Stockton Hockey Overcomes Atlantic City, NJ Government Obstacles

Earlier in the season, the Stockton University Men’s Hockey program was dealt a cruel blow by the City of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Stockton was off to a great 5-1 start … when they were blindsided and upended when the City of Atlantic City banned Stockton head coach Alan Rhoads from the Atlantic City Skate Zone skating rink premises.

Rhoads’ offense was attending a meeting in a so-called unauthorized section of the Atlantic City Skate Zone.

This is the facility where Stockton holds practices and plays their home games.

What followed this bogus decision by the Atlantic City Marty Small administration was a 1-5 skid.

Understandably, the disruption of losing their head coach had a profound adverse affect on the Stockton men’s hockey team.

To their credit, the remaining coaching staff was able to recalibrate and save the season.

Stockton achieved a 5-1 spring semester, defeating league opponents Drexel and Millersville University along the way.

This enabled Stockton to climb back to earn a 3rd seed, just one game back of a 2nd seed in the
Colonial States College Hockey Conference.

Stockton lost in the semifinals to UPenn 3-2. UPenn went on to win the championship, 12-4 against Millersville University. This was UPenn's third consecutive championship.

I caught-up yesterday with former head coach Rhoads, who said:

Had the team not gone on an unfortunate losing streak, it is more than likely the team would’ve secured a top seed - and a critical first round bye. It is clear that our Ospreys men's ice hockey team deserved a chance to compete for their championship, who's chances were negatively influenced, if not outright denied to them, by the unlawful conduct of the Mayor of Atlantic City, said Rhoads.

Rhoads gave great credit to the Stockton coaching staff for turning their season around under such difficult and disruptive circumstances.

The Stockton coaching staff includes:

Acting head coach Mike Diamantopoulos, Assistant coaches Matt Gulack and Darren Wan.

Former coach Bob Gialanella was added, which added much-needed depth and experience to the coaching staff.

Further cementing the turnaround, Coach Diamantopoulos and team received the Colonial States College Hockey Conference, “Coach of the Year” Award.

As we have reported previously, Rhoads is pursuing litigation regarding the circumstances of being banned from the Atlantic City Skate Zone by the Marty Small administration … which also led to Rhoads being terminated as head coach by Stockton University.

Later this week, I will provide a Rhoads legal update.

SOURCE: Alan Rhoads.