HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (LISN) — Eastport-South Manor lost the first game of the Junior Varsity final in March 2025, 6-2, to a Smithtown/Hauppauge team that had already beaten them by that same score in November. The next night Damian Zacharewicz did not let in a goal, and ESM won 3-0. The night after that they won 4-3 and took the series.
Nine of the players on the 2026-27 Varsity filing were on that team, Zacharewicz among them. Only 2 players on the filing have played a Varsity game, and most of the rest have not played a competitive SCHSHL game since that March, because the club did not put a Junior Varsity or a Varsity team on the ice last season, only a Freshman team.
Eastport-South Manor joins the varsity division this season anyway, one of three programs added to it. The group that arrives went 22-2-1 the last time it played together.
Where they come from
The 2024-25 Junior Varsity won 22 of 25, scored 152 goals and gave up 62. It lost twice, both times to Smithtown/Hauppauge and both times 6-2, and tied Longwood 2-2 in October. In the playoffs it beat Longwood 5-3 and St. Anthony’s Gold 3-2, then dropped the first game of the final before winning the next two.
That is the team this roster is built from, but not all of it. Ryan Helbig scored 50 goals and 73 points in 25 games for that group and is not on the 2026-27 filing. Neither are Michael Marturiello or Colson Bobinski, who were also among its top five scorers. Of the five players who reached 30 points on that team, two are back.
The other thing that has to be said about the gap: ESM ran a freshman team last season and nothing above it. That team went 13-6-2, and none of its players are on this varsity filing. So the varsity group is a year and a half removed from its last games together, and a handful of them spent last season somewhere else.
Justin Masone
Justin Masone (15-17—32) led the returning players in scoring on that Junior Varsity squad, in 22 games, and he scored in the game that won the final. Before ESM, he was at the Freshman level with Middle Country in 2023-24, where he put up 21 goals in 17 games.
He is the closest thing this roster has to a proven scorer at the level just below the one they are stepping into, and he did it in 22 games, fewer than either of the two players who finished above him.
The scorers
Ryan McMillin brings the most varsity hockey of anyone here. He played 16 games for Middle Country last season and 13 the year before, 29 in all, with a goal in each of the last two. Middle Country is out of the Varsity division this season, and he arrives having spent two years at the level the rest of this group is stepping into.
Ryan Sawicki (16-14—30) is the other one who has played varsity. He played seven games with Ward Melville last season and scored three goals with an assist. Before that he had 16 goals and 30 points in 23 junior varsity games for ESM, and before that 10 goals in 17 games at the Freshman level with West Islip.
Alexander Wojciechowski (12-12—24) did that in 17 Junior Varsity games, and he scored in the deciding game of the final.
Alex Jablonski is one of the few who played last season, and he played well — 16 goals and 22 points in 17 Junior Varsity games with West Islip. The year before that, he had 11 goals and 26 points in 21 games for the ESM Freshman team, and he got into one Junior Varsity game the same season. He has been on the ice more recently than most of this roster.
Three come up from the 2024-25 Freshman team, which went 16-6. Daniel Brown scored 23 goals and 35 points in 20 games on it, the most of anyone on this filing at any level that season. Jacob St. Clair had 11 goals and 21 points in 21 games, and Dylan Gray 7 goals and 15 points in 22. None of the three has a game above the Freshman level.
The rest of the group
Dino Lisica (1-6—7) played 18 Junior Varsity games in 2024-25 and set up two goals in the game that won the final. He was at the freshman level with Patchogue-Medford the season before. Ryan Dierlam (3-4—7) played 23 games on the same team, and Logan McGregor played 24.
Alexander D’Amico played 18 Junior Varsity games for ESM in 2024-25 after 15 with Longwood the year before, where he scored five goals. He was on East Islip’s Junior Varsity filing last season but does not have a game recorded there.
