Season in Review: A Look Back at the Ice Cats' Progress

For the senior-laden Mount Pleasant Ice Cats, the 2010-2011 season was one to remember.

“Finishing 14-5-3, which included a 10 game winning streak in the middle of the season is something this group of seniors have never come close to,” the ice hockey squad's Head Coach Erik Kallio said.

Mount Pleasant was just another easy team on every school’s schedule until this season.

“It has been a while since anyone was worried about playing Mount Pleasant,” Kallio wrote in an e-mail. “I think by the end of the season, teams were definitely concerned to play us."

A 2-2 tie over Horace Greeley Nov. 19 prompted the Ice Cats to improve.

“Looking back on it, I think it helped us as we realized we were going to have to work to win games and have a successful season,” Kallio reflected.

“Nothing is handed to you,” he said. “We were able to use that game as a reminder to us what happens when we get complacent and do not play our style."

Sure enough, after a 4-1 loss at Carmel on Nov. 21, and 1-1 overtime tie against the visiting Fox Lane Foxes, the Ice Cats captured some wins against visiting Sleepy Hollow (7-2, Dec. 3)  and Pawling (3-0, Trinity-Pawling Dec. 14) before winning their next 10 consecutive games in a row.

"The credit this season needs to go to the senior class first," Kallio said. "With a large senior class [11 players], it can sometimes be tough to have everyone on the same page," he said. "I think they did a great job of setting a good example for all the younger players, going forward our junior class has a great example of how to lead a team to success."

Brampol, along with Defenseman Connor Dearborn, Forward Matt Maleska, Forward Anthony Casario, Defenseman Captain Brendan Marinelli, Forward Captain Sam Kolbovsky, Forward Joy Li, Defenseman Brad Fox, Forward Brandon Metzger, Forward Captain Joe Presta and Defenseman Adam Simon made up the Ice Cats' 11 seniors.

“We had a lot of players step up this season and have career years,” Kallio said.

“It has to start with Brendan Marinelli who has been a defenseman all his life, but he was asked to move to forward this season and he did an amazing job,” he said of Marinelli’s work ethic. “The energy he brought every day was something our team fed off.”   

Junior Forwards Justin Cassinelli and Alex Demeropoulis were also solid contributors with “great scoring production game in and game out."

“They will be counted on next season to build upon the success they had this season,” Kallio said.

Fox, Matt Cassinelli and Dearborn completed the Ice Cats defense.

“[They] all played a lot of minutes and improved tremendously as the season progressed,” he said.

Regrardless of defense and the ability to slide goals past the net, goaltending is essential.

“No matter how talented a team is, it always comes to the goaltender to determine exactly how successful of a season you will have. Brandon Jampol and Lucien Orza both had a great season and the team was confident with whoever was in net on any given night,” he said of his two goal tenders crucial play. “They always came up with big saves when we needed them.”

The Ice Cats season came to a disappointing end in a section one playoff contest at Mahopac on February 22 (2-1), but plenty of optimism remains for next season.

“It was a tough way to end the season against Mahopac, as no one felt we played our best game,” Kallio said. “But the credit has to go to Mahopac as they are a great team and they made us pay for our mistakes in the game," referring to the rough first quarter.

“However, like the rest of the season our team did not give up and we had some good chances, but falling behind to a good team like Mahopac is never a recipe for success,” Kallio said. “In the end, as disappointed as we were with the last result, our team was very proud of their season and the steps we made to improve."