A conduit to the college game

Boston Junior Rangers provide straight shot to hockey hotbed
By Joshua Boyd, courtesy of USAJUNIORHOCKEY.com

Just about a mile from the Boston Junior Rangers’ home office in Tewksbury, Mass., lies the on-ramp to Interstate 93. That highway extends another 22 miles into downtown Boston. An Original Six city, it is one of the hockey hotbeds of America.

That, and its general vicinity includes most of the Hockey East Association Division 1 schools, as well as Harvard University, Bentley University and a wide array of Division 3 colleges offering men’s hockey.

So, when the Junior Rangers offer a “Road to College Hockey,” they essentially mean a left, a right and you’re there.

The Junior Rangers’ teams in the new Eastern Hockey League (EHL) and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League (or MET) represent the top of a long hockey development ladder that starts with Mites. The youth organization has been around since 2007. After just one year as a junior organization, however, the Junior Rangers already sent 12 players to the college game, including two to Division 1 – Sam Bernard (Sacred Heart) and Chris Paulin (Niagara).

“We’re proud of what we have here. There’s a lot of work involved, a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than people may see when they see you on the bench or at practice,” said Mario Martiniello, general manager, head coach of the Jr. Rangers’ EHL team and part owner of the organization.

“I like working with the players at this level. They really try to push their careers forward,” said Martiniello, a former coach of the Valley Jr. Warriors and long- time area high school coach. “Most kids playing junior hockey strive to play at the collegiate level.”

Logan Brown committed to the State University of New York at Potsdam and he can’t imagine how he could have gotten there without the Rangers’ help.

“They did a lot. They called and put in a good word for me, they pushed pretty hard,” said Brown. “Mario was on the phone with [Potsdam coach Chris Bernard] and made it all go through really easily.”

“A lot of the college coaches are guys who have been around a long time,” said Martiniello. “I’ve had a relationship with many of them in the past, so I was not too surprised at how we did with our placements.” Kevin Airoldi committed to Babson to play lacrosse, but wanted to get back to hockey. He played a season for the Junior Rangers and is now committed to Stonehill for hockey.

Reentering the junior hockey world, Martiniello was able to see firsthand the benefits – young men furthering their knowledge of the game and taking that knowledge to the next, higher level – and the challenges.

“Entering Year 2 here, the biggest thing being involved with junior hockey has taught me is player management,” said Martiniello. “Back in the mid-to late-‘90s, when I was with the Jr. Warriors, you didn’t have all the social media stuff. A lot of it now is teaching kids how to present themselves to colleges and keep their noses clean.”

“You need to make them understand that something that’s a joke on Twitter or Facebook might get out there and negatively affect them in the eyes of a college coach,” said Martiniello. “On-ice, the game hasn’t really changed that much, so what is new for me is managing players off the ice.”

That said, it generally went smooth in Year 1 for the Rangers, which also happened to be the final season of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League. The Rangers finished fifth overall in the AJHL at 22-11-9-2, but were eliminated in two straight games by the eventual champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights to close their season.

“I think we had a very good season for our first year. We were able to surprise some people who may have thought we’d struggle out of the gate,” said Martiniello.

“Thanks to the help of coaches Chris Hills and Rich DeCaprio, we were able to put a competitive product on the ice. After looking at things we need to address, we struggled in the goal-scoring department, but we did very well in net and defensively.” In the MET, the Rangers won the Fracis Division in their inaugural season, going 32-10-0-3 and reaching all the way into the Keegan Cup Final. There, they fell to the New Jersey Rockets, but sent a message that the Rangers are here to stay and a force to be reckoned with.

Setting up the Ranger station

The Junior Rangers’ history runs intermingled with their top-of-the-line facility in Tewksbury, Breakaway Ice Center.

