It has taken more than 10 years, a decade filled with countless presentations and pleas, endless patience and perseverance – not to forget the assistance of two other school districts.
But history is set to be made later this week, when the Kearny High School ice hockey co-operative program will take the ice for the first time ever as a varsity squad, when the Kardinals travel to face Edison on Thursday night.
Once again this season, Kearny has joined forces with the North Arlington High School district and that of Secaucus to field a highly competitive varsity team.
That is a familiar trend among New Jersey high school varsity programs that don’t have enough players to field a competitive squad, so they send their straggling participants to the more established program in order to find that perfect union.
For example, the Lyndhurst co-op, a established and successful union, gains assistance from the Paramus and Hackensack districts.
With this program, a strong majority of the team comes from Kearny, some nine of the 22 who lace up their skates to form the Kearny Kardinals co-op.
Opening day is just a few days away, so the excitement abounds with the Kardinals.
“It’s quite exciting,” said Tim Firth, who has served as the head coach of the Kards since 2009, when a group of Kearny High hockey fanatics got together to see if they could actually field a team. “It’s been a long time coming. A lot of people have put in a lot of time to see this through. The team is a culmination of a lot of hard work to finally make it.”
Firth was asked if the formation of the varsity co-op was a painstaking ordeal.
“I’d say it was just more of a slow process,” said Firth, a native of West Windsor, N.J. who has taught in the Kearny district for 13 years, teaching science at the elementary school level.
Firth played hockey at Princeton Day School and Hofstra University, so he has an extensive background in the sport of ice hockey.
Yes, this perfect union is of the ice hockey variety, complete with skating and full body checking. It is not like street hockey, which is feverishly played competitively at the Kearny rink on Passaic Avenue, nor like the roller hockey variety which also graces the Kearny rink from time to time.
This is definitely the real thing at the highest level now.
Ever since a group of Kearny High students got together to form a team, they have played at either the club hockey level or at the junior varsity level.
The Kardinals were a JV program for the last three seasons, waiting to develop a program that could actually compete at the varsity level.
That time has arrived.
“As the program grew, we did much of the fundraising,” Firth said. “We did the fundraising wisely, knowing that we had to do it the right way.”
So Firth and his organization raised money that helped to buy equipment and uniforms, ice time and funding to field competent officiating.
When it came to fundraising, the team did it – from canning at strategic traffic stops and shopping areas, as well as sales of candy and snacks, not to mention raffle tickets to win 50/50 cash prizes and vacation destinations.
“We had to reach out to the community to receive help,” Firth said. “Believe me, the generosity of the community was tremendous. To grow as much as possible, we needed help and the help was tremendous.”
Major assistance came three years ago, when the Kearny township council heard the pleas of the coaches and students and decided to fund the majority of the program out of the municipal budget and not the Board of Education budget.
It was a move that certainly helped the process move along – all the way to the historic puck drop that will take place this week.
The Kardinals play their home games at the Buchmiller Park facility in Secaucus, with their home opener slated for Monday, Dec. 16 against the Frisch School at 7:30 p.m. The next home game after the first one will be played Friday, Dec. 20 against Johnson Regional of Springfield.
“This is our time,” Firth said. “We had tryouts and formed a team with 22 varsity players. All three towns have been able to pull together to form this team. We’re in a pretty good spot as we start the season.”
The Kardinals have a lot of depth in their goalkeeping position.
The Kards have two experienced net minders in juniors Richard Robinson, a Secaucus native, and Kearny native Dominick Orrico. Both young men have manned the net for the Kardinals for the last three seasons and will share most of the duties in goal this season.
Robinson is the son of Cory Robinson, who was the head coach of the Hudson Catholic program when the Hawks won the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title in 2000. Robinson is currently the athletic director at Fair Lawn High.
“Those are the two starters who will share the bulk of the time in goal,” Firth said. “They’ve put in a lot of off-season time to get ready for this season.”
The future lies with sophomore Jack Logue and freshman Morgan Iachetta.
“Usually, we like to ease the newcomers in,” Firth said. “There is a developmental period to get used to the speed of high school. These guys represent our future. They’ve taken the reins and holding the fort.”
The Kardinals’ defensive unit also has some quality experience.
Senior John Maurin (Kearny native) is one of the Kards’ top defensemen.
