March 28, 2026 • 8 mins
April vacation isn't far off, and instead of vegging away in front of the TV or iPad, the City of Boston is rallying kids to get involved in the upcoming Mayor's Cup Street Hockey Tournament! Teams from all over the city are coming to Dorchester to compete, and they're not just in it for the bragging rights. There's a great prize, too! Damien Margardo from Boston Parks and Recreation returns to the show to share all the details parents need to know to get their kids involved.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Great to have you back with us this week.
I'm Nicole Davis. April Bragg is coming up here in
a few weeks and instead of sitting there in front
of the PS five or the iPad, the City of
Boston instead is hoping kids from all over the city
(00:29):
will come out to Garvey Park and get involved in
the upcoming Mayor's Cup street hockey tournament. Kids are not
just in this for the bragging rights or running off
some steam, although that helps. The winners also walk away
with a super cool prize. Damian Mergardo is the man
over at Parks and Reck helping to pull all this together.
He's been on the show before. He's back with us
now and Damien, it's good to have you back. This
(00:50):
really is such a great tradition for these kids.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's a lot of fun about everyone would come down
just you know, friendly competition, you know, competing for the
Mayor's Cup. It will be friendly for a little bit
and then when we start getting down to the elimination rounds,
it changes a little bit, but.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You know, maybe not so friendly after that, but that's okay.
I mean, it's a good thing, I think, to make
sure that kids have that experience. Yeah, and I love
the fact that you start super early. We're talking like
mites and squirts. Let's talk about the different divisions that
kids can compete in.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, so the mites are six year olds to eight
year olds. Roughly, they might sneak in a couple of
five year olds there, but if they're there, they can
usually play. Squirts are nine to ten year olds, and
then we've got our pee wee's that are eleven to twelve.
And this year here, you know, we tried it last
year didn't really work out. We always have girls playing,
(01:42):
usually on the co ed teams. We're trying to do
girls divisions this year, you know and last year. So
we have a U eight division for the girls and
the U ten division, which again is you know, I
think right now as it stands, I think we definitely
have three U ten teams, So it would be great
to get at least two eight teams so we can
have a girls championship.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That would be awesome. How many teams can you have
for each regional division here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So it's you know, it would be it would be
incredible to have and a lot to have eight in
every division. But as it stands right now, I believe
we have eight in the mic division, four in the
pee wee's, four in the squirts I think, and two
and yeah, and two in the ten girls. So okay,
(02:26):
it'll look it good, you know what I mean. I'm
a big more of the maria. I'll figure it out.
I have a whole week to figure it out. So
we like to do, you know, obviously parents like to
bang it out in two days. Yeah, An, you know
there's a lot that goes into it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We are outside, so what's going to happen if there
is rain or God forbid snow? I mean this is
New England, so anything can happen. So this is happening outside,
But do you have a rain plan just in case?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So, like I said, we usually push it. We start
on a Monday, which gives us a whole entire day
because us we're lucky enough to have Patriots Day here
in New England. Yeah, marathon Monday, So while the marathon's
going on, will be at Gavy Park in Dorchester playing
street hockey, and we'll just keep I guess playing a
mother nature that we don't get rain but we do
(03:18):
have the whole week, so I kind of permit the
park out for the whole entire week, and it gives us,
you know, ah, a pretty good window, you know what
I mean. If we get a rainy week, I'll just
after reschedule for all weekend someplace down the line. That's
you know, we don't have an indoor sight at parks
of wrecks so well, and.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Would kind of defeat the purpose of street hockey, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, it does. We're lucky to at Garvey Park. We're
lucky that our street hockey court has lights so we
can play into the evening, usually having the championships in
the evening, which is really The kids think it's really cool,
as you know, you played to play under the lights
is fun. I mean, I played under the lights sports
(03:58):
and it's it's good time. So absolutely, you're pretty cool
when you're playing at night.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So yeah, right, especially if you're like six seven years old,
you're out there like wow, it can be this is
so cool. And it's important to note. I think these
kids don't really have to have a ton of experience, right,
that's the beauty of street hockey. Literally just show up.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, literally, you know I say it all the time.