The Rangers were founded in 2007 while Breakaway was still under construction, mainly icing summer tournament teams right off the bat. Martiniello’s Superskills Hockey, a skill development company, built the first ink in 2004. In 2008, with the construction of the second sheet, the Rangers brought Martiniello aboard as a partner, in addition to his hockey operations duties. Martiniello maintains Superskills Hockey company as a separate entity from the Junior Rangers.

Once the two sheets at Breakaway were installed and up and running, the Rangers put together a full slate of youth hockey teams.

“At the youth level, we still run Mite through Midget, totaling 18 boys teams. We also have a girls program running from U10 through U19,” said Martiniello. “The next real step that we didn’t have to round out our program was a junior program.”

During the 2011-12 season, the Boston Junior Bulldogs were as much of a force as ever in the AJHL. However, longtime Bulldogs owner/general manager/head coach Mike Addesa was open to the idea of selling his junior empire. “There was a point at which we had talked with [Addesa] about the possibility of obtaining or starting up a junior program,” said Martiniello. “After a time, he was up for the idea and we started talking again and we went from there to negotiating a sale, purchasing the team from Mike last spring [of 2012].”

Now that they had the junior team, the Junior Rangers needed to bring players in.

The facility they call home was a big help in recruiting. Along with two NHL regulation size rinks and two locker rooms for the exclusive use of each of the junior teams on the premises, Breakaway Ice Center also includes a 7,000-square foot workout facility, Xcelerated Performance. XP prides itself on being the first gym in the Boston area with a skating treadmill, where players can work on their stride in place.

“A lot of teams have a weight training facility in their rink, but not a lot of teams have what we have. Pat Gigante owns and operates XP and he gives us a home right outside of our locker room,” said Martiniello. “The junior kids are constantly in there warming up before games. Pat sets them up with a routine. It’s another way for players to bond off the ice and out of the locker room.

“There’s really nothing we can’t cover in XP. There’s a shooting area on synthetic ice, a mini-track if kids want to do sprints and a basketball net for kids to loosen up,” said Martiniello.

“[Gigante] is always willing to help us out. I didn’t even have to go to a physical therapist for a shoulder problem because he knew what he was doing with it,” added Greg Stoya, the leading scorer for last year’s MET Rangers. He will likely move up to the EHL after a 56-point season last year. “Breakaway always has the ice for us. Rangers players have as much time as wewant,” Stoya said. “Last year, you [could pick out] the players who took advantage of that and those who didn’t. They make it easy for everyone who wants it, and hopefully, this year, everyone wants it.”

“It’s a great rink with good amenities to help you fulfill your goals,” added Tyler Theodoulou, a returning player for Martiniello’s top team and the incoming captain for 2013-14.

Guidance to the top

The Rangers work, work and work again on their game from August through March (not including the many summer tournaments they take part in).

“During the season, we run two days a week off-ice – Tuesdays and Thursdays – and we have practices on ice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” said Martiniello.

“If we have film work to do, we do that on Wednesday after practice. Friday is a light skate if we don’t have a game. “We have two hours of ice a day, and we’ll judge whether we’ll use it all or not, so if we only practice for an hour, that extra hour is open to players to work on their own individual skills,” he added.

The Rangers’ plan during the season certainly helped Theodoulou to pick up his game quite a bit.

“I played for the Bulldogs and Coach Addesa told me the Rangers would be a good place to play high-level junior hockey,” Theodoulou said. “Mario is a coach that is hard on you, but he’s looking to push you to continue to get better.

“One of the things I learned was that I was a good skater, but I never used it as fully as I could,” he added. “Coach [Martiniello] taught me how to drive the net and really use my feet. I went from third line at the start of the year to the first line and scoring more points by the end.”

“He’s ready to fill that [captaincy] role for us,” said Martiniello, of Theodoulou.

“He got to this point by working hard. Talent and skill are great, but if you don’t work hard, talent and skill can lose out. Tyler has both, and I couldn’t ask for a better kid to lead our team.”

