The Bernards Hockey team has been highly successful through the recent seasons. The team has won the majority of their games, going 4-1-1. Coaches Paul Manore and Daniel Spautz lead a coed team that spans across three separate schools, Bernards, Middlesex, and Somerville. They have come together to create a powerful dynamic, completely unique to the team.
Captains Tanner Clemson, Bernards ‘23, Justin Gorman, Middlesex ‘23, and Baylyn Shankman, Bernards ‘24, have thus far led the team to victory several times. They tied Montville and have so far beaten Old Bridge, Whippany Park, Gill St. Bernard’s, and Watchung Hills.
Bernards has an unusual team dynamic as well, being not only a coed team, but a team made up of three separate schools. So far, the team is unified, though. Shankman describes the different schools as having a minimal effect on the team: “You wouldn’t even know we were from three different schools because we all know each other so well!”
The coed factor of the team is also described to only amplify the team’s performance. Clemson states that “being coed is another special part of our team and it is super beneficial because it let’s Bay Shankman dominate these guys.” Coach Spautz also adds that the girls on the team are every bit as tough as the boys, shouting out specifically Sarah Lewis’s cage and Shankman’s work not only on the ice, but leading the team off of it, too.
Shankman, goalie, also describes the team as being super accepting in a league of mostly all-boys teams, saying that “for the most part everyone’s really accepting and they treat us the same as everybody else.”
The team is already highly successful, and hopes to continue this. They’ve won their divisional championship the last two years, qualified for states for the first time in nine years last season, and are looking forward to hopefully being a contender for the Haas Cup Championship this season.
“If there is a time for BSM hockey to go to a state title, this year is it,” Says Clemson. “This group is different, the skill of our top lines is enough to keep us in every game and we have proven we can outwork teams late in the game.”
