By Kim J. Harmon
By Kim J. Harmon
The plan to bring ice hockey to Newtown High School will get another shot next week when an organizational meeting of interested parents is held on Monday, March 12, at 7:30 pm, in the lecture fall at the high school.
The prospect of creating a team was raised last year (and approval from the Board of Education was secured), but delays with the construction of the new Danbury rink and problems with securing ice time at area rinks like Canterbury School and the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport scuttled the plan.
A joint application to create a co-op hockey team with Brookfield High School has already been submitted. If not enough skaters sign up from both schools (the minimum number would be 15, the ideal number closer to 25), then a co-op arrangement with Danbury High School may also be in the works.
Brookfield co-opped with Immaculate High School for the 2000-01 season, but Immaculate will have enough skaters next season to eliminate the need (according to the CIAC rules) for a co-op program.
âIt is important that interested parents attend this meeting,â said Mark Korotash, who is one of the parents spearheading the project, âso that we can plan whether or not we are going to have season. Scheduling must be done very shortly and we need to know the number of people who are committed to the plan.â
The Board of Education is not offering any funding of the team at this point, so the parents be responsible for that. Fundraising programs would help defray the costs of equipment and ice time, which can run as much as $200 an hour.
Letters were sent to 80 families and Mr Korotash hopes to get a nice response for the meeting.
âWeâre looking forward to it,â he said. âI hope our numbers will remain strong and that things will even pick up a little.â
Ken Cantore, a physical education teacher at the Newtown Middle School, has already agreed to coach the team. Mr Cantore played at Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge and went on to play at Southern Connecticut State University. According to Mr Korotash, he would be assisted by Paul Esposito.
The meeting is open to anyone interested in the hockey program, but if you canât attend please call Mr Korotash at home (426-9222) or at his office (792-5900) for further information.