The Rockets, who had five teams in the Icehouse spring league, finished the season with two Championship teams. On June 26th, 2008, the Rockets 6 team, Captained by Roger J. Muller, Jr. won the Championship game against the A level Tigers from Hockey North America, 11-4. Just two weeks earlier the Rockets lost to the Tigers in a regular season game 5-3.

The Rockets 6 team beat the Yellow Jackets in a real close playoff game and got revenge for their two regular seasons loses to the Tigers and Yellow Jackets. The Rockets 6 finished their season with a record of 11-2-0. The team scored 112 goals and let in 49. Goal tender Kyle Langowski promised Captain Muller a Championship three months before and came through big time. He finished with a record of 7-2-0. Goalie Ramapo Al Restain contributed with a 4-0 sub job.

Leading scorers for the team were Roger Muller with 37 points, Nick Dimoulas with 35 points, Thurman Kolar with 26 points, Saverio Ortizzo and Sonny Kim with 24 points, and Bruno Biasacchi & Matt Seckler finished with 23 and 21 points after that. Muller finished as the league’s leading scorer also. The Rockets total team 275 points was a record for the spring in only 13 games.

Timmy Calabrese, Anne Arundel, Sal Rutigliano, Greg Ball, and Anthony Sciarra did a great job on defense. Marc Shock the Shocker contributed as the best face off man. James Ventola and Steven Kolar chipped in with some strong play and scored goals when they were really needed.

As of today the Rockets 6 are 2-1-0 during the summer and hope to make the playoffs again. During the summer it is tough to make the playoffs since only four teams make it.

The Rockets 4, who is Captained by Robert Vizard, on June 27th, 2008 won the level 4 Championship by beating the Bull Dogs, who are a great team and have been around a long time and Captained by Tom Laporte. Vizard was real happy with the win and on the way the team beat Hazuda Electric.

Finishing with a 10-2-1 record the Rockets 4 won their first level 4 Championship ever. Gabe Capozzi was the leading scorer in the level with 36 goals and 18 assists for 54 points. He had 7 game winning goals which is totally amazing. Leading scorers on the team were Capozzi with 54 points, Andy McDonald 34, Robert Vizard 21, Ryan Larkin 20, Andy West 19, and George Koutroubinis with 15. Also playing on the team was Alex Horton, Steve Hrubec, Bruno Biasacchi, Dan Wilson, Marcel Karsnak, Tom Hancock, Andrew Kramar, and Brett Bandazian.
The defense was stellar with Rob Vizard leading the way as leading scorer and he had much help from Joe Tan, Peter Hamilton, James Ventola and Sal the Man Rutigliano.

All Star Goalie, Vatche Dermenjian ended up with a record of 9-2-1 and had a 3.83 goals against average. Brian Essig subbed and was 1-0-0. The summer season has started and at this point the Rockets 4 control first place with a 3-1-0 record.

The Rockets 7 spring team ended up missing the playoffs after losing to last place Aces 5-3. The week before in a major upset Goalie Anthony Castagna and team beat the Shooting Stars 15-7 for the first win ever against them. The Stars were favored from the beginning of the season to win it all.

The Rockets 7 final record was 5-5-1 and the leading scorers were as follows: Roger Muller 24 points, Thurman Kolar 23, Robert Roncaglio 19, and Tibor Cincala 12. Also scoring 9 points each were Ryan Fox, Marc Shock, Mike Hubacher, and Peter Gordon.

Also playing on the team was Mike Higgins, Steven Kolar, John LaGorce, who made his Rockets come back after playing on the Rockets 2000 National Championship team in Canada, Timmy Calabrese, Anne Arundel, Mike Scali and Sal Rutigliano. Final stat as a team was 66 goals for, 61 against with 151 total team points. The Rockets 7 lead all Rocket teams in penalty minutes with 70.

Goalie Anthony Castagna, Mr. Hazmat and my favorite NYC Fireman, ended up the spring with a goals against average of 5.55, which was not one of his better seasons because of injuries. Castagna did play goal for the Rockets when they were the defending Champions in Toronto, Canada in 2001 though and did a great job.

The Rockets 8A Captained by Anthony Sciarra had a good season and made it to the second round of the spring playoffs only to lose to the Wayne Wynos, who were real good. The team ended up 9-6-0 and the leading scorers were Anthony Sciarra with 17 points, Anthony Lee 16, Erik Otterbein 16, and Billy Pein 12. Frank Steffe had 7 goals and also contributing was Tino Luzano, Nick DiSalvo, Mike Delrosso Jr., and Mike Delrosso Sr..

Muller the GM pulled a deal with the Invaders who also play at the Ice House and was able to pick up the following players: Dave Endress, Mitchell Cohen, Gianluca Montalti, Mike Sgroi, Bill Mauer, Craig Goldstein, Paul Mangini, and Phil Schanzer. The block buster deal helped the Rockets solitify the team and make the playoffs. The team scored 56 goals and let in 49. Total team points were 91.

Goalie Joey Kipnis went 5-2-0 with a 3.71 goals against average. The sub goalies hurt the team with a 3-3-0 record. Karl Otterbein and Mike Touchard were on the injured reserve list and would have made a big difference in the season if they could have played.

The Rockets 8A summer team was reconstructed by GM Muller and the team right now is 4-0-0 and is skating and passing well. With four games left the Rocket 8A hope to make the playoffs and win a Championship shortly. Free agent additions of Jim Reid and Tom Oliveri have really helped the team.

Finally, the Rockets 8B struggled to win five games. They ended up with a record of 5-6-0. They scored only 44 goals and a total of 125 team points. Goalie Dr. David Henick finished the season with a 5.64 goals against. He did have one shutout and was dependable playing all the games.

The leading scorers for the Rockets 8B team were Captain Roger Muller with 10 goals and 25 points, Peter Gordon, Assistant Captain with 17 points, Daniel Zilka 14 points, Paul Zadnik and Alan Slattery with 9 points. Dr. Mike Kelly and Dr. George Ferrone both had 8 points. Muller, Zadnik, Zilka all played on the Rockets National Championship team in Toronto, Canada in 2000.

Also playing on the team was Dr. Patrick Chang of Ramapo College, Steve Margulies, Robert Suozzo, Randy Homer, Ken Braun, Ben DeBlock, Chris Poggi, and Chris Mandato.

This summer GM Muller added Joe Griffo, Mark Davies, Sol Kassaorla, and Dr. Gary Dino Carabin to the Rockets 8B roster. The team is playing much better and is now 3-2-0 in the summer league. Davies is the summer team leader in goals and Davies and Kassorla helped the Rockets 8B tie a game recently that turned into an overtime win.

Dear All Rocket Players:

The fall season will be starting approximately the week of October 12th, 2008. Normally the Icehouse comes out with team schedules about one week before the season starts. Please check the Rockets Website often in order to find out when your first games are. I will try to set up new email lists for our teams, but since there are five of them and new players; it might not happen for awhile. Be responsible and check the website yourself.

For those of you who are interested in playing, the fall season which goes from October until the middle of March, costs $410.00 Please make your checks payable to Roger J. Muller, Jr. and mail them to 930 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J.  07030.

Before you step on the ice you need to make sure the Icehouse Hockey Office has your Usa Hockey form. Also for any new players to the league, you must give the hockey office a copy of a valid photo i.d..I need everyone’s birth date and jerseys are $50.00 if you do not have one.

Player bios are due and you can write yours up following the others that are on this site. Please forward them to roger@mullerinsurance.com or DominicRicciardi@adp.com If you own a business make sure you include your website link. Advertising space is available on the Rockets site if you want to promote your business also.

Thanks.
Roger