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Skylands Kings win Atlantic District championship

| 07 Apr 2015 | 12:19
    Back row, from left, Coach Pete Ladka, Evan Brown, Aidan Garabed, Drew Buchanan, Mike Sutera, Coach Jeff Waitze, and Coach Scott Sutera; middle row, from left: Brady Waitze, Ryan Remick, Chris Kosco, TJ Santaita, Cole Brennan, John Cielo, Alex Dupuis, Ayden Steinbach, Ryan Cielo, Doug Smith; front row, from left, Ethan Ladka and Ozzie DeLuca.
    Back row, from left, Coach Pete Ladka, Evan Brown, Aidan Garabed, Drew Buchanan, Mike Sutera, Coach Jeff Waitze, and Coach Scott Sutera; middle row, from left: Brady Waitze, Ryan Remick, Chris Kosco, TJ Santaita, Cole Brennan, John Cielo, Alex Dupuis, Ayden Steinbach, Ryan Cielo, Doug Smith; front row, from left, Ethan Ladka and Ozzie DeLuca.

STOCKHOLM — The Skylands Kings PeeWee 12-and-younger, AA Team, made up of ice hockey players from Warwick, Vernon, West Milford, Sparta, Hardyston, Lafayette, Jefferson, and Kinnelon, won the prestigious Atlantic District Ice Hockey Championship on Sunday, March 15, at Mennen Arena in Morristown.

The team qualified for the district tournament by winning the NJYHL PeeWee AA Division in February.

At the district tournament, the team faced the three best teams from the Delaware Valley League. The Kings won 3-1 against the Palmyra Black Knights (ranked 16th in the country at the time), 5-0 against the Grundy Senators, but they lost, 5-4, against the Lancaster Firebirds. With the one loss they qualified as the second seed for the championship game. In the championship game, they got a chance to redeem themselves as they faced the Lancaster Firebirds again.

The Kings trailed the Firebirds most of the game, but went ahead 3-2 with a few minutes left in the game and skated to victory.