Brewster Graduate Barone Gives Back

Initially when Brewster High School 2009 graduate Jesse Barone couldn’t complete his tryout with the Danbury Whalers minor-league hockey team, which competes in the Federal Ice Hockey League, he was disappointed.

However, there turned out to be a silver lining in his recurring concussions, as he is now an intern for the team as its head of hockey operations. He's had the post for the last three weeks.

“It’s basically scouting, communicating with the players, contracts and looking for players for next season,” Barone said.

Barone has plenty of experience in hockey—it’s a sport he has played for 12 years. Three of those years were on Brewster’s varsity squad, where he was a captain his senior year. Barone at first was a center for the Bears but he was moved to defense his senior year because that is where the team needed him the most.

“I was going to Dutchess Community College but I think I will take the semester off right now, just work, make some money and concentrate on my internship,” Barone said. “Then I will go back to school and work on getting a degree in sports management.”

When he isn’t doing the above, Barone will be one of the coaches in the Putnam Hockey Association, which will begin pre-season practices Sept. 7 with its league slate of games beginning Oct. 1.

Barone once played in the association himself, and his younger brothers, Nino (Bantams) and Robert (Squirts) play now. The older Barone is going to be one of the coaches; he said that he just doesn’t know which team he will be coaching yet.

“I have been playing hockey for 12 years and it’s giving so much to me so I just want to give back,” Barone said. “I coached last season for the Peewee team and how they progressed through the season and looked up to me was just awesome.”

What Barone said he likes about the association is that it is family oriented.

“The best thing about our organization is that it is family friendly and affordable travel hockey,” association treasurer and board member Mike Hecht agreed. “When our families go away to tournaments together both the kids and parents all have a great time. There is a strong sense of belonging and team spirit in our organization.”

“Our success is built on the loyalty and dedication of our parents who are committed to making Putnam Hockey the quality organization that it is,” Hecht continued. “We do a tournament Columbus Day weekend in Wallingford, Conn. a tournament in Simsbury, Conn. Dec. 27-30 and we do a tournament the week of St. Patrick’s Day in either Pennsylvania or the New England area.”

The teams in the association, named the Putnam Panthers, will also compete in Connecticut’s state-wide playoff tournament at the end of February, which is played in different locations around the state.

The age groups are: Minimites (learn to skate and play hockey, ages 4-8), Mites (7-8), Squirts (9-10), Peewees (11-12) and Bantams (13-14).

Roughly 80 to 90 kids will participate in the upcoming season. All the age groups in the association are travel hockey except for the Minimites.

“The Minimite program is designed to get the kids comfortable and get them prepared for hopefully joining our mite-level teams,” Hecht said. “They just practice at the rink, they don’t travel.”

All of the association’s travel squads will compete in the Connecticut Hockey Conference (CHC). They will travel to rinks in western Connecticut for league games and New York's lower Hudson Valley for non-league games. 

“They (the CHC) are extremely focused and organized and they just provide a good league-framework where all the teams can compete,” Hecht said. “It’s just a solid organization and we are happy to be a part of it.”

Home rink for the Panthers after Columbus Day is the Tirrell Rink located at the Trinity-Pawling School campus in Pawling. Game are held on the weekend with times varying. Practices are held Wednesday evenings.

Practices and games before Columbus Day will be held at the Harvey School Ice Skating Rink in Katonah.