The best way to introduce any youth to street hockey
is what to hockey in general, is to give them
a stick lit a ball, just like you would with basketball.
Have someone just give you some sort of like how
to hold a stick if you're a lefty, if you're righting.
Athletes can play street hockey. Any athlete you can. If
(04:38):
you can run, you can play street hockey. It's pretty easy,
you know what I mean. Like we're lucky throughout the
you know, another program we run is the Willie o
Re Street Hockey Crew. Throughout the summer, we're at different
neighborhoods all over Boston and giving kids hockey sticks and
balls and goalie equipment and trying to introduce them to hockey.
(05:00):
It's just the numbers go up and down. You know.
I think right now we're on a little bit of
a downslope, so it even you know, it's great the
Bruins right now possibly in the playoffs, so that that
helps generate a little bit. Speaking of Ruins, you know,
the Ruins are a huge sponsor of all our Mayor's
Cup hockey stuff, Boston Bruins Foundation, P and G. Gillette.
They help out.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, they're a great team, and I love how they
work in the community. I mean, yes, of course they
bring us championships when they can, but it's really cool
that they're out there inspiring these young kids. And even
if you again, you don't even need to skate, you
literally just have to put on your sneakers, maybe grab
some pads. Do you have pads for them? How are
they protected?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So they we do have some of the goalie equipment.
We have goalie equipment. Okay, so team doesn't have goal
equipment because that's usually the biggest turtle, right.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
We have sticks. We have some gloves, not a ton
of gloves, but usually a lot of the kids have gloves.
A lot of parents have extra gloves. They come with
all their extra gear.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
You don't obviously, as you know, you don't have to
wear a helmet or a cage in street hockey. If
you want them, I would want you to, you know
what I mean. I'm a hockey player, lost teeth and scars,
and you don't want to go down that road.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
No, not at six years old. If we can avoid it.
Although it is baby teeth so they probably would grow back,
but still I would like to avoid cosmetic surgery on
April vacation. If we can avoid that, yeah, exactly. Well,
then how much does it cost for a team to
get involved here and how can they register?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It is free. You can go to Boston dot gov.
Backslash Sports go on Boston dot gov. If you go
to Boston Park's erect we have all of our programs
that we're running. There's a bunch of flyers out there.
Our social media has been blasting out there with There's
a QR code that you can scan to register and
also reach out to me, which is Damian dot Margato
(06:49):
at Boston dot gov and I can guide you along,
help you along on how to register a team. Registration closes,
I think what in the beginning of April. See what
we are numbers wise, This past week we had seven
teams like just all of a sudden pop up in
a role. So that's why we're at like eighteen teams now.
So we're very, very fortunate. Every year it goes up
(07:10):
a little bit, which again I love, so.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Not a bad thing and you don't need to be
in a certain neighborhood because again this has taking place
over at the Garvey Park in Dorchester, but any part
of the city, Alston, Brighton, East Charlestown, Roxbury, Mattapan, you
can take part.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yes, we have a right now. We currently have a
team from you know, we have teams from Parkway, we
have teams from Hyde Park, we have a team from
Ulster Brighton, Dorchester Soelthie. Actually, for the first time in
a very long time, we have a team from East Boston.
East Boston guys.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, I'm very excited about it. So so yeah, anywhere
in the city. We even let you pick. You know,
if you have friends that live outside the city, they're
more than welcome to play with you, as long as
your team is predominantly City of Boston incidence.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
That works. Yeah, grab a couple ever kids, or maybe
in Arlington kid if you know they're really good in
the goal and just be like, hey, what are you
doing on April break? Come on down. Okay, So again,
Boston dot gov. Just go to parks and rec and
sign up. You said till early April is pretty general, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Cool, I mean, anybody that wants to come out and
watch your two. You more than welcome to It's fun.
We have a good time down there. We were at
Mochly last year. It was a real lot of fun.
Just go look at some of the pictures we have.
