The Lakeland Regional High School co-op ice hockey team had a rocky start, but with a push and motivation from teammates and new coach Larry Mahurter, the boys had a very captivating season. Ending off with a final record of 11-16-1, the LRHS hockey team has proven themselves to be extraordinary.

The team, which is made up of players from Waldwick, Hawthorne, and LRHS, was at the bottom of the barrel at the start of the season. The first word that comes to mind to people all around Passaic County when describing the team is “underdog.” The boys themselves knew it too, but that was just more motivation to power through and prove their worth.

Shortly after a close called win during overtime against Morris Knolls-Hills in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s State Tournament (NJSIAA) for the North, Public Co-Op division, senior Ryan Giordano has said in an interview with NJ.com, “We go into every game as an underdog… if we lose, we were supposed to lose… we’re just coming out here with the go, go, go mentality… [and] we just find ways to win.”

The start of the season brought some disappointing moments for the team. With a slew of losses against West Milford, Clifton, Kinnelon, Morris Knolls, Nutley, Wayne Hills twice, Ramapo, and Ramsey, the team knew that there were things that needed to be worked on. It quickly showed how the players came together when watching the team play in their tournaments.

Sophomores Kyle Allison and Kyle Puzio both agreed that Lakeland “had made one of the splashiest moves of the offseason by hiring on of the state’s all-time winningest coaches.” Coach Mahurter is noted as one of the biggest advantages that the team had. To add, having great team captains, learning ice discipline, and maintaining nonstop practices combined with hard work were some of the other big reasons for how the LRHS ice hockey team was able to show their strength and what they bring to the table.

This was evident after a few tough games against their rivals, West Milford. Entering the Passaic County Tournament seeded fifth, the Lancers faced West Milford for a third time. This left a lot of uncertainty about how the game went as history had them at a loss and tie against the Highlanders. With lots of back and forth scoring between both teams, both sides of the crowd were left on the edge of their seats while LRHS came out on top with a winning score of 7-6, driving Lakeland into the semifinals for counties.

Although LRHS had brought the strong energy into the semifinal round of counties, the team was taken out of the tournament by the Passaic Tech hockey team with a score of 6-1.

Moving into Big North Silver Cup against the fifth seed, River Dell, the Lancers, seeded fifth, went in with a spark of hope after beating them 9-4 in the past. However, shortly after the start, Lakeland was left trailing behind River Dell until the last few minutes by 3-0. Swift thinking brought LRHS and River Dell to a tie, 3-3, which meant that there would be overtime. Not wanting to stay long, within 2 minutes of overtime, Giordano, assisted by Lakeland senior Sami Essabbar and Waldwick High School senior Derrick Rosato, scored, leaving the ice proudly with a final score of 4-3. LRHS hockey team was then pitted up against Wayne Hills in the semifinals of the tournament.

A truly uplifting moment for the team was their big win, 4-0, against Wayne Hills, who was being led by past LRHS head coach, Nick Crouch. To some players, like Allison and Puzio, that was the most memorable moment of the season: beating their old coach in a complete shutout against Wayne, who they lost after to twice before.

Once more, the LRHS hockey team met up with West Milford in the final round of the Silver Cup tournament. With both teams coming in hot with nonstop scoring in every period, LRHS took a hit from West Milford and lost in the Silver Cup tournament finals. Having to watch West Milford win against Lakeland again and walk off the ice with the Silver Cup trophy was a tough sight to see for players and fans alike.

But being brought down only gave the team more motivation to pull through and show off their magic on the rink.

Joe Foody, a junior from Waldwick that is part of the LRHS co-op, was quoted telling NJ.com that the North NJSIAA Co-op Ice Hockey tournament for the that “we had nothing to lose, They ranked us lower than what we would have liked, and we wish we were higher, but they put us here. So now we just have to prove to them that we’re not a 15 seed.”

The LRHS hockey team was set up to play against Ramsey, second seed, and a team that they had already lost twice to in games before. It was a shock when the Lancers beat Ramsey with a score of 3-2.

Lakeland arrived with a bang following up on their last Cinderella run and continued into the quarterfinal round against No. 10 seed Morris Knolls. With LRHS staying strong in the first and second periods, Morris Knolls came back into the game after numerous goals were waved off by referees, tying up the game 2-2. Breaths were caught and during overtime, the final point was scored for Lakeland, which brought the team into the semifinals and back up against West Milford (No. 11 seed).

For the last and final time of the season, the Lancers played West Milford. Both teams gave it their best and put everything that they could into the game, but West Milford once again bested LRHS, ending the season in the NJSIAA tournament.

Major achievements were made during the season: Giordano got 100 career points and Essabbar committed to the Ramapo College hockey team for the 2025-2026 season.

The LRHS ice hockey team proved themselves and showed off all that they could on the ice. Passion and endurance were constantly shown throughout every game and it boosted the players’ drive for wins.