At Athletic Republic, we pride ourselves on providing hockey players a program dedicated to “lighting the lamp”. Last week, the Suffolk PAL Junior “B” franchise took that to another level when they clinched a National Championship Title from the Central Penn Panthers with a decisive 4-1 win.

“Unbelievable,” was Head Coach Aleksey Nikiforov’s response right after winning the USA Junior B National Championship. “We were aware of how tough it would be and the boys worked hard to accomplish their goal.”

Suffolk PAL came into the USA Junior B National Championship as the fourth seed from the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League after losing in the Semi-Finals of the Keegan Cup to the Central Penn Panthers.  That would turn out to be their last loss of the season.

“This has been an absolute incredible experience for these young men. They have all worked extremely hard on and off the ice and when the battle was needed to be won they were well equipped,” said Jake Laime, Suffolk PAL Assistant Coach and Hockey Manager at BlueStreak, Hauppauge.

Equipped is an understatement. This team boasts the top three goal scorers in the nation, as well as the leading defensemen, and one of the finest coaching staffs in Junior Hockey with “Coach of the Year” Aleksey Nikiforov, Jim Wright, Jake Laime and GM Ron Kinnear. The team also is equipped with their own state of the art Athletic Republic Hockey Training Center, BlueStreak Sports Training.

“This is the moment we have all waited for. Since we first opened BlueStreak Sports Training four years ago at the Rinx in Hauppauge, NY, the overwhelming goal was to be able to provide the Suffolk PAL players with a state of the art training center. Being a fellow Long Islander. I wanted the best for these kids. They have the best coaching staff and the finest facilities, but I felt that they needed a training facility that could improve their on-ice strength, power, efficiency and overall conditioning,” said Matt Stack, VP of Operations at BlueStreak Sports Training.

The Suffolk PAL players have taken full advantage of this opportunity by using the training center as their “Official Training Center” since it’s inception. The players are treated to on-ice and off-ice testing two times a year to gauge performance baselines as well as identify their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the players are taken through in-season training two times a week where they focus on first-step quickness, skating mechanics, power, agility, acceleration and agility. The athletes are also educated on the college recruiting process and proper nutrition.

“The players have found BlueStreak to be an incredible value, our athletes are gaining strength as the season goes on when most teams are getting weaker and injured. In addition, the players are getting a firsthand look at what it takes to play at the pro and college level. Our facilities are second to none, there are very few colleges and junior teams that can offer from top to bottom what we have at Suffolk PAL and BlueStreaks,” said GM Ron Kinnear.

Suffolk opened the National Tournament with a 7-4 victory over the Metro Moose (CHA).  They only led by one with three minutes remaining in the 2nd period, until Williams and Vidal gave the team the boost they needed.  Williams scored with 2:48 to go in the period to put the team up 5-3 and Vidal added another with 49.5 seconds left, to take a commanding 6-3 lead at the end of two.

On Saturday afternoon, Suffolk took on a very highly talented Boston Junior Bruins (Empire) team.  The game went back and forth until Suffolk broke the game open in the 3rd period.  Heading into the final period, the game was tied 3-3.  James Murphy and Ryan Seward both found the back of the net to put Suffolk in the driver’s seat for the remainder of the game.  Suffolk’s two goals gave them the 5-3 victory.  William Cirillo was tested 39 times and made 36 saves.

All Suffolk needed to do was tie Apple Core on Sunday and they would lock up a spot in the Semi-Finals.  That is exactly what they did.  After letting a three goal lead slip away, Suffolk battled Apple Core into overtime where Ryan Seward came up big again netting the game winner.

Suffolk finished the preliminary round of the Nationals a perfect 3-0 and would receive a birth to the Semi-Finals.  There, Suffolk would take on the New Hampshire Monarchs who also finished a perfect 3-0. Suffolk took it to the Monarchs early in the game, going up 3-0.  The Monarchs came within one, but that was as close as they could get, as PAL went onto win 5-3.

The Junior B National Championship game would be a rematch of the Keegan Cup Semi-Finals, 10 days prior, where the Central Penn Panthers upset Suffolk to move onto the Championship game.

It was a not only a battle of two highly talented and skilled teams.  It was a battle between two of the top Junior B goaltenders in the country.  Phil Heinle led his Panthers since the Christmas break to win after win, while William Cirillo has taken over the number one goaltender spot for Suffolk.

From the drop of the puck you could see the intensity of the players on the ice. Some argue that the Junior B Championship game was more exciting than the Juniuor A Championship.  Bodies were flying as both teams flew up and down the ice.
After the 1st period of play, Suffolk led 1-0 on a goal by Matt Vidal, but the Panthers had their fair share of scoring opportunities.

Those chances came and they came quick, as the Panthers tied the game less than one minute into the 2nd period.  Dillon Fox found the back of the net on a great give-and-go play from Eric Bajc.  Suffolk would regain the lead later in the period at the 6 minute mark.  Once again it was the line of Murphy, Vidal and Petito who took charge.  Petito scored on the power play that started with a great pass from Matt Vidal.

The 3rd period was just as tight as the first two. Once again it was William Cirillo coming up big, making some remarkable saves against the top lines for the Panthers.  On a power play half way through the period, Nick Giuffrida put Suffolk up by two with a wrist shot that found the back of the net.  Vidal added an empty net goal to solidify the win and crown Suffolk PAL the 2009 Junior B National Champions.

Athletic Republic  would like to congratulate Suffolk PAL on their great season and title of 2009 USA Junior B National Champions.