Ice hockey: Michael Cambria to replace Ed Witz as head coach of state champ Pelham
He starred at Iona Prep, played some juniors hockey, then won a national American Collegiate Hockey Association title with NYU.
But, arguably, Michael Cambria has stepped onto an even bigger stage now, approved by the Pelham Board of Education to replace Ed Witz just three months after the two celebrated Pelham's second state title in six seasons.
Cambria, 30, was on the bench for both state championships, serving, for seven seasons, as Witz's assistant, or, as Witz explained, his "right-hand guy."
His selection was heartily endorsed by Witz, who remains head of the Ice Hutch, the team's home ice arena, located just over the Pelham border in Mount Vernon.
"We've done a lot together. ... He's great with people. He's the absolute perfect fit," said Witz, who retired after 38 seasons. "He will do great, amazing things, and I couldn't be happier MIchael got it."
Cambria noted fellow assistant Bob Kelly will also return after a season in which the Pelicans went 20-2-2.
"He's been around high school hockey and will help me, for sure," Cambria said of Kelly.
But it's not like Cambria is new to on-ice leadership roles.
The 2010 Iona Prep grad, who subsequently spent a year playing with then-Long Island-based New York Apple Core juniors program, majored in sports management at NYU with the intention of becoming a sports agent.
But the pull of the ice was too strong.
Cambria, who had 34 points in 34 games with a plus-25 rating his senior year for NYU, has worked as a hockey instructor for better than a decade and is now director of skill development for Erik Nates Euro Hockey.
His work takes him to multiple states but he also regularly instructs locally for Nates, including for Pelham Youth Hockey, the Rye Rangers and the Mamaroneck Youth Hockey Association.
Still, knowing it's hard to compare those experiences to 38 years behind the Pelham bench, Cambria doesn't try.
Speaking from Georgia, where he was heading a Nates camp this week, Cambria compared following Witz as Pelham head coach to playing short for the Yankees after Derek Jeter's departure.
"The way I look at it, with his coaching career and legacy, there's no way to replace him," Cambria said. "My biggest priority is to continue where he left off. I've learned an incredible amount from him."
Calling Pelham "one of the best high school hockey teams in New York state," he mused that in 38 years he might leave the team in a better place than where it is now.
38-year run ends: After Sunday's state-title triumph, Ed Witz says goodbye to Pelham
The Rye Brook resident, who's scheduled to marry childhood friend and former Ursuline golfer Jamie Chiariello in little more than two weeks, already has a pocketful of cherished memories from being Pelham's assistant coach.
There was that 2017 championship and, of course, this year's title, won in dramatic fashion with senior Ben Rosenberg scoring in overtime against Section 6's Starpoint.
Cambria doubts he'll ever forget that goal or being with Witz as the puck crossed the goal line.
"The first thing Ed and I did was grab each other and hug. To see all his hard work culminate. ... He's such a role model," Cambria said.
One tenant of Witz's coaching that aided in that win was for coaches not to get wrapped up in a win/loss count and always, "Keep it about the kids," Cambria indicated.
And part of that was listening to players.
So when Pelham lost its starting goalie before the season began and the team's captains came forward to suggest a junior forward who failed to make the varsity team be given a look in net despite not playing there since grade school, the coaching staff didn't dismiss the idea.
Instead, Jack Mallinson was allowed to suit up in goalie gear for a practice. One "glove save out of nowhere" off an odd-man rush later, and Cambria said the thinking was, "Maybe the season could be saved."
"(Ed) managed personalities. He listened to kids and took their opinions," Cambria said.
Witz also had a close alliance with the community, which Cambria, who, grew up in the Bronx and first started playing hockey at age 4, also seems to have.
When Witz announced his departure in March, Cambria, who most recently coached the Pelham varsity's defense but previously coached its power play, noted community members stepped forward to advocate for him getting the job.
"A lot of players said they (didn't) want to play for someone else," Cambria said.
As Cambria, who calls hockey "the best sport in the world" takes the helm with Pelham, he's sure that support and the community's support of the overall program will continue.
"The atmosphere is like Friday Night Lights," he said. "I just think it's a hockey-crazy town. It's almost like football in Texas."
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ice hockey: Michael Cambria replaces Ed Witz as head Pelham coach
