April 2012

April 2012Volume 1; Issue 7

Celebrating The

Season!

Congratulations to New York State’s National Champions:Long Island Royals 16U Team

New York Women All Stars Senior A

In This IssueCH/JFK Dream Season ................................... 15Cornell via Fairport ......................................... 20New York State Championships ....................... 4Hockey USA Championships ........................... 6Central Section ...........................................27-28East Section ..................................................... 16North Section .................................................. 30NU Eliminates Women’s Program .................. 24RIT Women’s Program Goes DI ..................... 18UB Signs Players ............................................ 14USA Hockey ................................................... 12West Section .............................................. 24, 26Women’s College Report ................................ 17

Please send your story ideas, press releases, scores and photos to:

[email protected] or contact one of us at our personal emails:

Randy Schultz at [email protected] Schultz at [email protected]

P.O. Box 354North Tonawanda, NY 14120

(716) [email protected]

Managing Editor Randy SchultzDesigner/Photographer Janet SchultzColumnists Warren Kozierski, Janet Schultz, Randy Schultz

Hockey New York State is an equal opportunity employer.

Contents 2012Hockey New York State

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Hockey NYS April 2012 Page 4

Tier I:10U: Westchester Express Long Island Gulls12U: Syracuse Nationals Rochester14U: Long Island Gulls Westchester Express16U: Long Island Royals Amherst Knights18U: Buffalo Regals Buffalo Saints

Tier II10U: Westchester Vipers Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles12U: Massena Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles14U: Massena Long Island Rebels16U: Massena Clifton Park18U: Niagara JPE Hudson Valley

Tier III10U: Tritown Onondaga12U: Canadaigua Tritown14U: Onondaga Canadaigua16U: Valley Niagara County18U: Niagara Coyotes Bear Mountain

GirlsTier I12U: Buffalo Bisons Syracuse Nationals14U: Buffalo Bisons Syracuse Nationals16U: Buffalo Bisons Lady Islanders19U: NSA Red Rochester Tier II12U: West Seneca Clifton Park14U: Buffalo Regals Rochester Edge16U: Potsdam Brewster18U: Chazy Tompkins

Women’s “B” Syracuse Warriors Buffalo Hornets“A” NY Women All Stars

NYSAHA Notes:

Oswego hosted the NYS Tier II 12U Champi-onships in March. Division I included the Oswego Buccaneers, Long Island Edge, Cheektowaga War-riors, St. Lawrence Thunder and Syracuse Blazers. Division 2 included Westchester Vipers, Elmira Jackets, Saratoga Blue Knights and Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles (pictured above). The semi-finals saw the St. Lawrence Thunder beating Elmira 4-3 and the Niagara JPE beating the Long Island Edge 4-2. St. Lawrence beat Niagara 4-2 for their trip to the Nationals. The Championship game was tied 2-2 going into the third period and with a little over 6 minutes St. Lawrence scored the tie breaking goal. In the Girl’s U12 State Tournament it was the Brewster Lady Bulldogs, Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles, Clifton Park and Saranac Lake in Division I and the Lady Islanders, CNY Bobcats, Lake Placid and West Seneca in Division II. Down to the final games Clifton Park beat the Lady Islanders 2-1 to move

The trip to the Hockey USA Nationals is a long one. Beginning early in the Fall with practice followed by months of games and tournaments and then to the New York State Finals. Each team works hard with their eye on the prize, much like an NHL’er looking at the Stanley Cup.

To begin the journey, after working hard in their sections, teams faced other New Yorker’s in the New York State Amateur Hockey Association State Tournaments. Below are the final scores for those games. Following that are some stories submitted by the team’s on how they did on their way there.

