Ice hockey could be added at EBHS

By lindsey siegle

There are only three sports sanctioned by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Associa-tion not offered by East Brunswick High School. That number may be dropping to two.

Mike Slamsky, whose son Justin plays ice hockey as a member of the American Eagles club team in Wall and who will be entering EBHS as a freshman next year, has put out fliers to find out if there is interest in starting a high school hockey team.

Judging by the calls he has received, there is little doubt interest is there.

"I’ve been approached by about 20 or 30 people," said Slamsky, who has broached the topic of starting a team with school officials, but has not made a request before the board of education.

With that much interest school officials will likely be ready to listen to a proposal to start a team.

Frank Noppenberger, the high school’s athletic director, said he thought starting a program would require at least 20 to 25 players.

The biggest obstacle would be the expense, according to Noppenberger, who noted that even home games would incur travel expenses and renting a rink for practices and games would run into the thousands of dollars over the course of a season.

On the plus side the number of teams that could provide competition without too much travel is growing quickly.

Old Bridge and Saint Joseph’s of Metuchen already offer the sport and South Brunswick is weighing a proposal right now. Several Monmouth County schools also have added the sport recently, or are considering it.

It is the availability of the recently opened Pro Skate facility in South Brunswick that could make adding ice hockey a reality.

Because there has historically been a limited number of rinks, some high school teams have been saddled with practice schedules that may be considered troublesome because teams must hit the ice very early in the morning or late at night.

"With the Old Bridge and South Brunswick facilities so close we may be able to get a decent time slot (to practice)," Noppenberger noted.

Slamsky, who is a USA Hockey certified coach and official, hopes to sit down with interested parents in the next two weeks and then go to the school board.

If the board is agreeable to starting an ice hockey team, Slamsky said he would like to see a club team at the school as early as next year.