ON THE BK BEAT: BOYS TEAMS LEARNING FROM THE QUIZ BEFORE THE TEST

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — There’s a reason the BK Selects boys teams value their membership in the Northeast Pack Hockey League.

 

While every team under the USA Hockey umbrella aspires to make the regular season a training ground for their state playoffs and — ideally — the Nationals, BK Selects believes its participation in the famously competitive NE Pack provides a unique opportunity to prepare for the must-win games at the end of winter.

 

And that goes regardless of whether they win or lose. While all four BK boys teams finished in the top half of the NE Pack standings in the regular season, no new BK banners were raised after the league’s playoff tournament the first weekend of February.

 

“It shows that playoff hockey is a little different, if you don’t show up with your best,” said Boys Program Director and 18U Head Coach David Arduin. “That’s why we value the NE Pack as a league. 

 

“In playoff hockey, it’s about moments. You can control the play, but you have to handle the moments.”

 

While winning an age division or two in the NE Pack would’ve been great, all the BK teams can be grateful they could experience a dress rehearsal of the kind of pressure they’ll experience on the first full weekend in March, when the New York state tournament arrives.

 

Arduin’s 18Us in particular have gone through some serious ups and downs over the course of the season. In the fall, BK’s oldest boys team  rattled off 14 straight victories and was riding high in the nationwide top 10, but they’ve battled through losing streaks of five and three games (twice) since the middle of December.

 

“We started off the season really good,” said the team’s leading scorer Matyáš Jonák (Plzen, Czechia). “It was looking like we were unstoppable. After we came back from Christmas break we didn’t start off well, but we are trying to find our way back and learn from the mistakes to get ready for States and earn our ticket to Nationals.”

 

Jonák, a second-year BK student-athlete, has already posted 67 points (19 goals, 48 assists) in 50 games, surpassing last season’s point total by 20 in 18 fewer games.

 

He credits “improved decision-making” with and without the puck for his marked improvements this year, and he said he’s striving to get better at some of the personal skills a team leader needs, now that he’s more comfortable with this level of competition. 

 

“This season also taught me a lot about the person I am and how I have to handle myself and the team in certain situations,” Jonák said. “Living the dorm experience has been different from what I was used to, so it took some time to adapt and learn how to take care of myself without any help from my parents, but once I adapted I started having so much fun.

 

“Playing high level hockey, competing against the best players in the nation and trying to win championships has been something I wanted to do all my life and BK gave me this opportunity. Developing as a player and a human being is something I will take with me to the next level.”

 

Fortunately for Jonák and the 18Us, there’s still time this year before the next level arrives — and still everything to play for. 

 

Since the team is ranked 18th in the nation, they will have to win the New York state championship to earn their way to Nationals in early April. The same goes for the 12th-ranked 16Us, who narrowly missed an NE Pack finals berth due to a loss in the final game of the round robin.

“I really liked the way we played for 2 1/2 games,” said Sr. Director of Boys Hockey and 16U Head Coach Brian Hills. “We talked about adversity before the (NE Pack playoffs) and you have to be ready to face it.

 

“They faced it well for a while, but we had another meeting about it before (winter) break,” Hills said. “When you get down a goal or two, you’ve got to be mentally prepared to fight back. Being on your toes. Making sure the next shift everyone’s ready to go and playing the right way.”

 

Hills is optimistic the team will rebound, if only because he feels the fellowship among the players is among the best he’s seen. This, despite the team welcoming nine BK newcomers into the fold last fall. 

 

“That’s a big part of it, you want to have guys who like each other,” Hills said. “They support each other and they’re a good group of kids.”

 

One of the 16U leaders has been Binghamton-raised forward Robbie Matson. He’s been better than a point-per-game player in his previous two seasons with BK Selects, and he’s kept up the pace this season by netting 33 goals and 20 assists in 48 games. 

 

His standout offensive skill paces a team that features 10 skaters who have scored at least 10 goals, plus a defenseman in Michael Bonkov (North Babylon, N.Y.) with nine goals and a team-best 33 assists. 

 

And yet, off-ice cohesion is mentioned as much (or more than) anything that’s happened on the ice.

 

“For me I definitely think our team culture is second to none,” Matson said. “We are one of the closest teams I've been on and it has been noticed by many. 

 

“I think especially going into States, having that bond pushes us to play the right way and work hard for each other. In playoff time, I believe this is a big factor for winning teams. Having a positive attitude within the team brings energy.”

 

BK’s two younger squads, the 15Os and the 14Us, don’t necessarily have to conquer New York to qualify for Nationals, as they’re ranked sixth and fifth, respectively.

 

But while they have at-large bids to fall back on if necessary, they’ll face the same test as their older BK brothers when the puck drops at States.

 

In the meantime, coaches will comb through the past few months to find the positives to reinforce, and the negatives to try to correct. And while they’re at it, hone in on the situational aspects of hockey — faceoffs, special teams, late-game execution — that can have an outsized impact when the games are at their most competitive. 

 

“It’s a body of work,” Arduin reminded. “These seasons are long: 65 games overall, 25 league games. There’s so many elements, but you have to sift out the positives. Say that, ‘This is our identity. This is what we strive towards.’

 

“The season’s not over. We have to identify those moments.”

 

When those pivotal moments arrive in the near future, it’s nice to know you can count on the teammate next to you to give all he’s got, because he cares about the success of the group.

 

“Living together and spending so much time makes that bond even closer,” Matson said. “I think this especially translates with the positive attitudes towards each other, motivating us to work harder.”