NYSAHA State Champions and Runner Up

Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles (Courtesy NJPE)


into the championship round and West Seneca beat Brewster for the last place in the championship round. West Seneca then beat Clifton Park 3-2 for a trip to the Nationals. In the 16U Youth Division the St. Lawrence Thunder, sanctioned by Massena Minor Hockey, went undefeated through their five tournament games with a 4-0-1 record, including a win over Long Island Rebels in the semi-finals. They posted first round wins over Cheek-towaga, Syracuse and tied Nassau County. In the Clif-ton Park beat Cheektowaga 1-0 in overtime. The Niagara Junior Purple Eagles 18U team won the NYS Championship after going undefeated in all five games in the tournament. Led by Head Coach Jeff Dungan, the strategy was a balanced scoring attack supported by strong defensive play and goaltending. Overall results for the Tournament included 43 goals scored for the Purple Eagles vs just 1 goal against. In the semi-finals the Hudson Valley Polar Bears defeated the favored CP Dynamo in a shoot-out. The second game saw the Cheektowaga Warriors and Niagara Junior Purple Eagles in what was to be a close game. Niagara jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead on their way to an 11-1 triumph. Cory Becker had a hat trick and two goals from Derek Stein led the attack that included 8 different scorers. Marc Mallare was

nearly perfect in goal to earn the win. In the Championship game the Eagles were led by Peter Kazmierczak’s hat trick and the goaltending duo of Cullen Hensely and Mallare on their way to a 7-0 victory.

Niagara Junior Purple Eagles 18U NYS Champs (NJPE Photo)

Buffalo Bisons 12U Tier I team after State win. (Photo submitted by Buffalo Bisons)


New York State teams did very well at the Hockey USA 2012 Nationals with the Long Island Royals bringing home the Youth Tier I 16U championship and the New York Wom-

en’s Al Stars taking the Women’s Senior A Division championship. In addition the St. Lawrence Thunder Youth Tier II 14U, Buffalo Bisons Girls Tier I 16U, West Seneca Wings Tier II 12U and Buf-falo Regals Tier II14U teams came in as runners-up. Amherst Youth Hockey (Amherst, NY) hosted the Youth Tier I Nationals and they were given an invite to the tournament. While they didn’t do very well, they did play their hardest. At the PeeWee level the Syracuse Nationals represented the State beating the Cleveland Lumberjacks 7-3 before falling to the Dallas Stars Elite, LA Selects and New Jersey Colonials. The Chicago Mis-

sion won that Division. Syracuse’s Zach Taylor had 5 goals and 5 assists in four games, placing third in the Top Scorers for the Tournament. Placing ninth was David Farrance with three goals and six assists. Joel Farabee had three goals and four assists. The Amherst Knights lost to the Chicago Mission, Detroit Compuware and Mid-Fairfield Blues. With only a total of four goals scored by the Knights those went to Gregroy Koutsomitis with 2 goals and one each for Zachary Rehbaum and Alexander Fix. The Wilkes Barre/Scranton Junior Knights took the Bantam Division. Play-ing for New York

Hockey USA National Tournament Recap

The Amherst Knights 12U celebrate after scoring! (Photo by Janet Schultz)

Syracuse faces off against the LA Select. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


were the Long Island Gulls and Amherst Knights. The Gulls beat Ohio Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars Elite and lost to the LA Selects and in the quarterfi-nals lost to the St. Louis Blues 5-4 after three over-

times. Long Island’s Jeremy Braco had 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points in the tournament, putting him in the #3 position in the Top Scor-ers in the Tournament. The only goal scored in three games by Am-herst came off the stick of Dante Todaro. The Knights faced the St. Louis Blues, Belle Tire and Mid-Fairfield Blues. The Long Island Royals brought home the Championship in the Midget 16U Division. They beat the Cleveland Barons, Dallas Stars Elite, LA Jr. Kings, Rhode Island and in over-time in the semi-finals, Chicago. Michael Mar-nell scored the overtime goal that would launch them into the Championship game against Dal-las. In a 5-1 victory, Long Island’s Justin Bailey was the Top Scorer in the Tournament with 5 goals and 6 assists in 6 games. Marnell placed #5 overall with 4 goals and 4 assists. Long Island’s goalies took the #2 and #9 spots in the Top Goalkeepers category. Peter Fosso was second and Zachary Wainman, ninth.

