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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Bracco '94 saves local hockey team

11.17.10.sports.Hockey
11.17.10.sports.Hockey

While at Dartmouth, Bracco earned ECAC All-Rookie honors his first year and continued to help shut down high-powered ECAC offenses throughout his tenure at the Big Green.

Bracco has traded in his pads for a whistle and is now reviving the Jericho program. He is working alongside his brother, Nick, and team manager Ian Weinberg, to coach his son, Evan, and bring Jericho hockey back to life.

"There was a high-school level team, and they were fully funded by the school," Bracco said. "The school placed limitations on the team, limited practice times and limited any extra help. We were a very young team, and had to play in the varsity division. We had a winless season and the school tried to eliminate most of the funding and cut the team altogether."

The players were disgruntled. The school was losing money. Hockey was effectively finished in Jericho, N.Y.

All the while, Weinberg and Bracco made plans to resurrect the broken high school program. Both had been involved at the middle-school level, which had found success in both finding players and on the scoreboard. As Bracco's and Weinberg's children aged, both found a new interest in seeing the high school team succeed.

Bracco began the campaign to bring back the varsity squad as coach with the help of Weinberg, who worked largely behind the scenes not only to recruit players to play on the team, but to insure the future of Jericho hockey.

"We have tried to appeal to the community with public and informational sessions, open skates and clinics." Weingberg said. "We also have some connections with the New York Islanders, who are working to ensure that all kids can play through various donations."

The new hype surrounding the success of the middle school and the new interest in the high school allowed Jericho to have enough players to field a junior varsity high school team for the 2010-2011 season.

The team worked over the summer to prepare for the beginning of the season. To help the players get excited about the prospects of the season and their careers, Weinberg enlisted the help of Danny Markowitz '11, a current defenseman for the Big Green and Jericho resident.

"When I was home for the summer, I went and skated with the team and talked to some of the players," Markowitz said. "It was a lot of fun and some were pretty skilled. It was good to just go out and play and relate to them as players."

Markowitz also participated in a New York Islanders mini-camp this summer. Weinberg brought some of the players to watch the scrimmage on the second to last day of the camp, a game in which Markowitz scored the first goal, no small feat for a defenseman.

"Danny is a big influence, a lot of the parents on the team value what he has accomplished and see him as a role model for their kids," Weinberg said.

After a summer full of practices and work-outs, the season began and Jericho began to find success at the middle and high school levels.

"Right now we are on a three-game win streak, and the middle school team is really good this season," Bracco said. "I think part of the reason we are doing so well is all of the events and camps Ian organized in the off-season."

Markowitz and Weinberg both said they believe the new-founded success also stems from Bracco's commitment.

"I think the players respond well to his enthusiasm about the sport," Markowitz said. "He loves hockey, and the kids believe in his passion for the game."

Though the team continues to win and new players continue to emerge, one of the biggest successes for Bracco as both a former hockey player and a coach is that he was able to share the game he loves with a new group of players.

"It's great to see kids involved with hockey, as a former player, its also really nice to give back and share the game with someone else," Bracco said. "I want the kids to just have fun and see hockey in Jericho continue."