By Rich Chrampanis
WALL – The Shore Conference altering its hockey postseason format to a top eight team bracket playing for the Handchen Cup with the next eight teams vying for the Dowd Cup has proven to be a welcome change. The 2025 Handchen Cup saw upsets and overtime thrillers and, in the end, the Marlboro-Holmdel co-op stood on top after winning as the number six seed.
The Mustangs beat fifth seed Howell 6-4 in the Cup final at Jersey Shore Arena. Marlboro-Holmdel upset third seed Ocean in the opening round before knocking out second seed Rumson-Fair Haven 2-1 in overtime.
In the title game, Marlboro-Holmdel fell behind 3-1 at the end of the first period before taking control of the game in the second period. Sasha Saks, Alen Grigorian and Phillip Revzin all lit the lamp to give the Mustangs a 4-3 lead heading into the third period.
After Larry Merrill tied the game for Howell in the third period, Cam Estok was able to take the puck near mid-ice and glide into the offensive zone and score a beauty to give Marlboro-Holmdel the lead. A Tyler Scarpino insurance goal sealed the win and the Mustangs first Cup title in 14 years.
“You know, there’s only one Shore Conference winner for a year now that there’s a new format and it’s us,” Estok said. “So we’re one out of like 20 to 25 teams in the Shore Conference so it feels really special. We’re the top team.”
Perhaps what’s most impressive about a co-op team winning a title is athletes from two different schools coming together to compete as one cohesive roster.
“We worked really hard to being one unit,” head coach Eric D’Appolonia said. “I know we’re Marlboro and Holmdel but we’re one team. We are the Mustangs. We are the Stangs. We’re one team.”
The article originally appeared in the February 20 – 26, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
