This weekend, the 8th grade and under, 11th Grade and under, Alumni Gold and Alumni Silver Men of Equinunk traveled to Skate Safe America in Old Bethpage, Long Island to play in the 2022 Camp Cup Roller Hockey Tournament.  

The Camp Cup is a roller hockey tournament for ONLY current and former campers and counselors.  The 2022 Camp Cup featured 28 teams, over 4 divisions, with 10 camps being represented.

Our 8th grade and under team was hungry to get started and to redeem themselves after the 2020 tournament.  In 2020, the team was constructed of 5th and 6th graders that were competing against 7th and 8th graders.  Now that they are older, they were determined to hoist the trophy.  

During the round-robin, Equinunk would faceoff against Pontiac, Wah-Nee and Timber Lake.  Equinunk defeated Pontiac 6-5 behind a 4 goal performance by Ryan Camhi and a few nice assists from Alex Tepper and Noah Storch, beat Wah-Nee 9-4 behind a 6 goal performance from Asher DePierro and unfortunately fell to Timber Lake 5-4.  With the loss to Timber Lake, Equinunk clinched the 3rd seed and a Quarter-Final rematch against Wah-Nee.  

It took a while for the boys to wake up in the early morning showdown, but Jacob Fisher and Ethan Levinsohn scored 4 unanswered goals to defeat Wah-Nee 9-4.  The win against Wah-Nee meant Equinunk would take on Timber Lake in the Semi-Finals and Equinunk was ready for the rematch.  They used the round-robin loss as fuel for their fire!  Equinunk jumped out to a 6-0 lead with goals from Ryan Camhi, Asher DePierro, Brayden Gershon and Jacob Fisher.  Timber Lake made a late push, but Equinunk was able to seal the deal and move on to the Final to take on Lokanda who possessed the high scorer of the tournament.  Coach Dino Virone, came up with a great game plan to shut down Lokandas leading scorer and Equinunk defeated Lokanda 8-3!  Jacob Fisher netted 4 goals in the Finals and Equinunk was crowned the 2022 8th Grade and under Camp Cup Champions!

Asher Hirsch and Ethan Levinsohn won the tournament’s Co-Most Valuable Goalie with the best combined save percentage and won a CCM prize pack.  Jacob Fisher took home MVP honors and won a set of chassis from Marsblade.

The 11th grade and under team had been looking forward to the Camp Cup ever since the summer.  Upper Seniors Tobey Hirsch and Jack Rabinowitz wanted to make sure that they went out on top and won their last hockey tournament as campers. Equinunk’s 11th grade and under team would take on Pontiac, Tyler Hill and Wah-Nee in the round-robin.  Equinunk defeated Pontiac 9-1 in a total team effort with goals from Robo, Jesse Goldstein, Ethan Blansky, Noah Janowitz, Justin Snaider, Jacob Fisher and Brady Lichtenstein.  Andrew Brotman, who was the Equinunk netminder, even chipped in with an assist!

Equinunk would then go on to defeat Tyler Hill 4-3 and Wah-Nee 7-3 with Ethan Hoodack scoring a goal in his Camp Cup debut!  With a 3-0 round-robin record, Equinunk clinched the 2nd seed and first-round bye.

Equinunk found themselves playing Lokanda in the semi-finals.  Some considered Lokanda as the early favorites to win the 11th grade division.  Equinunk knew that and with another great team effort, defeated Lokanda 8-3 behind a hat-trick from Justin Snaider.

With Timber Lake defeating Wah-Nee in the other semi-final, the 11th grade and under Final was set – Equinunk vs. Timber Lake.  One of the best camp hockey rivalries.  You could feel the intensity from warm-ups and Equinunk was ready.  Timber Lake jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but that didn’t phase the boys in Red and Gray.  Coaches Dino Virone and Dylan Goodman made some early adjustments and Equinunk scored 7 straight goals behind Sage Gershon, Ethan Blansky, Tobey Hirsch, Jack Rabinowitz and another hat-trick from Justin Snaider.

