Sports
Former NJ Devil Heats Up The Ice With Mahwah Athletes
Randy Velicshek holds hockey clinic for all of Mahwah's hockey players
When Randy Velicshek came to the United States from his native Canada to begin his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils in 1985, he noticed that the sport of hockey hadn’t really caught on in the Garden State. Kids weren’t playing hockey much at all, and the need for hockey rinks was lacking.
Things have changed since then.
“In the last 15 years I have notices a huge improvement in the talent level of the kids on the ice. Kids and their parents are watching and playing hockey, and there are more venues then before,” Velicshek said. “Here we are on a Saturday during the summer and baseball season, and we had over 30 kids come out here today to play hockey.”
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Velicshek, who played five years with the Devils and is currently the head hockey coach at Morristown Beard, and his son Alex, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, held the Mahwah Ice Hockey Clinic for Mahwah student ages 5-17 at the Ice Vault in Wayne, New Jersey.
It was a day that nobody would forget.
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During the lessons, Randy focused mostly on the younger kids, teaching them some simple skating and tandem scoring drills, while his son Alex worked with the high school students.
“It’s fun; there weren’t a lot of hockey clinics like this when I grew up in New Jersey. Kinnlen didn’t even have a hockey program,” Alex Velicshek said. “There are good players here in Mahwah. You can tell that the kids want to move up and play at the junior league level or collegiate level.”
Alex added that even though he was drafted by Pittsburgh, he will instead head off to Providence College in Rhode Island.
The idea to bring the Velicsheks together to teach the Mahwah kids came from Rob Gutierrez, who is assistant varsity coach at Mahwah High School, and has know Velicshek for a little more than 10 years.
“I met Rob when we were conducting clinics for the Sport-o-rama Saints. We became very close, and have been friends ever since. We’re always talking hockey,” Velicshek said.
“I always wanted to get all the travel teams together for a clinic, but because of the team’s schedules it was always hard to get everyone,” Gutierrez said.
“I reached out to him as a instructor for the clinic; I thought he would be a good draw. I wanted to try to get everyone from Mahwah to participate.”
Once the spring sports season ended at the end of May, Gutierrez sent out fliers to all Mahwah school advertising the event for all kids from the Mahwah Ice Hockey Association.
As it turned out, the outpouring of support was incredible. Parents and their young boys came in droves to the Ice Vault, with wide smiles, hockey equipment and pens for autographs in hand.
“It’s more of a thrill for us. It’s amazing; how often do you get to do something like this with an NHL player?” said the parents of Max Mucha, who stood in the penalty box as they watched their son skate.
“It’s great to be out there with your own teammates on the ice,” said Mahwah High School’s Nick Raia.
Raia, who is a member of the high school’s ice hockey team was there with several teammates, looking to get in some extra work with the former NHL star.
“We’ve had clinics by NHL players before, they really help with your skills and they are very knowledgeable,” said right winter Zach Orton.
“I’m very impressed with the level of play the kids from Mahwah are at right now,” said Velicshek. “They are teaching them very well up here.”