Amherst’s Goalie Adam Denitco placed #8 in the over all goalkeepers. Amherst played the Chicago Mission, Honey-baked and Rhode Island. They lost by one goal to

LA checks Syracuse Player! (Photo by Janet Schultz)

Long Island Celebrates After Beating Chicago 5-4 in OT to move on to the Championship Round. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


Rhode Island. In the Midget 18U division it was the Buffalo Regals/Stars and the Amherst Knights playing for New York. Taking home the championship gold was Shatuck St. Mary’s. The Regals/Stars beat the Pittsburgh Hornets 2-1 before losing to Colorado and the LA Jr. Kings. Jake Moore placed fifth in the overall Top Goaltending honors. Buffalo’s goals came from Kyle Mackey, Alex Gleason with assists from MacKey, Nolan Sheeran (2) and Nicholas Gullo. Amherst lost their first game in overtime to the Milwaukee Junior Admirals and then lost to the Detroit Little Caesars and Connecticut Wolfpack. Goals came from Richard Ledyard (2) and Dimitrois Koutsomitis and assisting was Manny Manns. At the Youth Tier II competi-tion in Reston, Virginia the St. Lawrence Thunder PeeWee’s in the 3A division beat the Boulder Bisons 6-4 before losing to the DU Jr. Pioneers and the Toledo Cherokee. The winner of that division was the DU Jr.Pioneers. At the 14U Bantam (3A) Divi-sion the St. Lawrence Thunder took the silver with the Dallas Ice Jets taking home the gold. The Thunder soundly defeated Orange County Hockey, Lancaster Firebirds and the New Hamp-shire Jr. Monarchs with six goals in each of those games. In the quarterfinals they beat Southpoint Rinkrats 4-1; took the Chicago Blue 5-4 in the semi’s and then lost to the Dallas Ice Jets in the

finals. With the top four scorers for the tournament coming from Dallas, the #5 position went to St. Lawrence’s Kaden Pickering with 3 goals and 7 assists and the #8 position went to Jordan Robert with 4 goals and 5 assists. Both St. Lawrence goalies took a top ten position in Goal-keeping with Nathan Burnett named to the #6 position and Logan Brother #10. The 16U Tier II competition was held in Green Bay, Wisconsin with the Hatfield Ice Dogs taking home the championship. For New York the St. Law-rence Thunder fought the Flint Phantoms, WHEL Madison and Littleton Hawks. Their only win coming 3-2 over the Hawks. Goalie Jacob Watson placed #5 in the overall Goaltenders for the tournament.

Scoring for the Thunder in the tournament were James MacDon-ald with 2 goals and one assist; Trevor Keleher and Tyler Young, each with one goal. Assists came from MacDonald, Zach Spear (2), Robert Scott and Tyren Terrance. Clifton Park made it to the semi-finals with three games that were shut-outs. They beat Allen Americans 6-0; Rhode Island Saints 1-0 and Golden Wolves 5-0. Their first loss came at the hands of the Chesterfield Falcons in the quarterfinals. Chesterfield would move on to win the Cham-pionship. In the semi-finals Clif-ton lost to the Junior Checkers. Clifton’s Clement Ferris had 6 goals and 2 assists in the tour-nament putting him in fourth position overall in the Top Scor-ers. Teammate Kyle Hubschmitt placed ninth with 3 goals and 4 assists. Clifton’s goalie was

Long Island’s Justin Bailey (#95) was #1 in Top Scorers for the Midget 16U Division. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


named #1 in the tournament with 3 wins and 2 losses Brandon Rathwell had a 1.20 GAA. In Michigan the Niagara Junior Purple Eagles beat the Phoenix Force, Tri Valley Blue Devils, Mid State Mustangs in the 18U (3A) division. They lost to the Dallas Oilers and their final loss came in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Sylvania Maple Leafs, who ad-vanced to the finals and lost. The Dallas Oilers took home the championship. One other New York team played in that divi-sion. The Hudson Valley Polar Bears lost all three of their matches. They played the South Shores Con-quisadors, Littleton Hawks and Chicago Bruins. NU’s Corey Becker came in tenth in the Top Scoring category of his division in the tournament with 3 goals and 4 assists. Scoring for NU over the weekend were Sean Dungan, Derek Steen, David James, Steve Gentner, Adam Dikeman, Connor Hagner and Williams Moore. Each one of them also had assists. Hudson Valley’s goals came from Timmy Conlin and Zack Kakuda with two coming off the stick of Steve Beck. Moving on the Girls Nationals… Tier I 12U was represented by the Buffalo Bi-sons. With two losses to Milwaukee and Connecti-cut, their only win was a 5-1 over Pittsburgh Penn Elite. The winner of that division was Assabet Valley Girls. Maureen Murphy had 2 goals and 4 assists;

