Stephen Mammola took his liking of hockey and familiarity with the Newtown High School-New Fairfield co-op team and applied it to his capstone project by organizing floor hockey games at the high school this past spring as his junior year concluded. Through Mammola's efforts a group of floor hockey players got to test their skills against opponents from Staples of Westport and Masuk of Monroe for a good cause with money from ticket sales raised for Newtown's Unified Sports program.

"This began as just a capstone project for school, but it morphed into something a lot bigger. It gave students the opportunity to play hockey at an ultra affordable cost, and brought a new sport to Newtown and other schools across the state. My passion for hockey certainly sparked it originally because it was a huge amount of work. Essentially building a team from the ground up — players, coaches, and staff," Mammola said. "And creating a league with other schools was a tremendous effort, but the end result was truly incredible."

Plans are already underway for next year and other schools will join the league, said Mammola, adding that the hop is for playoffs at the end of the season next time around. "This summer, the team will bring in a whole group of Operations Staff to run this expanding team, as it is fully run by students. We will also begin recruiting more players and working diligently to ensure we have an even better season," Mammola added.

A behind-the-scenes hockey role is nothing new for Mammola. Along with running all of the day-to-day operations for the floor hockey team, he works for the Newtown-New Fairfield ice hockey co-op squad during the winter months as director of player relations, working mainly in team operations, athlete development, and program support, he said.

What's more, he is also a part of the action. Mammola enjoys the sport, grabbed a stick and one of the custom jerseys he had made for the team members, and played alongside and against mostly high school ice hockey team players with a few other athletes mixed in.

When it comes time for college, Mammola plans to major in Sports Management and have a career working in operations for a pro sports team.

As for the games, Newtown defeated Staples 8-7 in overtime and Masuk 10-6, both at NHS.

Against Staples, Andrew Stango had four goals and an assist, Mammola and Luca Moura both scored twice and had a pair of assists, and Noel McLeod, Mike Risoli, and Frankie Cannizzo also chipped in with an assist each.

After Newtown established a 5-0 lead Staples battled back and eventually seized a 7-6 edge. With 30 seconds left, Mammola called a timeout and gathered the team around. Coming out of the timeout, Newtown pulled its goalie for the extra attacker and Stango lit the lamp with 16 seconds left to tie it (get a hat trick) and send the game to overtime. Just four minutes into overtime, Stango scored again, picking up his fourth of the game to win it.

Against Masuk, Stango netted six goals and two assists, Mammola and Mike Risoli both had a goal and two assists, Ryan Payne scored a goal and had an assist, Carter Bisson had a goal and racked up numerous saves as goaltender, Frankie Cannizzo logged two assists, and Aidan Lourenco also had an assist.

The season featured awards: MVP: Andrew Stango (assistant captain); Most Improved: Noel McLeod (assistant captain); Leadership: Stephen Mammola (captain); Sportsmanship: Frankie Cannizzo; and Coaches Award: Stephen Mammola

Newtown's lineup also got strong contributions from Jack Meade, Jack Carta, and Aidan Lourenco. Head Coach Jeff Tolson and Assistant Coach Dan Farina helped ensure things ran smoothly during practices and games. Tolson and Farina were impressed with Mammola's efforts and execution in making the project come to life.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.