"It Felt Like We Were in High School Again"

Apr 16, 2025

By Michael Fornabaio (@fornabaioctp)

 

Almost 40 minutes into his pro debut on Sunday, Ross Mitton scored his first pro goal, turned around, pumped his fists and glided backward to the boards with open arms to await his Bridgeport Islanders teammates to celebrate.

And the first person he saw skating toward him, the first of his brand-new teammates, was a man he's known for years growing up on Long Island.

"Honestly, it really made me feel proud," Bridgeport defenseman Marshall Warren said. "One of your best buddies, being able to see him do something that's super-cool, scoring his first pro goal: It almost brought tears to my eyes. It was really special, because I know how hard he works. I know how much he wanted to sign a pro deal."

Mitton, from Copiague, and Warren, of Laurel Hollow, go back a long way. Back through playing against each other as teenagers, playing together as younger teenagers, going to high school together for a couple of years, trying out for the same teams.

"It has made the transition a lot easier having him here, you know, to teach me the ways," said Mitton, whose final college season ended last month with Maine in the NCAA tournament. "Pro hockey is just way different than college. You've got guys of all ages, and just the way things are, it's a lot different. I was happy to have him here to show me the ropes."

Warren remembers meeting Mitton when he was about 9 -- he'll turn 24 this Sunday, Apr. 20; Mitton is about nine and a half months older – at Iceland, a rink in New Hyde Park.

 

 

"It's kind of funny because he had like a huge white cage or something," Warren said. "We just started talking, and funny enough, we became pretty close."

Mitton was big for their age, Warren remembered, and didn't realize his strength, getting in trouble for wrecking some smaller players. Warren tried out for the Long Island Royals with Mitton, but Warren didn't make the team. Mitton showed Warren around Portledge School, and they were together there for a couple of years, going to math classes and playing hockey games together. They also played for the New Jersey Avalanche together.

"We'd see each other every day, but then our moms would come pick us up. They would switch off each day, take us to Jersey together," Mitton said. "So we spent almost every day together outside of school, too."

Warren went on to the United States National Team Development Program. Mitton went to the USHL, and he scored a couple of goals in a weekend sweep of the NTDP team, wrecking a superb record against USHL teams, Warren remembered.

Warren went to Boston College, serving as captain in his fourth year. Mitton headed to Colgate, helping the school win its first ECAC championship in 33 years. (Mitton scored the winning goal in double overtime in the Red Raiders' semifinal victory. That makes him a good local trivia answer, actually: Who was the last player to score a game-winning goal against Quinnipiac in 2022-23?)

Both transferred for their pandemic-bonus year, Warren to Michigan, Mitton to Maine.

Warren reached pro hockey first, signing with the New York Islanders last spring. He played a couple of games for Bridgeport in 2023-24 and has played 51 games this year in his rookie season. He'd rather win more games, but he says he's taking lessons from the defeats.

"It's been good. I think; a learning curve," Warren said. "Your first year pro, you're just taking everything in. I think I've been able to produce, and I've been able to just learn everything. I think it's the biggest thing for sure, just take everything in."

Bridgeport coach Rick Kowalsky likes the positive energy Warren brings.

"He's a confident kid, which is a good thing," Kowalsky said. "He's learning to level off a little bit of the high risk/high reward. I like the way he can activate in the rush, but at times he's a little too anxious. His intentions are right for sure.

"And then the biggest thing is realizing there's another side of the puck as well, that you've got to be a defenseman first. So I think when he's played his best games, he moves the puck quick and kind of supports the offense from a secondary standpoint, like a second wave as opposed to maybe leading the rush, and he's solid defensively, and that's something that he's got to continue to grow."

It's tough to get a good gauge in a couple of weeks as players get their feet wet, Kowalsky said, but since Mitton signed his amateur tryout, the coach said, Mitton has looked like a hard-working, well-conditioned player.

"I like his demeanor in the sense that, it looks like, he has a workman's mentality," Kowalsky said.

"He skates very well. He's in really good shape. For me, if he ends up being a factor in this league, I think there's going to have to be a physical element there, which, again, that's going to take time to get comfortable. But he certainly can skate at this level."

The original plan was not to play Mitton on Sunday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Bridgeport's home finale; maybe the Islanders could get him in this coming weekend on the road. But then the AHL suspended three Bridgeport forwards after a fracas at the end of Saturday's game, and another forward had been injured a few shifts earlier.

 

It was all hands on deck.

"I didn't know until I got to the rink; they sent the text saying everyone come ready to play, because we didn't know with all the suspensions and stuff," Mitton said. "I saw my number on the board, texted my parents, told them I was in and started getting ready for the game."

His parents rushed to the car and made it to Total Mortgage Arena in time for warmup and his professional debut.

"I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be," Mitton said. "As soon as I got the puck in the first couple shifts, I was pretty comfortable out there, so I was able to make some plays and was lucky enough to score one."

In the last minute of the second period, Max Dorrington got his stick on a pass in the neutral zone. Jack Randl took the loose puck back into the Penguins zone, carried it around the cage and found Mitton going to the net.

Mitton's shot caromed off a Penguin - his old Maine linemate, Nolan Renwick, of all people - into the net. Sam Bolduc went to get him the puck. Dorrington and Randl joined in the congratulations.

But his old friend was the first to give him a hug.

"He was the first person I saw," Mitton said. "It was actually pretty sweet. It felt like we were in high school again."