The Junior Royals are pleased to announce Joshua Hirsch and Kevin McCall have joined the broadcast team for the 2012-13 season. 

Jsohua is the play by play announcer for the Grand Prairie Airhogs baseball team in Grand Prairie Texas who play in  the American Association League.    Joshua also has hockey experience as being the play by play announcer for the Texas Brahmas Hockey Team in the Central  Hockey League.    A native of Long Island and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Joshua is a great addition to the Jr Royals staff.

Kevin also from Long Island, he graduated from Ithaca College  and did a season with Major League Baseball,  United Kingdom.  He was also a reporter and play by play announcer for WICB Radio broadcasting the  Ithaca College Team games.    Kevin was editor of the Ithacan, the Ithaca College newspaper and was responsible to oversee the weekly coverage of the 23 college teams.

The Jr. Royals are proud to have Joshua and Kevin join the staff and look forward to their on and off air contributions. 

The Long Island Junior Royals will now call Dix Hills Ice Rink their new home.   The lockers were placed into the new junior locker room that will include a separate video review / off ice classroom.   

Royals assistant Captain JT Hall has been drafted by the 66 overall pick in the NAHL draft by the Topeka Roadrunners.

JT played his youth hockey career with the Long Island Rebels and then moved on to the Jr Royals for the past two years.    In the 2011-12 season JT had 30 goals and 28 assists in 30 games.  He and the 11-12 Jr Royals team made it to the USA Hockey Junior National Championship game.

Congratulation to JT and his family from the Jr Royals

Lately it seems the Jr Royals website has become the Frank DiChiara news page as we are proud to post his progress after being a member of our 2010-11 team.

The Long Island Jr Royals are proud to announce Frank has been selected with the 26th pick overall by the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL.    The Fighting Saints are a prestigious hockey club that have sent many players on to D-1 Universities and NHL careers including Peter and Chris Ferraro.

After having a very successful season with the 2011 Junior Royals team where Frank was seen by several scouts he was tendered by the NAHL St Louis Bandits for the 2011-12 season.  Frank played with St Louis in 59 games scoring 23 goals with 28 assists.    

Frank's on ice work ethic and his off ice academic excellence gave him the opportunity to select the Princeton Tigers for the 2013 academic year.

Junior Royals alumni forward Frank Dichiara commits to Princeton May 11, 2012 

Dichiara, 18, who hails from Ronkonkoma, New York, had a tremendous rookie season with the  St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League in the 2011-12 season.  He was third in team scoring with 51 points (23 goals, 28 assists) in 59 games played.  The 6’2/215 lbs. forward helped the Bandits win the Midwest Division regular season and playoff titles and a Runner-Up finish in the Robertson Cup National Championship game.  He registered eight points in 12 playoff games.Dichiara also represented the NAHL 18U Selects Team at the 2012 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament in Troy, Michigan back in February.

“It was a real easy decision for me because I think Princeton has one of the best schools in the country, both academically and athletically,” said Dichiara, who was named to the 2011-12 NAHL All-Rookie 1st Team for his accomplishments this season.  “They really started taking an interest in me at the Top Prospects Tournament and it just took off from there.”

“I thought Frank had a lot of determination from the start,” said Bandits head coach Jeff Brown.  “He came in and right off the bat, he worked hard, paid his dues and put a lot of time and energy into becoming a better hockey player.  He was one of the youngest players on the team and worked his way up to be a top six forward.  He has great hockey sense, size and is a gifted player, so we are very happy for him.”

The Royals are proud of Frank and all of his accomplishments both on and off the ice and congratulate him and the DiChiara family.

After a disappointing one goal loss to Atlanta in the USA Hockey Jr Tier III National Championship Game the Jr. Royals players returned home with some extra items.   Not only did they have silver medals, a trophy and a banner but many of the players had been approached by scouts from Colleges, NAHL and USHL teams.    
Coach Hoey said "Several of the boys were given offers and invitations to colleges and team camps for next season, it was nice to see the boys efforts were being rewarded."   Coach Hoey expects many additional offers from scouts will come in the next week or two.  "Our boys received a lot of attention from the scouts at Nationals,  we were the underdog here, a young team with a very short bench and the boys played their hearts out making it to the biggest stage, the National Finals.   I'm very proud of our players and staff for everything we accomplished."

Coach Hoey said "Our job is to move the boys on to college or higher levels of hockey, not necessarily to win titles, today we did both very well."     

In their last locker room meeting after the National Championship loss Coach Hoey spoke to his team knowing that most of the players will not be here next year.   After congratulating and thanking every player for their hard work he told the boys "We will be back here again".  After being in the Nationals for three straight years including four of the past five,  they will be.

