Breakaway Merges Hockey Programs

The Breakaway Ice Center  has announced it has  has merged its  New England Moose squirts, peewees and bantams with the Red Ranger teams of the same age levels.

The combined teams will use the Red Ranger name. Along with the name change has come a league affiliation change for the former Moose squads. The teams will be playing in the New England Hockey League (NEHL), in which the Red Ranger teams have been playing right along.

The Moose had been playing in the International Junior Youth Hockey League (IJYHL).

"The NEHL is a little higher competition level then the league the Moose had been playing in," said Mario Martiniello, manager of Breakaway. "The NEHL has proven to have excellent competition and we believe that this league along with BIC's concentration, commitment and priority to skills development will offer the best environment for our players to excel."

The teams will also be sporting new uniform designs for the upcoming season.

Martiniello said that no teams would be eliminated during the merger and that there would still be the same number of roster slots available on the teams. He said the new Red Rangers would enter two teams in each age group in squirt, peewee and bantam age groups in the league. The two Red Ranger squads would be in separate divisions.

As opposed to past years, when players could choose to try out for either the Moose or the Red Rangers, this year there is just one tryout session for both squads and coaches will assign players to one team or the other.

According to Martiniello, this should help individual players play at the competition level best suited for them, giving each the best change to excel.

"We're very excited about the merger," said Martiniello. "We think it will make all the teams stronger."

Practices for the 2010-2011 season begin on Sept. 7, with the games to begin at the end of the month.

One team not involved in the merger is the New England Moose Midget level squad, which will continue to play under the Moose name.