Bulldogs hockey takes off –– big time

On Monday nights, community members and students from Mepham, Calhoun and Kennedy high schools flood Newbridge Arena in Bellmore to watch the undefeated 14-0 Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs hockey team take the ice. As the Bulldog players, along with coach Chris Patten, scan the arena and acknowledge the ever-growing support from their loyal fan base, they know that the program has come a long way.

The Bulldogs, under the leadership of Patten, a Mepham High School teacher, now sit in first place in the Nassau County High School Hockey League. The team has already qualified for the state playoffs in March, to be held in Buffalo, and is poised to win its first Nassau County hockey championship since 2003.

“All the kids go to the games on Monday nights,” said James Bobb, a team captain and Calhoun senior. “It’s kind of become the thing to do now.”

But that wasn’t always the case. Far from it.

Founded in the late 1980s by Bob Yuengling, a police officer from Merrick, the Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs existed for 20 years as a town team with no affiliation to the school district. Players came from the Central District’s three high schools, but the team had no connection to the schools and thus did not receive the same privileges as other sports, such as varsity letters or acknowledgement in the morning announcements.

According to Patten, Yuengling fought for years to get the team connected to the Central High School District. Finally, in 2008, Bellmore-Merrick agreed to fund the team. “He was such an important figure of the Bulldogs,” Patten said of Yuengling. “The way he carried himself, and the way he made the boys carry themselves is something I always wanted to emulate.”

Even with the school sponsorship, Patten admitted that the first season – also his first season as head coach – was a struggle. “We were like ducks on a pond,” he said. “We tried to look as cool and calm as we could, but underneath the water our feet were kicking like crazy.”