Along with his experience coaching the Valley Jr. Warriors, Martiniello had years of experience teaching power skating through Superskills, and he also led high schools to state and regional championships in New Hampshire (Salem) and Massachusetts (Andover), respectively. He has worked as a scout in pro hockey and is a USA Hockey-certified Master Level Coach.

“Coach was able to sit down with me and point out the parts of my game I was able to improve upon to be a better team guy,” said Brown. Chris Hills, the EHL and MET assistant, has been an assistant coach at several different levels – from college hockey (Manhattanville, Framingham State) to high school (Acton-Boxborough, Mass.) to girls youth hockey (Assabet Valley, a regular national champion). DeCaprio, a high school star with Chelmsford (Mass.) High School and a Division 1 player for Niagara University, was the head coach of the Bulldogs’ M ET League team before the sale.

“When the sale took place, Rich and I met and I had a good feeling and that really turned into a good relationship,” said Martiniello. “Last year, Rich took our M ET League team to the finals and was one win away from the Nationals.”

“When the Bulldogs traded over to the Rangers, Coach DeCaprio remained so I felt comfortable,” said Stoya. “I had a bad leg break and the Rangers knew about that and were willing to take me to see how I would do with my skating. I came back and had a good year with the MET team.”

“He scored close to 40 goals with the MET team last year,” said Martiniello, of Stoya. “He’s really matured as a player and understood what it takes to play at the next level. I’m expecting a great season. His knock last year was his skating and that has improved dramatically, so I’m excited.”

There’s a lot to be excited about. There are 18 teams in the new EHL (and 27 in the expanded MET), so that means a lot of teams for a player to test himself against.

“I’m excited about it,” Stoya said. “It’ll be a lot more good competition in my final year.”

- See more at: http://www.usajuniorhockey.com/2013/08/a-conduit-to-the-college-game/#sthash.esmYmnVd.dpuf

Rangers look to a fast start with returning players.

The Boston Junior Rangers look to start a second season with a successful camp which is set to open August 26th. 

The Rangers boast several key returners to the team that should lead it to a fast start in th EHL. The Rangers will look to Tyler Theodoulou to lead the offense with his speed and determination. Also, adding too the mix up front will be returning EHl players James Devlin and Nick Govig.  The Rangers will also rely on last years leading scorer on the MET team Greg Stoya, who is being promoted to EHL team this year.  The penalty kill should be solid with Theodoulou and Cam Smith. 

The defense will be lead by offensive defenseman Chris Hinrich. After a slow start to last years season Chris raised his level play to earn himself consistent playing time, as well as time on both special teams units to end the season.  The Junior Rangers will also look to Miko Minobi who is being promoted to the EHL team.  He had solid campaign last year with the MET. He will look to continue his play that led to him being called up last year, where he played extremely well with others out injured. 

Check back for the next article on all the newcomers and all new goalie group. 

Boston Jr. Rangers: Incoming Rangers impressive in summer games

By USA Junior Hockey News

During the middle weekend of July, Boston Jr. Rangers general manager and head coach Mario Martiniello was all over Massachusetts.

The Rangers had one team in the Senior Chowder Cup in three southeastern Massachusetts towns. They had another the same weekend in the Eastern Junior Summer Showcase at the six-rink New England Sports Center in Marlborough. Both teams competed under the name Super Skills Hockey.

“We had our guys split, with Eastern Hockey League and Metropolitan Junior League guys on each team,” said Martiniello. “I was at the Chowder Cup for one game and then at the EJ Showcase for two other games. The guys are already getting to the point of starting to compete for spots and jobs. We have a lot of depth.”

He’s looking forward to the contributions this coming season from former New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (Empire League) Nate Philbrick and Michael Bears. Both played for the Rangers team in the EJHL Summer Showcase.

Philbrick, a ’94 from Henniker, N.H., scored 12 points in 26 games and Bears had 24 points, playing all 40 regular season games for the Monarchs. He is a ’94 from Londonderry, N.H.