They have a good time and these kids get very competitive.
You win a ring a ring, okay, Oh yeah, it's
no joke, you know, so.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We don't mess around. I love it all right. Well, Damien,
thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Thank you for your tech.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join us again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Great to have you back with us this week.
I'm Nicole Davis. April Bragg is coming up here in
a few weeks and instead of sitting there in front
of the PS five or the iPad, the City of
Boston instead is hoping kids from all over the city
(00:29):
will come out to Garvey Park and get involved in
the upcoming Mayor's Cup street hockey tournament. Kids are not
just in this for the bragging rights or running off
some steam, although that helps. The winners also walk away
with a super cool prize. Damian Mergardo is the man
over at Parks and Reck helping to pull all this together.
He's been on the show before. He's back with us
now and Damien, it's good to have you back. This
(00:50):
really is such a great tradition for these kids.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's a lot of fun about everyone would come down
just you know, friendly competition, you know, competing for the
Mayor's Cup. It will be friendly for a little bit
and then when we start getting down to the elimination rounds,
it changes a little bit, but.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You know, maybe not so friendly after that, but that's okay.
I mean, it's a good thing, I think, to make
sure that kids have that experience. Yeah, and I love
the fact that you start super early. We're talking like
mites and squirts. Let's talk about the different divisions that
kids can compete in.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, so the mites are six year olds to eight
year olds. Roughly, they might sneak in a couple of
five year olds there, but if they're there, they can
usually play. Squirts are nine to ten year olds, and
then we've got our pee wee's that are eleven to twelve.
And this year here, you know, we tried it last
year didn't really work out. We always have girls playing,
(01:42):
usually on the co ed teams. We're trying to do
girls divisions this year, you know and last year. So
we have a U eight division for the girls and
the U ten division, which again is you know, I
think right now as it stands, I think we definitely
have three U ten teams, So it would be great
to get at least two eight teams so we can
have a girls championship.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That would be awesome. How many teams can you have
for each regional division here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So it's you know, it would be it would be
incredible to have and a lot to have eight in
every division. But as it stands right now, I believe
we have eight in the mic division, four in the
pee wee's, four in the squirts I think, and two
and yeah, and two in the ten girls. So okay,
(02:26):
it'll look it good, you know what I mean. I'm
a big more of the maria. I'll figure it out.
I have a whole week to figure it out. So
we like to do, you know, obviously parents like to
bang it out in two days. Yeah, An, you know
there's a lot that goes into it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We are outside, so what's going to happen if there
is rain or God forbid snow? I mean this is
New England, so anything can happen. So this is happening outside,
But do you have a rain plan just in case?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So, like I said, we usually push it. We start
on a Monday, which gives us a whole entire day
because us we're lucky enough to have Patriots Day here
in New England. Yeah, marathon Monday, So while the marathon's
going on, will be at Gavy Park in Dorchester playing
street hockey, and we'll just keep I guess playing a
mother nature that we don't get rain but we do
(03:18):
have the whole week, so I kind of permit the
park out for the whole entire week, and it gives us,
you know, ah, a pretty good window, you know what
I mean. If we get a rainy week, I'll just
after reschedule for all weekend someplace down the line. That's
you know, we don't have an indoor sight at parks
of wrecks so well, and.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Would kind of defeat the purpose of street hockey, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, it does. We're lucky to at Garvey Park. We're
lucky that our street hockey court has lights so we
can play into the evening, usually having the championships in
the evening, which is really The kids think it's really cool,
as you know, you played to play under the lights
is fun. I mean, I played under the lights sports
(03:58):
and it's it's good time. So absolutely, you're pretty cool
when you're playing at night.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So yeah, right, especially if you're like six seven years old,
you're out there like wow, it can be this is
so cool. And it's important to note. I think these
kids don't really have to have a ton of experience, right,
that's the beauty of street hockey. Literally just show up.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, literally, you know I say it all the time.
The best way to introduce any youth to street hockey
is what to hockey in general, is to give them
a stick lit a ball, just like you would with basketball.
