By Kim J. Harmon

In just three months from now, the puck is going to drop on the Newtown High School hockey team. That’s right, with the official – and long awaited – opening of NHL Skate at Danbury earlier this year, the Newtown will now suit up its first-ever hockey team.

The new rink is located at the crux of Delay Street, Liberty Street and Independence Way in Danbury, just a couple of minutes off I-84 at Exit 5, and will be home for the Newtown Nighthawks for about seven or eight games of a 15- to 16-game schedule this winter.

The program has been waiting in the wings for some time now, waiting for the moment when the new rink was officially opened. Newtown could have been ready to play last winter, but delays in the actual purchase of the rink put the Nighthawks’ plans on hold.

The Board of Education – as well as Newtown High School principal Bill Manfredonia and athletic director Gregg Simon – were agreeable to the plan to put together a new hockey team, but it was with the stipulation that the parents of the players would be footing the bill for the coaches, ice time, equipment, referees, insurance and other costs . . . at least for the time being.

But that’s okay.

“There is definitely a nice feel for it,” said Jerry Kass, one of the many parents who spearheaded the effort to put the team together. “There seems to be a lot of interest.”

There is so much interest that the team’s roster for the 2001-02 season is already pretty full with 22 skaters. In fact, the captains – Jason Glander, Jason Petrasanta and Sean Speer – have already been selected.

Ken Kantor and Paul Esposito, teachers at the Newtown Middle School, will coach.

About half – if not exactly half – of the Nighthawks’ roster will be comprised of freshmen. But that’s okay, too, because most of the kids have been playing together for years.

“There is a core group of about 15 kids who have been skating for four, five or six years on some pretty good teams,” said Mr Kass. “The seniors have been real leaders and real enthusiastic about this, too. The kids love the sport and have made the commitment.”

So, when winter rolls around, the ‘Hawks will be ready.

“We’re real happy,” said Petrasanta. “We have been waiting for this a long time.”

And they are not going to let the opportunity go to waste. The team has dry land training – usually at the Blue & Gold Stadium – to get in better physical shape and then gets on the ice to practice skating drills. The team will also participate in a Brewster fall ice hockey league to get their first licks in preparation for the new season.

The team has skill.

And heart.

“I’m only a second-year skater,” said Petrasanta, “and I have to work 10 times harder to catch up to some of these guys. Jason and Sean are really good players.”

What has been the bane of high school hockey teams in the past, too, is the ungodly hours in which they are forced to practice. Because of the high demand for ice time at places like the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport or Canterbury School in New Milford, many teams are forced to practice in the very early hours of the morning or late at night.

Not the ‘Hawks. They will get to practice at 4 pm.

“We were very lucky that way,” said Mr Kass. “The nice thing is, Kevin McCormick (of NHL Skate at Danbury) has been very cooperative and very supportive of the program.”

All that’s left now is to begin raising money to offset the costs that will arise during the season. The equipment is just one of the things that take it’s toll – there is also the cost of the coaches, the cost of the ice time for practices and games, the referees, the insurances and many other items that all begin to add up

According to Petrasanta, the team is trying to raise another $800 per player by the start of the season.

Fundraising is going to start on Sunday, September 23, when the Newtown Car Wash will offer half of its proceeds for the day to the Newtown hockey team. And half of those proceeds will be donated by the hockey program to the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Then there will be a team tag sale in October on the lawn at the Newtown Middle School.

The team will also be accepting donations from anyone wishing to contribute. Just make out checks to the Friends of Newtown High School Ice Hockey and mail them to the Newtown High School athletic department.

Just three months now – the puck is going to drop.