/Pleasantville), Pawling/Lourdes; Rye Town (Harrison/Rye Neck/Blind Brook/Port Chester), Greeley/John Jay-CR and Rivertowns (Irvington/Sleepy Hollow/Leffell/Ossining/Ardsley/Dobbs Ferry/Croton).

In what once was a robust Section 1 hockey circuit, only man-eating Suffern – the defending NYSPHSAA champion – North Rockland, Scarsdale, Mamaroneck and White Plains are solo in D-I while Byram Hills, Carmel, Fox Lane, Pearl River, Pelham, Rye and Mahopac are single-school programs in D-II.

There are no nights off, no easy challenges when a unit the size of Mahopac is taking on programs twice its size on a regular basis. The proof is in the pudding while the Wolf Pac (3-11-1) players have struggled to find their footing in recent weeks, seeking their first win since the new year. Coach Tim Donaghy wasn’t making any excuses, however, knowing full well that these tough tests against largely D-I competition will only prepare his club for the upcoming rigors of the D-II tournament, which is slated to begin its quarterfinal round on Feb. 23 at the home of the higher seeds. The semifinals are scheduled for Feb. 25 with the finals going off on March 1 at the Brewster Ice Arena.

“It’s definitely a struggle for programs like ours to compete against all these mergers,” Donaghy admitted. “The idea in the beginning was just for small schools to do so for a temporary fix for the low numbers, but it has turned into the norm now.”

The norm has resulted in more losses than wins for many of the established non-mergers while merged programs like Rivertowns have produced high state rankings (No. 13) and an 11-4 overall record. Nothing seems to affect truly perennial powers like state-ranked No. 2 Suffern and D-II programs No. 2 Rye and No. 3 Pelham, but non-merged programs like Mahopac, Fox Lane and Carmel are finding it tougher to produce victories, which, sometimes, can lead to downtrodden morale.

“We’ve been approached about the possibility of a merger, but so long as we have the numbers to avoid merging, I don’t want us to do it,” Donaghy said.

Donaghy maintains a sense of cool behind the bench and the Wolf Pac have battled for him despite the recent outcomes, including an 8-1 loss on Jan. 27 to Rivertowns, in which the Wolf Pac were still in it to win until late in the second period when a three-goal barrage from 5:55 to the horn produced a 5-1 Rivertowns lead. Only Jacob Minnix could score for the Wolf Pac, planting a first-period feed from Lucas Mercato. Goalie Liam Robinson faced 42 shots on goal and made 34 saves for Mahopac.

After having its winnable Jan. 30 game against the combined Cortlandt club canceled due to an officiating shortage, Mahopac will close out the regular season with games against Carmel on Feb. 6, Byram Hills on Feb. 7 and Senior Night against White Plains on Feb. 13. The regular season is scheduled to conclude against Carmel on Feb. 15 with United for the Troops Night at BIA.