Have someone just give you some sort of like how
to hold a stick if you're a lefty, if you're righting.
Athletes can play street hockey. Any athlete you can. If
(04:38):
you can run, you can play street hockey. It's pretty easy,
you know what I mean. Like we're lucky throughout the
you know, another program we run is the Willie o
Re Street Hockey Crew. Throughout the summer, we're at different
neighborhoods all over Boston and giving kids hockey sticks and
balls and goalie equipment and trying to introduce them to hockey.
(05:00):
It's just the numbers go up and down. You know.
I think right now we're on a little bit of
a downslope, so it even you know, it's great the
Bruins right now possibly in the playoffs, so that that
helps generate a little bit. Speaking of Ruins, you know,
the Ruins are a huge sponsor of all our Mayor's
Cup hockey stuff, Boston Bruins Foundation, P and G. Gillette.
They help out.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, they're a great team, and I love how they
work in the community. I mean, yes, of course they
bring us championships when they can, but it's really cool
that they're out there inspiring these young kids. And even
if you again, you don't even need to skate, you
literally just have to put on your sneakers, maybe grab
some pads. Do you have pads for them? How are
they protected?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So they we do have some of the goalie equipment.
We have goalie equipment. Okay, so team doesn't have goal
equipment because that's usually the biggest turtle, right.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
We have sticks. We have some gloves, not a ton
of gloves, but usually a lot of the kids have gloves.
A lot of parents have extra gloves. They come with
all their extra gear.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
You don't obviously, as you know, you don't have to
wear a helmet or a cage in street hockey. If
you want them, I would want you to, you know
what I mean. I'm a hockey player, lost teeth and scars,
and you don't want to go down that road.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
No, not at six years old. If we can avoid it.
Although it is baby teeth so they probably would grow back,
but still I would like to avoid cosmetic surgery on
April vacation. If we can avoid that, yeah, exactly. Well,
then how much does it cost for a team to
get involved here and how can they register?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It is free. You can go to Boston dot gov.
Backslash Sports go on Boston dot gov. If you go
to Boston Park's erect we have all of our programs
that we're running. There's a bunch of flyers out there.
Our social media has been blasting out there with There's
a QR code that you can scan to register and
also reach out to me, which is Damian dot Margato
(06:49):
at Boston dot gov and I can guide you along,
help you along on how to register a team. Registration closes,
I think what in the beginning of April. See what
we are numbers wise, This past week we had seven
teams like just all of a sudden pop up in
a role. So that's why we're at like eighteen teams now.
So we're very, very fortunate. Every year it goes up
(07:10):
a little bit, which again I love, so.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Not a bad thing and you don't need to be
in a certain neighborhood because again this has taking place
over at the Garvey Park in Dorchester, but any part
of the city, Alston, Brighton, East Charlestown, Roxbury, Mattapan, you
can take part.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yes, we have a right now. We currently have a
team from you know, we have teams from Parkway, we
have teams from Hyde Park, we have a team from
Ulster Brighton, Dorchester Soelthie. Actually, for the first time in
a very long time, we have a team from East Boston.
East Boston guys.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, I'm very excited about it. So so yeah, anywhere
in the city. We even let you pick. You know,
if you have friends that live outside the city, they're
more than welcome to play with you, as long as
your team is predominantly City of Boston incidence.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
That works. Yeah, grab a couple ever kids, or maybe
in Arlington kid if you know they're really good in
the goal and just be like, hey, what are you
doing on April break? Come on down. Okay, So again,
Boston dot gov. Just go to parks and rec and
sign up. You said till early April is pretty general, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Cool, I mean, anybody that wants to come out and
watch your two. You more than welcome to It's fun.
We have a good time down there. We were at
Mochly last year. It was a real lot of fun.
Just go look at some of the pictures we have.
They have a good time and these kids get very competitive.
You win a ring a ring, okay, Oh yeah, it's
no joke, you know, so.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We don't mess around. I love it all right. Well, Damien,
thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Thank you for your tech.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join us again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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