The day after their Jr National Championship Game the players were all present at the rink for the 12-13 Jr Royals tryouts.  Grouped together  not wanting it to end they watched  the tryouts of the players they know will take their spots next season.   A parent of the 11-12 team also watching the tryouts said it best, "we had a great group, a great run, and a lot of fun.  The boys trying out for next season have some big shoes to fill". 

After another successful season finishing first in regular season division play and the Royals are preparing for the 2012-13 season.

                                            GP W L T PTS
LONG ISLAND ROYALS 36 29 6 1 59 
NEW JERSEY ROCKETS 36 27 7 2 56
METRO MOOSE                 36 25 10 1 51 
JUNIOR TITANS                 36 24 12 0 48 
SUFFOLK JUNIORS           36 20 14 2 42
NEW YORK SAINTS           36 4 32 0 8

The Jr Royals defeated the Rochester Ice Hawks tonight to qualify for the USA Hockey Tier III National Finals.   The Ice Hawks were in their ninth straight Jr A Nationals had swept through their first four games moving into the semi-final round.
The Royals were  down 4-2 in the third period when they got two quick goals from JT Hall to tie the score.    With four minutes left in regulation Matt Goldberg worked into the slot and got his second goal of the day by roofing one to put the Royals up 5-4.   JT Hall got his third when he stripped the defense and scored on a empty net to put the game away.
Royals goalie Corey Cario stopped 48 of 52 goals including several outstanding saves during the last minute of the game.

The local Star Tribune newspaper had this paragraph about this game. "Tonight, at 6 p.m., the Rochester Ice Hawks are playing host to the hated Long Island Royals, in the U.S. Tier III Junior Hockey tournament semifinals at the Rochester Rec center. (Good seats available at the door.) A victory puts the Hawks in the noon Tuesday title game against the winner of the Billings-Atlanta game."

The Royals will meet Atlanta tomorrow (4-3-12) at noon for the USA Hockey Tier III National Championship.

Click here to see the local television newscast reference the Royals game.

March 30th.......In Game #1 of the National Championship today in Rochester Minnesota the Long Island Jr Royals played the 2010 Jr A National Champions Helena Bighorns.   Helena who is currently ranked #1 at the Jr A level by Junior Hockey Rankings was also the #1 seed from the America West Junior Hockey League.
The Jr Royals had transportation problems getting to the game today with several players not being able to make it so Coach Hoey had just 14 players on the bench. One of those players was LI Rebels Alumni Brendan Jones who started in net for the Royals.
The game started with Helena on the attack causing Jones to make several acrobatic saves.  Back to back penalty kills wore the Royals down and frustrated the Bighorns only to have the (Rebel alumni) Jake Bichko put one in the back of the net  to go up 1-0.     The  Royals team was giving up bodies blocking shots and taking big hits to keep Helena away from the net.    Towards the end of the second Royals Assistant Capt. Brendan Keating  found a hole  to make it a 2-0 game.
In the second period the Royals the short bench was starting to wear down and Helena's constant pressure final paid off making the score 2-1 where the send period ended.
The Royals could smell a big upset and came out in the third all fired up.  Bodies were given up to block shots and sacrificed to make a last second pass.   Jones in net was giving a show with save after save being highlight quality.  With a few minutes left in the third Helena again went on a power play with Jones shutting the door on several cross ice plays.   With less than minute left in the game Helena pulled the goalie to go 6 on 5 when JT Hall stripped the defense and buried and empty net for the final score Royals 3 - Helena 1.
The Royals were outshot 48 to 18.   A lot of credit has to go to the Jr Royal players for working so hard but the player of the game once again is Brendan Jones for stopping 47 of 48 shots.   

3-31-12  Game #2
The Jr Royals second game in their bracket was against the #1 seed from the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League, the Chicago Bulldogs.   After a great performance in net by Brendan Jones yesterday Coach Ken Hoey went with Corey Cairo today.    First period action saw the game go end to end on several shifts with neither net minder giving an inch.  Although the Royals were outshot the first period the score was 0-0.   In the first minute of the second period Brendan Keating popped out of the pack on a breakaway and buried the puck to put the Royals up 1-0.   Three minutes later Matt Janketic showed his accuracy and put one of of the reach of the Bulldog goalie making the score 2-0.   The period ended with the Royals still being outshot in the first two periods.
The third period the team was all in putting shots all over the Bulldog end.   Ten minutes into the period Brendan Keating got his second of the game and third of the weekend.  Twenty seconds later Matt Goldberg got on the scoring sheet making the score 4-0.  With less than a minute left in the game Adam Goldstein came out of the penalty box and received a perfect pass from Michael Cartwright on a breakaway.  Adam sniped the inside post making the score 5-0  and giving the Royals their second win.   Royals goaltender Corey Cario was perfect on the day stopping all 29 Bulldog shots.
The Royals third game is tomorrow (4-1-12) against the Atlanta Knights.