b'CHS Hockey GetsCo-operative and Competitive on the IceColumbia joins Nutley and Bloomfield to build a varsity teamWRITTEN BY BRIAN GLASER PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIA MALOOF VERDEROSALeft and right: The Nutley-Columbia-Bloomfield ice hockey team prac-tices at the Richard J. Codey Arena. Center: Columbia High School has six players on the team. Their T-shirt features the teams nickname, Thun-der Cats.Back row L to R: Daniel Kopcha, Christian Sherman, Abel Grimaldi and Jack Hafif; Front L to R: Oliver Penalber and Hank ButlerC olumbiaHighSchoolisplayers who compete against squads from Mont-well known for its athlet- clair, Scotch Plains and other local towns.ics programs, but sportsWe dont want to exclude students who are in-fansmightnotknowterested in the sport, so we include them through about a team that is tak- this collaboration with other schools, says Sjoc-inganunconventionalquelynWinstead,whojoinedColumbiathis route to athletic success:school year as its new director of athletics/student CHS Varsity Ice Hockey. activities. One of the key challenges for any high schoolUnlike the other sports at the school, Winstead sport can be attracting enough players to put a fullshares some of her oversight role with the schools team on the fieldor, in this case, the ice. A fewin the co-op. Joe Piro, the director of athletics for nearby schools have taken advantage of a New Jer- Nutley,sayshisschooltakestheorganizational sey initiative that allows schools to work togetherlead.Wemanagetheday-to-dayoperations to create cooperative teams. Students from Co- scheduling, bussing, officials, etc., he says. Each lumbia, Nutley and Bloomfield formed a co-opschool pays a participation fee per athlete.team in 2017 and now have more than a dozenThe team is coached by David Macri, a long- Liam Madsen is a senior from Nutley.12/ matters magazine / winter 2025'