Team of the Year

Wayne Valley

The Indians may not be a high-profile ice hockey program in New Jersey, but among local teams no one accomplished as much this season. Wayne Valley played an opportunistic and defensive style, keyed by strong goaltending from Nate Kholodenko. The Indians got off to an impressive start to their year, going undefeated for over a month and a half. They captured their first title of the season with a dramatic comeback win over DePaul in the Passaic County tournament final.

Wayne Valley lost only twice during the regular season, once on a last-second goal. The Indians avenged one of those defeats in the Big North Silver tournament final, defeating St. Joseph even though Kholodenko had to leave the game with an injury.

Some thought Wayne Valley would lose in the first round of the state tournament. Instead the Indians won two games, including one over a higher-ranked team. Their run came to an end in the quarterfinals against one of the top ten hockey teams in New Jersey, Morris Knolls.

Winning 20 games and two titles in their first season under a new head coach, Wayne Valley is our JSN Ice Hockey Team of the Year.

Players of the Year

Jeff Celniker, Mountain Lakes
Nate Kholodenko, Wayne Valley

How do you choose between one of New Jersey's most explosive scorers and one of the state's top goalies? Both were crucial to their teams' success this season, and in our judgement both are worthy of recognition.

Celniker was a scoring machine for Mountain Lakes, pumping in 68 goals in 25 games and nearly 100 total points. The junior helped lead the Lakers to the Halvorsen Division title and two wins in the state playoffs. He was a threat to score any time he was on the ice, often stealing the puck from the opposition to start a breakaway the other direction.

Kholodenko was the backbone of the Wayne Valley team that had its best season ever. He helped the Indians limit opponents to a mere 1.6 goals per game. He came up big in big games, such as the state tournament where he made 36 saves in a win over Bridgewater-Raritan and then 42 stops in the loss to Morris Knolls. Kholodenko was named first-team All-Passaic County and plans to continue playing hockey in college.

One terrorized opposing netminders while the other frustrated goal-scorers, and Jeff Celniker and Nate Kholodenko are the JSN Ice Hockey Players of the Year.

Coach of the Year

Tom Levis, Park Regional

After a disappointing season last year, Park Regional dropped to the Charette Division of the Morris County hockey league for 2010-11. The Park knew it could compete for the league title, but under its veteran coach the team ended up doing much more than that.

With only four seniors on his squad, Levis had to be concerned that his team might struggle early. Instead, The Park made an immediate statement, winning its first three games against division opponents by a combined 24-0. They ended up taking the division crown and went 2-2-1 against foes from the higher Haas Division.

Then in the Haas Cup, Park Regional made an even bigger impression, avenging a loss to Roxbury in the semifinals, then tying top seed West Morris in the finals to share the cup championship. The Park also pulled a first-round upset in the state hockey tournament against Howell before falling to defending state champ Toms River South.

For molding a young team into a unit that started strong and finished even stronger, Tom Levis is our JSN Ice Hockey coach of the year.

-- Paul Mencher for Jersey Sports Now