Weldon E Howitt High School - Hi Life Yearbook (Farmingdale, NY)

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EXPENSES “We don’t have enough money to even afford prac tices, so we just don't practice. It puts us at a disadvantage because the other teams can practice and we can’t. The only time we get to skate is at games' — Adam DiGirolamo, senior. “The school won't give us any money because they don't recognize us as a varsity sport. All the players have to buy their own equipment because we don't have any money in the treasury — Kevin Kiendle, junior. Back Row: Manager Denis O’Connor. Neil Cappadona. Mike Fallen, Dan Collins. Captain Al Barth. Richard Alsis, Assistant Captain John O’Connor. Second Row: Coach Paul Markson. Tom DeSantis. Gary Gordon. Roger Lavan. John Booth. Kevin Ryan. Assistant Coach Ray Kiendle. Front Row: Joe DeFlorio. George Bethancourt. Assistant Captain Kevin Kiendle. Charlie May. Thomas Zarek, Adam DiGrolamo. 136

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Left: Reaching for a rebound, Pete Below: Surrounded by Berner Constandy fights off the Berner Bisons, Dave Palmer drives for a players. lay-up. Above: Open man Jim O’Brien takes Above: Despite a strong defense, an outside jump shot. Greg Wildes makes his move. INEXPERIENCED We had a lot of potential on this team, but a major problem we had was organizing this potential. All the players were essentially ‘good’ but we had to plan it so that the individual talents could work together” — Dave Macagnone, senior. The attitude was there; we always had a good mental attitude toward the teams we played, and in every game we played our hearts out. We had a very young team this year, so in the future Farmingdale will have a great team because the guys will have had the experience” — Pete Constandy, senior. We had to learn as each game went on; it wasn't like last year where everyone was experienced. We just kept working hard, which will make for a better team next season” — Dave Palmer, senior. At times we played good and were hard to beat, but we were too inconsistent. Sometimes we lost to teams that we should have beaten — Jim O'Brien, senior. 135

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Left: Adam Digiralamo ties up Deer Park defender as goalie looks on. Hockey Team Heats up Ice Early on Sunday mon- rings, while most people are just waking up. Al Barth, Joe DeFlorio, and other members of the Farm- ingdale hockey team are al- ready assembled at the Racquet and Rink Arena. As a handful of sleepy par- ents look on, the team prac- tices on the ice, awaiting the arrival of its opponents. Many students admit that they never knew the school had a hockey team. The team’s lack of recognition is largely due to “money and the administration,” as manager Denis O’Connor asserted. Hockey is by far the most expensive high school sport as each player's equipment costs over 400 dollars and ice time alone costs 125 dollars an hour. The district refuses to pay for such costs, but more importantly, the administration re- nounces any association bestween the school and the team because of the violent nature of the sport. “They think it’s a violent sport because fights are known to break out at games. Because of this they refuse to publicize the games in school, O’Connor stated. “The lack of fan support hurts our team because the other schools come and cheer their guys. Although hockey is often fierce, it is no more violent than football or lacrosse. Hockey players are better equipped to withstand stick slashes and checks from other players as compared to the lacrosse players who have little or no protection. Football players sustain more than twice the num- ber of injuries during the regular season than do hockey players. Yet both la- crosse and football are ac- credited high school sports while hockey receives only criticism. Victory has always come easy for the hockey team due to its skill and dedica- tion. They will continue to play and win whether or not the school supports them, for they are determined to be the best. Above Middle: John Vatter faces Above Kevin Kiendle. Farmingdale off against Deer Park. goalie, puts the stick to a Division 137 High slapshot.