West Essex joining forces with James Caldwell High School brings new confidence to the team returning from a difficult 2014-2015 season

By Isabel Tabs ’17

For many years, West Essex has had a huge sports rivalry with James Caldwell High School. However, both schools are now forced to leave their competition behind and defeat it together as they will be taking a face off not head to head anymore, but together as one.

For the first time ever, West Essex has formed a hockey cooperative with the Caldwell-West Caldwell District. In other words, James Caldwell High School has combined with West Essex High School as one team.

“Caldwell has contributed some very good players and has made us a better team,” said captain Connor Leach.

The story behind the co-op goes back to March, when James Caldwell parents approached the West Essex Board of Education proposing this cooperative because Caldwell didn’t have enough students to form their own hockey team.  The Caldwell Parents for Ice Hockey has been fighting for this since 2014, but Caldwell claimed it wasn’t in the budget.  At the Board of Education meetings, Caldwell parents said they would fully fund the season’s expenses.

On March 23, the West Essex Board of Education, along with Superintendent Longo, Mr. Macioci and Mr. Minnella, approved the proposal. The schools together applied for the co-op with the rationale that hockey players in JCHS didn’t have enough players to form their own program and they wanted an opportunity to play on a high school team. On June 13, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) approved it.

Despite the school’s rivalry in other sports like football, the co-op was fully supported by players. The team’s coach, Marc Gregory, was very supportive of the co-op. “I am very excited about the newly formed co-op with James Caldwell High School,” coach Gregory said.

The West Essex community, parents and players, welcomed  freshman Peter Andolino, junior Max Lewicki and senior Mike Nichols to the team.

“West Essex has been extremely welcoming,” said Caldwell student Mike Nichols. “It’s been a great opportunity to be able to play with them.”

The players are feeling very welcomed and Coach Gregory has even bonded the players on and off the ice. Both schools have worked together on two successful fundraising events.  They have also traveled to West Point together to watch a high-level collegiate game between West Point vs. Robert Morris University hockey game.

“I hope it’s a positive experience for the West Essex and Caldwell students,” said Athletic Director Mr. Minnella.

The team is very confident that the Caldwell players will be beneficial to their success this year. With only a few games into the season the team and coach has seen an improvement. As of mid-January, the team’s record is 5-6-1. which is fairly impressive considering they struggled to a  4-15-2 record last season.

“I’m very excited I am able to receive the opportunity to play hockey as part of a high school team,” said Peter Andolino.

Even though there are only three players from Caldwell, West Essex redesigned their jersey. In the corner there is a patch for James Caldwell, but the majority of the jersey is West Essex based remaining red, white and black.

“Caldwell may be our enemies,  however they’re family on the ice,” said sophomore Pat Coyle.