The hockey gods have tested the youthful Mahopac Wolf Pac in recent weeks, and while the results have been cruel of late, the unit will have gained experience that could prove valuable for the rigors of postseason play come Feb. 23, when the Section 1 D-II tournament unfolds at the rink of the higher seed.
Mahopac, which has suffered six losses in a row after a reasonably solid start to the 2025-26 campaign, can consider itself battle-tested after back-to-back losses to the combined Horace Greeley/John Jay club and White Plains last week, both of which will compete in D-I for the playoffs.
Mahopac coach Tim Donaghy is hoping the Wolf Pac can get fully healthy and hit the ice with a complete roster, which he feels is still capable of reaching the D-II Final Four, a goal they set back in November. The teams to beat in D-II remain the same as it was then – state-ranked (No. 3) Pelham and (No. 2) Rye.
On a roster rife with underclassmen (12 in all), Donaghy has witnessed the growth and development of senior goalie Matt Conelli, who does whatever the program needs to succeed.
“Matt played modified for us in eighth and ninth grade because we needed goalie down below,” Donaghy said. “He came to varsity as a 10th-grader and hasn’t played all that much until this season, and he’s now having a great senior year.”
In Friday’s 8-4 loss to Greeley/Jay, senior captain Ryan Danahy spotted the Wolf Pac a 1-0 lead before Greeley/Jay scored the next four goals, a pair off the stick of slick Brendan Asta. Mahopac freshman F Brian Devlin stopped the bleeding to make it 4-2 and the Minnix brothers, Jacob and Joey, each found the back of the net to make it 5-4 before the G/JJ netted the final three goals to pull away.
“We were right there until the end,” Donaghy said. “We just came up short.”
In Wednesday’s 9-3 loss to Horace Greeley/John Jay, Joey Minnix (1G), Jake Minnix (1G) and Dexter Ielpi (1G) each scored once for the Wolf Pac, which got assists from Lucas Mercato, Ryan Arnold, Devlin and Lukas Gasper.
Mahopac G Conelli made 20 saves but was up against a force in Asta (3G, 3A) and company.
In a 3-2 road loss on Jan. 15 to White Plains at the Ebersole Rink, Mahopac senior captain Josh Leviner and senior F Ronan Beany each had a goal and assist and scored off feeds from Jacob and Joey Minnix.
The schedule won’t get much easier in the days ahead as Mahopac was set to visit the D-I state-ranked (No. 13) Rivertowns Legends on Jan. 27 before hosting league foe Cortlandt on Jan. 30 at the Brewster Ice Arena.
“We’ve faced a lot of D-1 teams of late,” Donaghy said. “And Rivertowns falls into that category, too. That will be a big challenge, but after that we have a good chance to win our final games if we play to our capabilities down the stretch.”
The regular season will soon close out against league rivals Carmel (Feb. 5) and Byram Hills (Feb. 7). Senior night is slated for Feb. 13 (8:30 p.m.) against White Plains at the Brewster Ice Arena, followed by the regular-season final against Carmel on Feb. 15 (6:30 p.m.) in the United for the Troops game at BIA. The seed meeting for the eight-team D-II playoffs will follow on Feb. 17.
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