Three weeks ago, the Bethpage Golden Eagles Hockey team won the County Championship—see my previous article—but for the first time in recent memory, the story didn’t end there. Not even close…

That huge win merely punched the Eagles a ticket into the State tournament in Jamestown, NY to showcase themselves against New York’s best. Monday afternoon our boys returned home with the first State title in the program’s history. And the higher ups of the school and town treated it with well deserved utmost importance. A police escort once the boys crossed back into Bethpage leading to a scene of family, students, and faculty to greet the players. Serenaded throughout the halls by the school’s marching band to let every person in the building know that the champions have returned home. 

The club won five consecutive games en route to the championship including an improbable comeback in the third period of the championship game against their old foe Bellmore-Merrick. The comeback was sparked by a motivational Herb Brooks-esque speech at the end of the second period from Captain Marko Lisica. And that speech certainly registered in the waning minutes of the final period when Tyler Wodicka and Marko himself potted goals to send the game to Overtime, Which didn’t take long as just 30 seconds in it was deja vu as Stavros Likourentzos scored yet another game winning goal in a title game. The “power of friendship” had prevailed once again. 

That wasn’t the end of the story though, as the boys would claim yet another piece of hardware on Senior night in the Supervisor’s cup for the Syosset where the Eagles “wheeled” the Braves 9-2 and took no prisoners while doing so. Ultimately finishing the year on an 11 game winning streak and more importantly, completing the triple crown. 

Town of Oyster Bay champions, County champions, New York State Club champions. 

One thing is clear: This was a season for the ages…one seen by very few Bethpage athletic teams ever.