Success breeds success is a phrase that the Northampton hockey program can take to heart.

Beginning last week, the Konkrete Kids’ four teams in the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League (LVSHL) had a combined 17-1-1 mark on the varsity, junior varsity, middle school, and youth levels.

The team’s varsity team began the year as the league’s defending champions – winning three of the last four titles, and they began this season with a 3-0-1 record. Head coach Brain Ruff likes his chances of extending his championship streak as well as watching the other programs excel.

“The season has been going well for us,” said Ruff heading into last week. “All four of our programs are off to a great start. As far as the varsity we have a good number of returnees back, and we only graduated four seniors.

“With our other programs as well as the varsity, our overall success is a tribute to our parents who always have been incredibly supportive. They have really helped all of teams be highly successful.”

Ruff sees his varsity team as a seasoned unit.

“We may be an older team, but it should be seen as experienced,” stressed Ruff. We had a number of sophomores and juniors who got a lot of varsity time. Now, those guys are the ones who are carrying the team.

“We have a good core who have been solid contributors.”

Through the first four games. Gaven Mollenkof was the team’s leading scorer with 13 points and Nicholas Kotsch had 12 points. Bryce Schache had nine, and Tyler Matute had seven.

Ruff also noted the contributions of Derek and Andrew Raudabaugh. Lorenzo Tita, Tanner Ault, and Christian Evanko. Goalie Bailen Smargiassi is back in the nets, and he had a 3.25 goals against average.

The Kids have a reduced 10-game schedule, so the margin of error is small. They were in a first-place battle with the Lehigh Valley Saints and Bethlehem, but Northampton had played less games than the other two teams.

“We really have to treat every game as a playoff game,” said Ruff. “But we feel pretty confident with our team right now, and we just have to keep working.”

And be successful in the process.