The 11th grade and under team defeated Timber Lake 7-1 in a heated final bringing the cup back to senior row!  Andrew Brotman won Most Valuable Goaltender with the best save percentage winning the CCM prize pack and Justin Snaider won tournament MVP and took home the Marsblade chassis.

One of the great parts of the Camp Cup is the alumni division.  The tournament has both an Alumni Gold and Alumni Silver division.  Our Alumni Silver team consisted of current counselors, Harrison Simon and Justin Green.  The Equinunk Red Alumni Silver team had a strong round-robin performance defeating Timber Lake Orange 3-1, Lokanda Black 5-2 and Wayne 5-4.  Even with a 3-0 record, Equinunk lost out on the first-round bye because of goal differential.  They found themselves in a rematch with the Timber Lake Orange team.  Unfortunately, the Equinunk Red team found themselves a little short-handed for the Quarter Final game and fell to TLC Orange.

However, there was a different story with the Alumni Gold Equinunk Gray team!  Our Alumni Gold team has won the Camp Cup all 7 years the tournament has existed.  With Equinunk sitting “High Up on the Mountain” teams were coming for us!  In the first round-robin game, Equinunk found themselves in a nailbiter with Wah-Nee White.  Equinunk was up 2-1 with under a minute left to go.  Wah-Nee White tied the game with 0.1 seconds remaining in regulation to force a shootout!  The stands were packed and all eyes were on this game.  The shootout went to the 7th round where Jonny Lazarus scored the deciding goal to give Equinunk the win!

Our alumni team continued their dynasty by defeating Lokanda Red 5-2 with a hat trick from Nolan Aibel and beat Timber Lake Black 7-1 with goals from Jeff Kotcher, Sam Sherman, Jonny Lazarus and a hat trick from Andrew Fox.

The Equinunk men found themselves with a first-round bye as the number 1 seed of the Alumni Gold division and would end up having a rematch against Lokanda Red in the Semi-Finals.  Lokanda Red started the game strong, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead.  Lokanda Red had the better of the scoring chances, but Bryan Rubin stood on his head making a few tremendous saves.  With time winding down in the first period, Sam Sherman flew down the left-wing side and blasted a slap shot past the Lokanda goaltender.  That was the goal Equinunk needed.  The Kotcher brothers (Brett and Jeff) combined for the next 2 goals for Equinunk, followed by a goal from Jake Sontag and a hat trick from Nolan Aibel.  Equinunk would go on to win 8-2 and would see Wah-Nee Black in the Final.

Wah-Nee Black and Equinunk have met in the Alumni Gold Camp Cup Final 3 times in the past and the Wah-Nee goalie has always given the boys fits!  However, this was a different year with the added firepower of Nolan Aibel and Jonny Lazarus.  Aibel, Lazarus and linemate Andrew Fox dominated the first period combining for 9 points behind yet another hat trick from Aibel.  Equinunk defeated Wah-Nee 6-1 and defended their Camp Cup title for a record 8th year in a row!

Even after not strapping on the pads for 3 years, Equinunk’s Bryan Rubin, won Most Valuable Goaltender with a .910 save percentage while making sure everyone still knew that “RUBIN IS A WALL!”  Nolan Aibel won tournament MVP and took home a set of Marsblade chassis.

At the conclusion of the 62 games that were played in the 2022 Camp Cup, Equinunk brought back 3 championship trophies, everyone played and of course, “…AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!”

*** Special thank-yous go out to CE Alum Brett and Jeff Kotcher for organizing another fabulous Camp Cup. This winter event is a special chance for hundreds of campers, staff and alumni to enjoy some hockey with their camp friends. For all 10 camps that are represented, we could not be more thankful for what the Kotchers have created. A big thanks goes out to all of the campers, parents, staff members and alumni who came out to show their support over the weekend!