“He’s pretty explosive,” Firth said. “He can play either forward or defense. He is skilled enough to play anywhere.”
Senior John Golon (North Arlington) is a solid defenseman.
“He’s more of a stay-at-home defenseman,” Firth said. “He’s a zone guy whose duty is to clear the front of the net. His job is to make sure everything is cleared.”
Senior Greg Drefko (Kearny) is a solid stay-at-home style defenseman.
“He is a good shot blocker who has a long reach,” Firth said.
Junior Sean Moloughney (Secaucus) is a physical player.
“He’s like our wrecking ball,” Firth said. “He’s a strong, physical force. He wanted to play defense with us and he’s been a force at defense.”
The Kardinals’ top line is comprised of all North Arlington natives, which is a total rarity. It just worked out that way, but it also helps that the three young men have familiarity with each other and a strong bond.
Senior Eddie Walters is one of the team’s captains and the center on the team’s top line. Walters scored 23 goals and had nine assists as the team’s top scorer last year.
“He’s our scoring leader in every scoring category,” Firth said. “He’s our leader through and through (Walters is also a captain). “He’s a very speedy skater who has a great shot. But he’s very much a team player first. He’s also a teacher out there with the younger kids. He’s constantly talking and helping his line mates. He’s just a coachable, good, solid kid.”
Freshman Matthew Golon is the left wing on the NA line, called “The Blue Line.”
“Matthew is a skilled guy who is a good student of the game,” Firth said. “He’s been able to take this all in stride.:
Senior Mike Paolazzi is a former defenseman who has become part of the Blue Line.
“Mike is a skilled guy, so we moved him up to play this year,” Firth said. “He’s a big, strong kid. I like having a bigger front line. We’re getting a good balance throughout. It’s just coincidental that they’re all from the same town, but they play with that North Arlington pride.”
The team’s second line, called the “Red Line” ironically features three kids who hail from Kearny.
Junior Owen O’Callaghan is the center of the “Red Line.”
“He’s a big, strong jack-of-all-trades,” Firth said. “He’s developed a nice shot and is doing a good job of drawing the puck in.”
Junior Conor MacConchie is the left wing.
“He’s done a lot of off-ice work in the offseason and it’s showed,” Firth said. “He’s come in much stronger this year.”
Freshman Owen Logue is the right wing on the Red Line. Owen is the younger brother of goalkeeper Jack.
“We put Owen on the same line with the other two and it’s worked well,” Firth said.
Other players who will get ice time include junior defenseman Jason Gyuro, who has impressed Firth with his improvement and scored the unofficial first goal of the varsity era when he tallied the team’s first goal in a scrimmage against High Point; freshman Joseph Drefko of Kearny; junior Nick Solinski of Kearny; sophomore Sam Francisco of Kearny; senior Bryan DeJesus, a transfer from Newark East Side who now resides in Kearny; sophomore Patrick Waters of Kearny and freshman Dan Alves of Kearny.
There’s one more player to mention on the squad. Sophomore forward Jacqueline Narucki has earned her spot amongst the boys on the varsity. This isn’t for show. Young Jacqueline had to bust her tail to make the varsity roster. She’s a skilled skater and good distributor.
When Jacqueline scores her first goal, there should be fireworks flying over Kearny Ave.
So the team is set, the squad which may read Kardinals and have a nice picture of the Kardinal across their chests, but they affectionately call themselves “KNAS,” for, you guessed it, Kearny, North Arlington and Secaucus. Everything is neatly in place.
“We’re ready to go,” Firth said.
There’s only one thing left to say: Drop the puck.
CAPTION
The Kearny/North Arlington/Secaucus co-operative program features nine players who hail from Kearny. Front row, from left, are Dan Alves, Owen Logue, Dominick Orrico, Jack Logue and Jacqueline Narucki. Back row, from left, are assistant coach Megan Neer, head coach Tim Firth, Conor MacConchie, Joseph Drefko, Nicholas Solinski, Patrick Waters, Owen O’Callaghan, Greg Drefko and Jason Gyuro. Photo by Jim Hague
The Kearny/North Arlington/Secaucus co-op hockey program’s top scoring line, fittingly called “The Blue Line,” all hail from the blue and white of North Arlington High School. From left are Matthew Golon, Eddie Walters and Mike Paolazzi. Photo by Jim Hague
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”