The ice is finally melting for these seniors.
Long Island’s high school hockey championship between the Friars of St. Anthony’s and Marines of Long Beach promises to be a spirited finale Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Northwell Health Ice Center, but it’s also a touching farewell for many outstanding teens who poured their hearts and souls into both programs ahead of what will be their final match.
“It’s really sad. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go on this team,” Long Beach senior captain and center Michael Calvi told The Post.
Calvi took the “C” on his sweater to heart and kept his Marine corps shipshape. The team ushered in a wild wave of success with a 13-game win streak, which they rode straight into the Nassau finals.
“It really got us together as a team, and helped us grow,” senior center Joseph Feerick said of the lengthy heater Long Beach hasn’t had for many years.
The exclamation point was beating rival Bellmore-Merrick 5-4 in dramatic double-overtime fashion to clinch the county title thanks to the heroics of forward Liam Young.
“It took a while to know it went in; the ref was just standing there for about 10 seconds,” said backup goalie Sophie Marino, a dual winter sport gymnast who went out for hockey as a senior.
“No one thought it went in — and then we got the ref’s hand signal and everybody jumped off the bench,” she added.
Sands of time
Marino gives her sole season a 10 out of 10, adding, “I don’t even have the words to explain” the magic of playing for the Marines.
Calvi has also deeply reflected on how special it’s been, particularly in becoming a leader and hoping he did right by teammates past and present.
One especially comes to mind, former player Gerrin Hagen, a Long Beach hockey force who was killed by a car at 18 while skateboarding in 2023.
“He was a great kid, great captain. He showed us what we need to do on and off the ice. He was a great guy,” said Calvi, who was a freshman when Hagen played.
It’s a Long Beach tradition that senior captains assign players’ spots in the dressing room, and Calvi was placed right next to Hagen’s old spot, which he called “an absolute honor.”
“I would look at that stall as a freshman and think, ‘I really want to be there someday.’ So I’m really, really grateful,” Calvi said.
“Now we want to end on a good note.”
Friar focus
It’s all in the family for St. Anthony’s, which took Suffolk County in a barn burner over rival Smithtown Bulls in a best-of-three series, one that came down to the final goal.
“We’re on a text thread every night before each game, making sure everybody’s getting to bed and doing what they’ve got to do,” said senior captain Zack Sirel.
“This place has built up my confidence in a way I wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere … and friendship, kindness to others, you always get that around here. It’s never anything different.”
He’s going to miss the little things about the Friar hockey brotherhood, especially a pregame rite of passage unique to the Catholic school.
The team recites “The Husker’s Prayer” — a decade-long custom first introduced by an alum looking to bolster locker room culture before each puck drop.
It reads, in part, “if we shall win, let it be by the code. With faith and honor held high, if we shall lose, let us stand by the road, and cheer as the winners go by.”
“We set the tone with that prayer,” the captain added.
The honor of reciting it belongs to assistant captain Tommy Azzaritti, whose senior year focused on his personal redemption.
He missed a potential playoff-clinching shootout goal during his sophomore year in a series the Friars lost to the Bulls, which has admittedly lived rent-free in his head.
“I thought about it every day for the last three years,” he said.
The forward wasn’t to be fooled twice, as he scored the lone goal in game one’s shootout this year.
“I really wanted to just go in and roof one, but I had to make a few head fakes and just move the puck around a little bit and put it over him,” said Azzaritti.
“I blacked out after scoring that goal.”
Now the Friar leaders are all in for one more game under the hood.
“We’re prepared for what comes,” Sirel said.
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