Raiders slash their way to history on ice
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Above, a Freehold Regional Raider battles for the puck with a Red Bank defender during a recent scrimmage in Red Bank. At left, the Raiders’ Craig Mayer fakes his way past a Red Bank defender.

Having tried unsuccessfully to bring ice hockey into the Freehold Regional District, parents and players decided to do it themselves.

The result — the Freehold Region Independent Ice Hockey Raiders.

The Raiders are a team of students from the six Freehold Regional District Schools (Colts Neck, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro) competing together as one team. All grew up playing youth travel hockey.

However, with no high school programs in the District, the youths had nowhere to turn to play the sport scholastically, outside of going to private or parochial schools that field ice hockey teams.

A group of parents and students called School Kids Asserting Team Expansion (SKATE) tried to get an ice hockey program into the Freehold District to start in the 2002-03 school year, but their proposal was voted down by the District Board of Education, 7-0.

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Bruce Rifkin, the president and manager of the Raiders, pointed out that the goal behind the team is to give District players a chance to play in high school.

“Our goal is to give the kids a place to play and see if something comes down the road,” he said. “We’re doing it for the right reason. For the kids.

“The kids who play are dedicated to the sport,” he added. “We wanted to give them an opportunity. They have to go private schools to play hockey. We’d love to keep them in the District.”

The ultimate goal would be for the Freehold Regional District to include ice hockey in the athletic program, but for now, just giving the area hockey players an opportunity to play is enough.

“We want them to be trailblazers,” said Rifkin.

The players themselves are aware of the role they are playing.

Josh Rifkin is a junior at Manalapan and was thrilled when he heard about the Raiders.

“It feels great that we can represent our District,” he said. “We’re pretty excited to have the opportunity. It’s good to know that others will have the same opportunity.”

With the opportunity, Rifkin noted, comes responsibility.

“We’re getting the ball rolling,” the Manalapan junior said. “The future rides on us and the reputation we build.”

Michael Halpern, a junior at Marlboro High School, said that he was very excited about the possibility of high school hockey and doing what he likes, even if it is an independent team. He pointed out that he and his teammates have something varsity players from the other sports don’t have. They get to play with kids from the other District schools and have a shared experience.

“That’s what’s great about it,” he said. “We meet other players from the District.”

Both Halpern and Rifkin said that ice hockey is getting more and more popular, and now that a team has been established, they expect even more players to try out next year (35 tried out for the 20 openings this year by word of mouth only).

With limited ice rink facilities, Bruce Rifkin knew it wouldn’t be easy to find practice time, let alone competition, for his first-year team. The Raiders were able to find ice time at the Princeton Sports Center for practice and games. They also play at the Red Bank Armory.

Since the Raiders are not a sanctioned NJSIAA team, they have to play an independent schedule. Locally, they will play some varsity teams in what is a practice game for them. There are other areas, like Vineland, which like Freehold Regional has an independent hockey club, that the Raiders can play. They can schedule independent schools like Lawrenceville Prep and the Hun School, which are not under NJSIAA jurisdiction. The Raiders are playing teams from Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, such as St. Peter’s, Monsignor Farrell and Xavierian, and competing in tournaments.

Their first-year schedule has them playing approximately 15 games. The Raiders are 4-1-2 thus far in their debut.

“We’ve been very competitive,” said Bruce Rifkin.

Not only are the coaches looking for games, they are also trying to match the Raiders with teams of equal competitiveness. They don’t want to play way over their heads, or at the same time, compete against teams that don’t present stiff competition.

Oktay Armagan, who is a Level 4 USA Hockey coach and the assistant coach at the Lawrenceville School, is the head coach of the Raiders and helped put the schedule together.

“It’s hard to judge the talent level of teams,” he said of the difficulty of making up a schedule.

Armagan knows some of the Raider players from having coached them with the Red Bank Generals and is not surprised at how well his team has played.

“The talent has been great,” he said. “They could be competitive in the NJSIAA in the playoffs. Overall for a first-year program, they’ve come along quite nicely.”

The tryouts were anything but a fait accompli.

“They were really competitive,” said Halpern.

Josh Rifkin pointed out that everyone wanted to make the team.

That in-house competition just to make the team may explain the Raiders 4-1-2 start.

Armagan, who builds teams from the goal out, noted that the Raiders are a deep and balanced team.

“It’s been an all-around effort from the goal to the defense to the front line,” he said. “I don’t have just one line. I have a lot of depth.”

The roster for the trailblazing 2005-06 Freehold Region Raiders is: James Saez (defense), Jared Reisman (defense), Keith Duffy (forward), Nick Lisciandro (forward), Michael Halpern (forward), James Addeo (forward), Michael Totaro (forward), Ryan Schein (defense), Justin Klein (forward), Dan Quinn (forward), Mike Maczynski (goalie), Joe McCarty (goalie), Craig Mayer (defense), Jesse Elobwson (defense), Brad Fishman (forward), Josh Rifkin (forward), Aaron Braun (forward), Chuck DeMarino (forward), Kevin Torney (forward) and Renny Beitscher (forward).

Armagan is already looking ahead to next year and the continued growth of the Raiders.

“I’m looking to have two teams next year,” he said. “It’s taking off.”