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Wolves Were Hungry For The Title

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY nmurray@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

LITHIA - When the season began last fall, new Newsome High School hockey coach Dan Rondeau knew something had to change.

"Our theme this year was to be positive with each other," Rondeau said. "Compliment your teammates. No longer are there arguments allowed on the bench or on the ice about a bad pass or bad shift or a bad goal. That all had to end."

When it ended, so did the ending to the Wolves' season. Newsome won its first state title as it defeated West Boca 6-5 in the title game of the Florida State Pure Division II Championship in Sunrise on March 22.

For the players who had never won a game at the state championship in two previous appearances, the transformation was complete.

"I was overwhelmed with happiness and excitement," forward Brendan Rhoney said. "It's the third year in a row our team's been to states, and it was a big deal. With it being my senior year, I really couldn't believe it was happening."

Rhoney scored a hat trick in the championship game as he worked on a line with Christian Bonser and Will McKenna, who added three assists.

"I'm not sure exactly even how I pulled it off," Rhoney said. "It's probably one of the greatest games I've played in my career as a hockey player, and it was perfect timing. I had a lot of help from my line mates, and it just worked that game."

Things hadn't started quite as well for the Wolves. In their opening game, they lost 4-1 to St. Thomas Aquinas. Rondeau said the loss was a tough one to take.

"I did hear the grumbling," Rondeau said. "Some of the players, after the first night we lost 4-1 to a pretty young team, and you hear, 'This is what happens every year, we come down here and can't get it together, we don't know what's going on.' What really changed it was when we made it" to the semifinals.

A win against Parkland Douglas and a tie with Orlando University earned the Wolves enough points to advance to the semifinals, and a change of location.
Rondeau thought going from a public rink in Lake Worth to the BankAtlantic Center, home of the Florida Panthers, would make a difference.

"My thing was for this team was if we can get to the BankAtlantic Center, if we can get these kids into that hockey rink, things are going to change. And it did," Rondeau said.

"The minute we went into the BankAtlantic Center, an NHL building, we took the elevator downstairs to the locker rooms, and we get dressed in a beautiful locker room, and we come out through a tunnel and you're stepping onto the Panthers' home hockey rink.

"You're hoping there's 18,000 people there, but you see the big scoreboard over your head, and it's an amazing feeling. I didn't even play the game, and it was thrill to coach on that bench where the NHL players sit, where the NHL coaches coach."

While Rhoney, McKenna and Bonser starred in the final, it was the line of Mikey Semago, Tom Kowalski and Scott Vargas that made the difference against Parkland Douglas as goaltender James Tzilvelis made that line's two first-period goals stand up in a 2-1 win.

The Wolves didn't get off to as fast a start against West Boca, though, falling behind 2-0 midway through the first period. It was then that the Wolves' togetherness came through for them.

"Being down 2-0 in the first period, you could just feel it slipping away," Rondeau said. "You go, come on, this can't happen. I think Coach Don Kiernan or maybe a player said, 'We're not going to let this team beat us this easy. We've gone too far, it's our fifth game in under 48 hours, we're not going home like this.' And it just started to happen."

The Wolves quickly tied the game with a pair of goals 14 seconds apart, and Rhoney scored his first to give the Wolves a 3-2 lead.

"We were telling each other to stay focused," Rhoney said, "keep our heads in the game, but to go out and really enjoy ourselves, have fun, because it was a great experience playing in the Panthers' arena and on a professional sheet of ice. Being in that arena made things that much more special and meant that much more to us as a group. It just pushed ourselves to really want that win."
West Boca hit back early in the second period, taking a 4-3 lead, but two goals late in the period by Rhoney and Semago put the Wolves back on top for good.

As the Wolves defense clamped down on West Boca's forwards, Rhoney completed his hat trick for a 6-4 lead with 10:34 to play in the game.
West Boca pulled one goal back with 22 seconds to play, but Newsome controlled the following faceoff and killed the remaining time on the clock.
Rondeau said the way the team played and worked together during the championship game showed him how far they had come this season.

"For Newsome hockey to play at a competitive level at the state championships, we had to get along," Rondeau said. "The boys had to play together, and had to get along, and by the end of the season, the state championship game, the kids were laughing, they were having fun, there were great passes made and great comments made.

"It may take a week before we come back to earth."

Reporter Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243

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