Columbia joins Nutley and Bloomfield to build a varsity team
Columbia High School is well known for its athletics programs, but sports fans might not know about a team that is taking an unconventional route to athletic success: CHS Varsity Ice Hockey.
One of the key challenges for any high school sport can be attracting enough players to put a full team on the field – or, in this case, the ice. A few nearby schools have taken advantage of a New Jersey initiative that allows schools to work together to create cooperative teams. Students from Columbia, Nutley and Bloomfield formed a co-op team in 2017 and now have more than a dozen players who compete against squads from Montclair, Scotch Plains and other local towns.
“We don’t want to exclude students who are interested in the sport, so we include them through this collaboration with other schools,” says Sjocquelyn Winstead, who joined Columbia this school year as its new director of athletics/student activities.
Unlike the other sports at the school, Winstead shares some of her oversight role with the schools in the co-op. Joe Piro, the director of athletics for Nutley, says his school takes the organizational lead. “We manage the day-to-day operations – scheduling, bussing, officials, etc.,” he says. “Each school pays a participation fee per athlete.”
The team is coached by David Macri, a long-time youth hockey coach whose kids played for Nutley. “I’ve been coaching youth hockey for a million years.
It was brought to my attention that the co-op team coach was going to step down,” he says. “I threw my hat in the ring in 2020 and took the reins.”
The 2024-25 squad has six players from SOMA: Juniors Daniel Kopcha, Oliver Penalber and Christian Sherman, and freshmen Hank Butler, Abel Grimaldi and Jack Hafif. They practice at the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, which is also their home rink for games. Macri notes that as the sport gets more popular, they have to battle for available slots at the arena. Practices are once or twice a week, depending on the overall schedule.
The co-op team is part of the Kelly Division of the New Jersey Independent Ice Hockey League, which includes teams from Montclair and Millburn, along with other co-op squads from Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Verona-Glen Ridge. Penalber, a junior who started playing the sport his freshman year, says, “I think that it’s really nice that our school has a hockey team that combines with other schools. If it wasn’t for Nutley and Bloomfield also being on the team, we wouldn’t get this chance.”
Although players from all three schools contribute to the team’s success, the coach tips his helmet to Christian Sherman, a “workhorse” team member who plays center and is among the highest-scoring players in New Jersey. “Christian is far and away their big guy, just an awesome player.”
“I’ve been playing hockey ever since I was a little,” says Sherman. “I was in middle school when they brought this team together with all three schools. And ever since then I wanted to go play on the high school team and the experience has been great.”
Piro is impressed with the level of play he’s seeing from the entire squad. “Coach Macri and the boys do a great job,” he says. “We are competitive every year, and Nutley enjoys the relationship we have with both schools.”
Macri agrees that the players’ dedication and time on the ice are paying off. “They were one of the highest-scoring teams in the state last year. We’re playing the best hockey we’ve played in a while,” he says. Still, he says the biggest challenge they continue to face is interest from potential players, especially in the face of competition from local club teams. “High school hockey is up against club hockey, and they tout it as the fast lane to college exposure,” Macri says.
But he says the school teams bring something extra: “When you play for your high school, you’re playing for your community and your classmates. It’s so much more than just the jersey.”
He says there’s a lot of untapped potential. “The more kids that know we have hockey, the better,” says Macri. “We want to grow it so we have a JV program and we can develop players over four years.” He’d love to see more kids tying on skates and falling in love with hockey. Winstead agrees: “It’s good to have multiple levels in a sport – freshmen, junior varsity and varsity – to be more competitive. We just need more student interest.”
“There are hockey players in the district. We need them to show up and play,” Macri says. “We have to raise awareness. When nobody knows you’re playing, the talent pool is out there and you’re not getting them.
There’s a real opportunity for kids to be on this team.” Macri also wants to grow the local fanbase for the team as part of hockey taking its rightful place among the big school sports. “We’d love to see more fans,” he says, noting that people can find game info on NJ.com and via the “Nutley-Columbia Hockey Club” Facebook page. “The energy from the fans begets energy on the ice. Even when we don’t win, it’s great to have fans out.”
Penalber concurs. “We just need people from our school to come to the games. It would up the morale, I think, for everybody.”
Brian Glaser is a dedicated fan of all things New Jersey who lives in Maplewood
with his wife, son and cat.
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