OLEAN — Family, friends and members of the Olean community lined and crowded the sidewalk of the Olean Recreation Center with balloons and posters in hand at 8 a.m. Friday morning. They got up early to support the U14 Olean Arrows youth hockey team as it headed to Buffalo for the 2022 New York State Amateur Hockey Association Championships.
The 14-player team boarded a charter bus around 8:15 a.m. and received a police escort out of the parking lot. Family and friends followed behind two police vehicles until the bus merged onto Interstate-86 headed towards Buffalo.
“This was a huge surprise to them. It’s just awesome,” team mom Kim Chudy said. “I think it’s gonna be very emotional. They’ve never had an escort. We’ve never done anything like this. So to see the support from the parents and the community is great.”
The team will play in the Tier III 14U Division and were scheduled to play their first game at noon Friday against the New York City Raiders at Cornerstone CFCU Arena in Lockport. Saturday, the Arrows will play at 10 a.m. against the Chazy Flyers at North Town Center in Amherst and again at 4:15 p.m. vs the Oswego Buccaneers at Cornerstone.
The Arrows finished the regular season 22-5-2, placed first in the MYHockey Rochester Presidential Power Play Tournament in February and ranked first in Western New York State, which qualified them for the state tournament.
The Arrows’ head coach, Jared Ziegler, has coached his team to be adaptive to the style the opponent plays and it has allowed the team to blossom into one of the most dominant youth hockey teams in Western New York.
“We adapt to whatever the other team is playing,” Zieler said. “Each game is different. So, each team has a different system and we just try to keep it simple and play our system.”
It’s the first time in the team’s history it has traveled to states and Ziegler believes the support the community showed Friday morning will motivate the players.
“The support from the community this morning gets them ready for the game,” Ziegler said. “It excites them that they have support from their community and it has been a long time since the team from Olean has qualified for states, especially after being placed No. 1 in Western New York. It’s huge and we’re about ready to go play the top eight teams in New York State.”
The Arrows’ finish in their three-game round-robin schedule will determine if they advance to the single-elimination stage of the playoffs. Ziegler and his team are not just satisfied with what they have accomplished in reaching states. They believe they can win the title.
“I think our chances are great of winning the whole thing,” Ziegler said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be this far.”
