Special Hockey Classic Summary - Saturday, 11/8/25

After some scheduling revisions for the A players, the Dare Devils only had two games on the slate on Saturday at the Special Hockey National Championship Tournament at the Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ. The NJDD Black took on the East Coast Jumbos C team at 10am and the NJDD White squared off against the talented East Coast Jumbos B team at 11:15am. Superstar goalie Matty Brighton, Liam Smith, James Cooney and Shea Passikoff all pulled double duty by skating in both of this morning's games. In addition to several players putting in the extra effort, so did Coach Myles. Coach Myles ran practice at Codey this morning for the skaters not participating in the tournament. Thanks for the dedication to the team Coach Myles!

After all of the games on Saturday, the tournament host held a cookout in front of the arena. The event commenced with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem (sung by a player from the Long Island Blues) and a bagpiper playing God Bless America. In addition to the great food and opening ceremony, the players had the opportunity to meet Devils great Bruce Driver, play in the Devils interactive trailer and to participate in a raffle for signed Devils memorabilia. The players were also given commemorative Johnny Gaudreau (aka Johnny Hockey) and Matthew Gaudreau Team USA jerseys. In a show of sportsmanship, the players from every team gathered together for a tournament photo wearing their new swag.

Below is a summary of the game action from Saturday.

Saturday, 11/8 - NJDD Black vs. East Coast Jumbos C - 10am - Rink 3:

The Dare Devils Black squad ran two lines in the early game against the East Coast Jumbos. The Dare Devils came ready to play, taking an early lead when Shea Passikoff broke through the defense and put a shot into the back of the net on the goalies low blocker side. After the opening goal, the Dare Devils kept the pressure on and were able to keep the ice tilted towards the Jumbos end for the majority of the game and ultimately came out victorious. Matty Brighton was spectacular, as usual, but the star of the game was Henry Barrios. Picking up where he left off after last Saturday's scrimmage, Barrios was hungry on pucks all game long and had a major impact on both the defensive and offensive ends of the ice. Also playing strong defensive games were Andrew Katz, who made a key block in front of the Dare Devils net, Michael Thampoe, James Cooney, Madison Mitchell, Jake Simon and Kevin Plunkett. Tony He continued his precipitous rise and had several scoring chances throughout the game. The offense was paced by Sean Glassett (2 goals), Shea Passikoff (2 goals), Henry Barrios (1 goal, 1 assist), Jake Simon (2 assists), Liam Smith (1 goal), Tony He (1 goal) and Mike Thampoe (1 assist).

Saturday, 11/8 - NJDD White vs. East Coast Jumbos B - 11:15am - Rink 3:

While the NJDD Black squad found some success against the East Coast Jumbos C team, the NJDD White squad was not as lucky in the late morning game against the juggernaut Jumbos B outfit. The Jumbos played with structure in both the offensive and defensive zones, seamlessly threading the needle with passes that forced the Dare Devils to chase the puck all game long. When the Dare Devils did find opportunities to break through and put shots on the Jumbos net, the goalie tandem from Boston easily thwarted all of the NJ chances. Patrick Hung, Patrick Law, Shea Passikoff, Alfonso Mosca and Micayla Shields all had opportunities to score but could not find a way to get a puck past the Jumbos netminders. If not for the heroics of superstar goalie Matty Brighton, this would have been a mercy rule game. The official scorer couldn't keep up and lost track of the shot count, but Matty must've made over 100 saves over the course of the game. Solid defensive efforts were put in by Patrick Hung, Connor Hung, Danny Giger, Owen Silverstein, James Cooney, Andrew Piccirillo, Ryan Kientz, Vinny Racamato, Andrew DePiero, Aaron Quintana and Liam Smith. It was inspiring to see the puck movement displayed by the Jumbos and the Dare Devils vowed to put in the necessary work over the course of the season to up their level of play to be able to compete with the Jumbos in the future.