Youth Hockey Players End Season, Meet Champion

Editor's Note: This story was written and submitted by Dan Rice, a member of the Long Valley-Chester-Mendham Wolfpack Board.

The Long Valley-Chester-Mendham Wolfpack officially ended their 2010/2011-season on Sunday, May 15 with a large banquet held at the Indoor Sports Pavilion in Randolph. The highlight of the event was a special appearance by former New Jersey Devils defenseman and current MSG Network host Ken Daneyko, winner of three Stanley Cups.

Daneyko spoke to the crowd of over three hundred players and family members about his time in recreation hockey as well as in the National Hockey League.  He told stories of his youth in Western Canada as well as recalling the day he was picked by the New Jersey Devils.  A proud resident of New Jersey for over twenty years, his message to the group of players, ranging from pre-Kindergarten to the eighth grade, was “to never give up on your dreams.”

The Wolfpack is a not-for-profit recreation hockey team that is made up of boys and girls from five Western Morris County towns (Long Valley, Chester Township & Borough and Mendham Township & Borough).  Last season they played in the Morris County Youth Hockey League, fielding multiple teams in the Mites, Squirts and Pee Wee Divisions.  With each player getting sixty to seventy-five hours of ice time during the season, the Wolfpack is the only hockey team in the five towns to compete with fifteen other Morris County teams to be the best at each level.

With over one hundred players enrolled each year, Wolfpack President Steve Mosser hopes the appearance of Daneyko will encourage more children to play hockey and join the club.  “It is great for these kids to see someone as successful as Daneyko talk about playing hockey just like them at this age!”  Registration for the upcoming 2011/2012 season can be done on the club’s website, www.wolfpackicehockey.com, through the end of the month.

After talking to the group, Daneyko sat at table and signed pictures, jerseys and just about anything handed to him by the long line of young players.  He also took time to pose for several pictures.