“The two of them moved the puck very well. Nate has a nice touch around the net. He had [three] goals this weekend and did a nice job,” said Martiniello. “Michael did a nice job moving the puck. He was a pleasant surprise.

“[Philbrick and Bears] have an opportunity to play now for our EHL team, at a higher level, and they look good,” Martiniello added.

Another newcomer that impressed Martiniello at the EJ Showcase was Garritt Otten, a Suwanee, Ga., resident who scored 19 goals and 40 points in 42 Met League games last year for the Laconia (now New Hampshire) Lakers and the Northern Cyclones.

“He looked really good. He’s got size, 6-feet-5-inches and 210 pounds, and he can skate and hold the puck well,” said Martiniello.

Returning players Chris Hinrichs and Tyler Theodoulou also put up good performances over the weekend.

“Chris is rock solid on defense and he’ll have a strong season,” said Martiniello. “Tyler is one of those players who is just really good.”

Rangers players report for camp on Aug. 26 and ice sessions begin Aug. 27. The following weekend, the Rangers will hold a scrimmage series against the Connecticut Wolfpack.

“We’ll split up into the two teams after that,” said Martiniello.

EHL Partners With Educate Athletes For Full Suite Of Educational

BOSTON, Mass. – Continuing its groundbreaking progress in USA Hockey’s Tier III Junior classification, the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) is the first USA Hockey-sanctioned league to formally partner with a professional educational system to help guide student-athletes and parents in their journey toward college hockey.

The EHL and Educate Athletes have come together to ensure that any parent or player looking at a Junior hockey situation can be assured that all 18 Eastern Hockey League teams have professional guidance and educational options, in addition to information on NCAA eligibility.

Educate Athletes is an online education provider built on a leadership network of elite athletes and professionals dedicated to promoting innovative learning for critical thinking students.

Educate Athletes is operated by Sean O’Brien, who is a former NCAA Division I student-athlete who played nine years of professional hockey after graduating from Princeton University.  O’Brien’s experience as a former Ivy League student and hockey player, in addition to his professional expertise on the NCAA eligibility process, makes him a valuable resource for EHL student-athletes.

“In its first season as a newly formed League, the EHL has made a strong statement about the importance of education in junior hockey by providing additional academic resources with Educate Athletes,” said O’Brien.  “The League’s dedication to the program demonstrates important leadership by improving academic standards for all of its members.  We’re looking forward to collaborating with all of the coaches in the EHL to help find the best NCAA approved academic plan for every individual player.”

“The junior hockey experience is not just about hockey,” said EHL Director of Hockey Operations, Mark Kumpel.  “The EHL prides itself on offering a complete, comprehensive life experience to its athletes.  Our alliance with Educate Athletes gives our programs unmatched expertise helping student-athletes gain admission to colleges where they can excel in both hockey and academics.  The college admissions environment is constantly shifting and can be difficult to understand completely. Our familiarity with programs at every level is a significant advantage for the young men we work with.”

MET Announces Division Format For 2013-2014 Season

FLORHAM PARK, NJ – The Metropolitan Junior Hockey League is pleased to announce that in follow-up to the addition of nine new members, division realignment is complete for the 2013-2014 season. The league will operate with three divisions, Francis, Mullen and Dowd.  

Eight teams comprise the Francis Division: the Boston Bandits, the New Hampshire Lakers, the New Hampshire Monarchs, the Boston Junior Rangers, the Walpole Express, the Cranston Reds, the Valley Junior Warriors and the Northern Cyclones.

Eleven teams make up the Mullen Division, making it the largest division in the MJHL: the Connecticut Wolfpack, the Connecticut Junior Oilers, the Brewster Bulldogs, the New York Applecore, the Metro Fighting Moose, the Long Island Royals, the North Jersey Avalanche, the Jersey Wildcats, the Richmond Generals, the New York Saints and the two-time defending Keegan Cup Champions, the New Jersey Rockets.

