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East Lake Hockey Club Keeps Winning

Eric Horchy/SUNCOAST NEWS

East Lake goalkeeper Andrew Habasevich takes wristers and slap shots from teammates at their practice-game rink in Oldsmar.

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: February 16, 2008

EAST LAKE, Fla. - EAST LAKE, Fla. - Undefeated seasons? Check.

State championship?

Check.

How about two?

Double Check.

Getting the recognition that hard work deserves?

Could be better.

Unbeknownst to many, the East Lake area has been Hockeytown, Fla., over the past two years thanks to its high school.

The East Lake Eagles are the defending back-to-back state hockey champions and have been in the final game each of the past three seasons.

They are now 16-0 and skated through all of last season unblemished. East Lake has not lost any game since the regular season of two years ago.

But for all its dominance and success, the Eagles squad skates in relative obscurity.

With the state not exactly a prep hockey hotbed to begin with, the sport is not sanctioned by the Florida High School Athletic Association. That means the East Lake club is not officially affiliated with the high school.

Yet through this all, the Eagles' revamped lineup is back once again and eyeing a return to South Florida for the state finals.

Remarkable

Jim Anna, East Lake's eighth-year head coach, said the team's recent rise to perennial-powerhouse status has been remarkable to be a part of.

"I think hockey's really been catching on around here," Anna said of the sport's growth, noting he now has to make cuts during tryouts because of the volume of would-be hockey squad members.

Another factor that makes East Lake's rink supremacy special is that it is a truly "pure" team, said Anna.

Pure means that the entire roster is comprised of only players from East Lake. Of the eight Pinellas High School Hockey League teams, only East Lake and Palm Harbor have rosters that pull athletes totally from within the schools' attendance areas.

The league, which has teams not only from Pinellas but also Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando counties, plays its games every Friday night at the Tampa Bay Skating Academy, in Oldsmar.

As for this years Eagles squad, Anna continues to be impressed.

Braced for bumps

After losing 14 seniors from last year's group, he entered this season bracing for the bumps and bruises that come with youth.

Suffice to say, Anna is pleased.

"It's hard to believe, really, how good they are right now," he said.

"Losing that many seniors, I wasn't expecting to be this good," said Adam Pietrafesa, a senior defenseman.

Along with its youth movement's success, the East Lake squad has kept the loss-column goose egg un-hatched without their best overall player, forward Nathan Altman.

"He's one of the best forwards in the state," Anna said of Altman. "Maybe the best."

Altman had to have surgery to repair a double hernia but isn't out for the whole season, according to Anna.

The Eagles have rallied, through Altman's side-lining, and now the playoff season is on the horizon.

"We always play well in states for some reason," another senior defenseman, Andrew Augaitis, said. "We always come together. When Nathan comes back, we'll be really good."

How things are

As for the lack of notoriety they receive while once again striking out on their yearly quest, both seniors acknowledge it can be irritating. That, however, is just how things are, they add.

"We're back-to-back state champions, we lost one game in the past three years, but no one really cares except the people in the hockey community," Augaitis said.

Lately, however, the East Lake hockey players have been receiving quite a boost in attendance from peers more typically seen at football games or other more traditional Eagles' sporting events.

"I have to give it up to the Blue Crue because they made the sport bigger than what it was," Pietrafesa said, referring to the boisterous East Lake High School student cheering section.

"This last Palm Harbor game, they got everyone hyped up for three weeks and everyone was looking forward to it," Pietrafesa said.

While the growth in hockey game attendance is a welcome sight to Anna and his players, it continues to come slowly.

The Eagles will finish up their regular season this week and most likely will do it in the shadows of the state basketball playoffs and the arrival of baseball season.

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