Leonardo Gigante is the other player here who was on the ice last season, with 16 Junior Varsity games for Ward Melville. Jake Hutchinson has not appeared in our records since 2023-24, when he had 10 goals and 20 points in 19 games at the freshman level with Middle Country. Hugo Schleiffelder has no record in our files.
In goal
Damian Zacharewicz played 20 games in the ESM Junior Varsity net in 2024-25 and the team allowed 35 goals across them. He was in for all three games of the final: six goals in the first one, the shutout in the second, three in the third.
He has handled a heavy season before this one. In 2023-24 he was in the Patchogue-Medford system and appeared in 24 games across three levels — 16 at the Freshman level, four on Junior Varsity and four at the Developmental level. He arrives ready for the step up.
Elijah Moran is the second goaltender, and he is the one player on this filing who was in an Eastport-South Manor net last season, taking 19 games for the Freshman team. That is a full season of starts at his own level, and it is the most recent goaltending on the roster.
What’s next
The season opens Monday, Sept. 14, against Connetquot/Sayville, and closes Friday, Jan. 22, against West Islip. The division is 12 this year, with Patchogue-Medford and Middle Country off the Varsity level and ESM, Longwood and St. Mary’s added to it; St. Anthony’s and Longwood are the only teams ESM plays once. The quarterfinals are Feb. 1, the semifinals Feb. 3 and the final a best-of-three, Feb. 5-10. Every SCHSHL varsity game streams on the LI Sports Network YouTube channel, and the division standings update through the season.
Games to circle
Mon., Sept. 14 — against Connetquot/Sayville. ESM has not had a Varsity team in the three seasons our records cover, so this is the first varsity game for everyone on the filing. Connetquot/Sayville went 8-12 last season and lost their quarterfinal 2-1.
Wed., Sept. 30 — against Smithtown/Hauppauge. The team that beat this group twice by 6-2 and then lost the junior varsity final to them in three. Smithtown/Hauppauge finished first in the Varsity division last season at 18-2 and went to the county final.
Mon., Oct. 5 — against St. Mary’s. Two programs new to the division meeting for the first time. St. Mary’s is playing its first varsity season, so neither side has anything on the other.
Sun., Nov. 15 — against St. Anthony’s. The county and Long Island champions, and one of the two teams ESM sees only once. St. Anthony’s lost three games all last season and won the county final in three.
2026-27 Eastport-South Manor Varsity roster
| Player | Most recent record |
|---|---|
| Daniel Brown | Freshman 2024-25, 23-12—35 |
| Alexander D’Amico | JV 2024-25, 0-2—2 |
| Ryan Dierlam | JV 2024-25, 3-4—7 |
| Leonardo Gigante | Ward Melville JV 2025-26, 2-3—5 |
| Dylan Gray | Freshman 2024-25, 7-8—15 |
| Jake Hutchinson | Middle Country freshman 2023-24, 10-10—20 |
| Alex Jablonski | West Islip JV 2025-26, 16-6—22 |
| Dino Lisica | JV 2024-25, 1-6—7 |
| Justin Masone | JV 2024-25, 15-17—32 |
| Logan McGregor | JV 2024-25, 0-1—1 |
| Ryan McMillin | Middle Country varsity 2025-26, 1-1—2 |
| Elijah Moran | ESM freshman 2025-26, 19 games in goal |
| Ryan Sawicki | Ward Melville varsity 2025-26, 3-1—4 |
| Hugo Schleiffelder | No record |
| Jacob St. Clair | Freshman 2024-25, 11-10—21 |
| Alexander Wojciechowski | JV 2024-25, 12-12—24 |
| Damian Zacharewicz | JV 2024-25, 20 games in goal |
The roster filing provided does not give jersey numbers, positions or class years, so none are listed. Name spellings follow the league scoring record. Scoring lines are goals-assists—points, from lihockey.com. Eastport-South Manor has no Varsity team in the three seasons our records cover, so no player on this roster carries an ESM varsity line. Coaching staff has not been confirmed.