Long Beach hockey keeps on winning

With all the traveling he's been doing lately, the 203-mile drive to Marlboro, Mass., last weekend must have seemed like just more of the same for Keegan Travers. The Long Beach hockey captain has gotten used to time on the road since his Nassau-based team began playing in the Suffolk County High School League.

Different county, same result. After years of domination in Nassau, Long Beach is beginning to take charge in Suffolk.

"It's just fun to play hockey, no matter where,'' Travers said. "All we really care about is winning games, so the switch doesn't matter to us. And we have a bunch of fun on the bus rides.''

Those cross-Island bus rides came about after Nassau switched its insurance from USA Hockey to the Amateur Athletic Union after the 2009 season. Suffolk, however, stuck with USA Hockey, and Long Beach wished to stay with the company as well.

The final hurdle was cleared when the Suffolk Ice Hockey League voted at its last annual meeting to remove the restriction barring non-Suffolk teams. Long Beach was allowed to continue playing home games at Long Beach Ice Arena but must make the 42-mile trek to the Rinx in Hauppauge for away games.

The Marines have been the only team to make the switch, which coach Joe Brand called successful.

"The adjustment was pretty easy, and I would say the main reason for that was because the Suffolk League was so accommodating and welcoming,'' he said. "So far, so good.''

At 15-2-0 (30 points), Long Beach leads its new league by four points over Kings Park/Commack, which played Washingtonville last night. The Marines are also first in goals-against, with only 43.

But those are just about the only stats you'll find in connection with Long Beach. In a time when sports statistics are more advanced and available than ever, Brand believes in simplifying things.

"I don't keep them. It's a team game,'' he said. "We care about wins and we care about goals against. I don't care who scores them as long as we score more than they do.''

Travers and Nolan Pues head the offense, with Jimmy Diamond also in on the action while in the midst of a breakthrough season. "He finally understands the game to measure up to his physical capability,'' Brand said.

Harris Pittinsky and Brand's son, also named Joe, have been solid in net and stepped up in some of the bigger games. Hunter O'Neill, Aidan Salerno and Liam Pues, Nolan's cousin, are among the top blue liners.

"Hunter is a very physical, bruising type of defenseman with a big shot,'' Brand said. "Pues is a smooth skater and stick handler.''

Of course, there aren't any stats to back up Brand's conclusions, unless you count championships, and Long Beach has quite a few of those.

While playing in Nassau, Long Beach amassed six county titles and was runner-up for three others in an 11-year period dating to 1999. Long Beach finished the 2010 season 18-3-3 and lost the deciding game of the best-of-three finals to Wantagh/Seaford. The Marines allowed only 30 goals in the 2010 regular season and first two rounds of the playoffs combined.

Brand, a former defenseman, has long been a proponent of building his teams around defense, and this season has been no different. But that's not to say Long Beach is an offensive slouch, because it's second in the league with 110 goals scored.

But although the Marines' regular-season fortunes haven't wavered much with the move, the postseason could be a different story. Suffolk, with more teams (12) in a single league, has one more initial round than Nassau, which splits its 11 teams into two leagues. Those early playoff rounds are single elimination, and Brand knows they can be deadly even to the best team.

"Your goalie has a bad night, their goalie has a bad night,'' Brand said. "Normally, the better team wins in a best-of-three. In a one-game elimination, it's anybody's to take. Having been through it as often as we have, we'll have them focused. We'll have them ready.''

At least they'll have plenty of time on the bus ride there.