From Rivals To Teamates

by Will Ruppel

In nearly every sport, three neighboring towns have developed dynamic rivalries spanning generations. I of course am talking about Eastchester, Tuckahoe, and Bronxville. However, past friction has not stopped these three school districts from coming together to create one unified Hockey team.

Varsity hockey players from all three schools are members of the ETB Eagles. Once in League 4 (the lowest league in the section) the team has turned into a League 2 powerhouse in a mere 3 years. The team even beat the third place League 1 team in a decisive victory. Lead by Bronxville Junior Alex Hagen, who scored an astonishing 34 goals during the regular season, the ETB Eagles finished the year with an impressive record of 12-6.

How could these schools play so well together in spite of a long history of hostility in sports? The answer is simple: teammates are family. Whether one kid grows up in the Tuckahoe projects and can barely afford hockey equipment, or another lives in the richest section of Bronxville, they are still teammates, and everything else is put behind them.

Last year’s Varsity captain Joe Mercorella, a freshman in college now, and a Senior at Eastchester last year, provided some nice comments about the entire program.

“ETB players do not look at teammates like ‘that’s an Eastchester or that’s Bronxville or Tuckahoe kid’, they look at each other as ETB players and a tight family.”

Mercorella continued by saying, “When you see a fan from Tuckahoe rooting for a kid from Eastchester or Bronxville, or visa versa, you know that the program succeeded into something amazing.”

He also noted that during the first year of its existence; it only took the first couple of practices to put town backgrounds behind them.

Even after the games the teammates want to be with each other. They go and enjoy a dinner at Mickey Spillanes, a popular restaurant located Eastchester. There, great stories are told of the game, and countless jokes are remembered. These players wish to do nothing more than sit with their diverse family of hockey players.