Peconic Wildcats 10U Team Enjoys Home-Opening Win at Buckskill, Then Plays at the Prudential Center

It was a busy weekend for the 10-and-under Peconic Wildcats hockey team.

After defeating the PAL Silver Nights, 7-5, in their home opener at Buckskill Winter Club on Saturday morning, most of the Wildcats teams, 8U to 12U, hopped on a bus Sunday morning and traveled to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, home of the New Jersey Devils, where they each played a game.

But the focus of the weekend was the 10U team’s victory Saturday morning, as it was a sign of how far that particular team has come in about a year. The best the team did last season against the same team was a 12-0 loss in about three or four games, head coach Jason Craig said.

“So we’ve improved a lot, or they got worse,” he said, with a chuckle. “I think we’ve improved.”

Craig appreciated the play of both of his goalies who split time in the net, Billy “The Kid” Madden, who hails from Center Moriches, and Gabe Sorocky of Riverhead. Madden was playing in just his second game of the season with the club and came up with some big stops in the first half of the game. Sarocky stopped a breakaway to keep the Wildcats’ 6-5 victory intact before they went down and scored an insurance goal to ice the game.

Craig also said that another new pair of players, Jake Rocco and James Petrocelli, both of Smithtown, each scored a goal and had nice games overall with both finding the back of the net.

Although they were undefeated as of Tuesday morning with a 7-0 record in Long Island Amateur Hockey League Tier-III games, the 10U team has played about 20 games so far this season through various tournaments and showcases. But Saturday morning was considered their true first home game at Buckskill, with half the team or so hailing from the South Fork. Now that the weather will be colder over the next few months, the team will be able play the majority of its games at home, split between both Buckskill and the Southampton Ice Rink on County Road 39. The 10U team is off until the first weekend in January, when they will pick things back up and have home games every weekend through February.

The 10U Wildcats currently sit in second place in their league behind a team from The Rinx in Hauppauge. Both teams are undefeated in league play, but did play each other in a tournament two weekends ago, when the Wildcats lost a pair of closely contested one-goal games. They will play them three times in the next month, and are hoping to turn the tide in those games. The top four teams in the league make the playoffs, which is a goal for the team.

“Last year, we took our licks as a first-year team,” Craig said. “This year, we’re trying to make people notice us. We’re surprising a lot of teams by how hard we’re competing and by the fact that we’re undefeated in league play.”

The Wildcats are a part of the Peconic Hockey Foundation, an organization based out of Wading River that aims to grow the “culture of hockey by helping to offset the cost of participation and to create more opportunity to families who want to play hockey,” through scholarships, training and other programs.

Last year, the program had 8U, 10U and 12U clubs, with plans for adding both 14U and 16U clubs for this season, which they did. The players hail primarily from across the South Fork, with some players from up-island, and even some families from New York City.