The Dowd Division will also have eight teams: the Philadelphia Revolution, Philadelphia Junior Flyers, the Philadelphia Little Flyers, the Central Penn Panthers, the Washington Junior Nationals, the Frederick Freeze, the Junior Titans and the New Jersey Renegades.

“We are excited to announce our new divisions,” said AMHL Director of Hockey Operations Paul Maciejewski. “They will offer competitive balance to the league along with creating new rivalries, while allowing existing ones to continue.”

The MJHL will announce the 2013-2014 season schedule in the coming weeks.

Announcing The Eastern Hockey League

BOSTON, Mass. – The new top junior league on the east coast is the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), which is comprised of 18 top-level organizations dedicated to the goal of college advancement. EHL teams are fully committing to the USAH Hockey Junior Model and all EHL organizations have a rich history of producing tomorrow’s NCAA and NHL stars. 

The EHL operating standards will mirror many USA Hockey Tier II standards and will guarantee that each player is given the best opportunity to receive maximum exposure to NCAA and NHL scouts. The strategic location of each organization will allow the EHL teams to keep player tuition down, minimize travel and allow scouts to attend regular season games in addition to the league showcase games. 

Former NHLer and U.S. Olympian Mark Kumpel, who spent the past five years coaching and managing a successful Junior hockey team, will serve as the EHL’s Director of Hockey Operations. “This group of coaches and owners are the best in Junior hockey,” said Kumpel. “The coaching staff of the EHL rivals that of any junior league in the country.” Current EHL head coaches include former college and professional players (see team web sites for individual bios). 

For players and parents looking for clarity and solid information about the Junior hockey experience, these 18 East Coast organizations are excited to form the EHL with the intention of producing college-bound hockey players and providing high standards of operation to assure a quality player environment. Simply put – a better league with higher standards and a player-focused environment. 

The EHL has implemented league-wide standards including player contracts that mandate numerous player experience criteria at no extra cost above the player tuition. Additionally, EHL member organizations have created a league-wide ed

ucation service that will help players and parents find quality ways to continue their education, as well as helping them navigate their way through the process of becoming a NCAA varsity student-athlete. 

The 18 EHL organizations combined for more than 120 NCAA commitments during the 2012-13 season and have a proven track record of preparing young hockey players for college hockey and beyond. All of the EHL member organizations are dedicated to increasing the number of college commitments each year as the league strives to achieve its stated purpose to advancing players to their ultimate goal of higher level hockey. 

The EHL aims to improve the college advancement process by fully committing to the USA Hockey Junior model as originally outlined by USA Hockey. The EHL will utilize the USA Hockey Junior Rulebook in its entirety, including equipment rules and playing rules. The USA Hockey Annual Guide states that the goals of Junior hockey are skill development, quality coaching, social maturity, educational advancement, recruiting exposure, advanced competition and the protection of amateur status. By following the national governing body’s plan the EHL will be bringing some clarity to the Junior hockey landscape by executing USAH’s methods of operating college developmental programs

.

Rangers Commit 4 to Salem State

The Boston Junior Rangers are proud to announce that 4 Players on this past seasons AJHL Team as committed to play at Salem State. (MASCAC).

Alex Minter, Ryan Dougherty, Alex Rusinak and Conner Fenton will join the Vikings for the 2013/2014 Season.  All four should be solid contributors to team next year.

"Conner Fenton will be a solid stay at home defenseman for Salem," said Rangers Assistant Coach Chris Hills, "his work ethic and determination should play a key role in his ability to play as a freshman."

The three forwards should play significant roles as a freshman according Rangers Head Coach Mario Martiniello. "Alex and Ryan should be significant addition to the Vikings offense, and Alex will contribute with size and speed on the forecheck."

This makes 13 total players committed from the Junior Rangers this year.