Coaty Ostendor, 3 goals, 1 as-sist; Olivia Smith, 1 goal and Clara Baron, 1 assist. At the Tier I 14U it was again the Buffalo Bisons making their presence known. They beat the Colorado Select 3-2, Pittsburgh Penn Elite and the Mid Fairfield Blues 3-2 in overtime. Their losses came at the hands of the Lady Ducks and the East Coast Wizards, who ended up with the silver. Assabet Valley took home the Gold. Buffalo’s Ashley Songin placed #10 in Top Scorers and Goalie Rachael Farmer took

#8 in Top Goalkeepers. Sarah Wolf had 2 goals, 2 assists for Buffalo; Olivia Zafuto, 2 goals 1 assist; Emma Elia, 1 goal, 2 assists; Abby Welch, a goal and an assist and Michele Robillard, a goal and an assist. The Buffalo Bisons took the silver in the 16U division after they were defeated 3-2 by Assabet Valley Girls. Their games were high scoring with a 5-4 win over Team Pittsburgh; 5-1 over Colorado

West Seneca Girls 12U following their State Championship. They brought home the Silver from the Nationals. (Photo submitted by West Seneca Wings)

Buffalo Bisons Girls 14U after their State win. They took second place at the Nationals. (Photo

submitted by the Buffalo Bisons)


Selects; 4-0 over Lady Ducks; 7-2 over the Ct. Polar Bears in the Quarterfinals and 6-2 over Team Pittsburgh in the Semi-finals. When the Top Scoring and Top Goalkeeper list came out the Bisons again did well with the top three positions going to Maddie Elia, Julianne Iafallo and Allison Gasuik, respectively. Coming in at number 6 was Madison Sansone. Sydney Glynn placed second in the goaltenders with Madison Welch taking the last spot at #10. Elia had 7 goals and 9 assists; Iafallo, 6-7; Gasuik, 6-5 and San-sone, 4-3. Lake Placid’s National Sports Academy split their four games with a 9-1 win over the Rice Knights and a 7-2 win over the East Coast Wizards. They then lost to the Shattuck St. Mary’s team and Chicago Mission. Tak-ing home the gold was Assabet Valley. Megan Whiddon placed first in the top scorers for the tour-nament with 6 goals and 4 assists and Jaclyn Arbour had a goal and

7 assists for the #7 posi-tion. The West Sen-eca Wings brought home the silver after losing in the champion-ship game 3-0 to the Glenview Stars. To get there they beat the Pittsburgh Predators in

a shootout, followed by a 2-1 vic-tory over the Colorado Selects, a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Jr. Sharks, who they would face and beat in the semi-finals 7-2; and a 4-0 win over the Princeton Tiger Lillies. Janelle Platt had 7 goals and 2 assists for a #4 spots in the Top Scorers and Brianna Gawronski took 8th in the Top Goalkeepers. At the 14U level it was the Buffalo Regals losing one regular game against the Alaska Icebreak-ers in a shootout. Little did they know that is who they would face in the Championship and lost a heartbreaking 2-1. The Regals beat Team Pittsburgh, Mt. State Rock Stars, Greenwich Skating Club and the Michigan Icebreak-ers. Taking the first and second place in Top Scorers were Maddie Norton at #1 with 6 goals and 3 assists and #2 Alyse Borelli with 4 goals and 4 assists. Coming in fourth was Emma Ruggerio with 4 goals and 3 assists. Both Mat-

tie Utz and MaKenna Walp were named in the Top Ten Goalkeep-ers. Utz at #3 and Walp at #7. The Potsdam Ice Storm and Brewster Lady Bulldogs played in the 16U Tier II Girls division. Potsdam’s first game ended 3-2 in their favor after a shootout againt the San Jose Sharks. They then beat Mt. State Rock Stars 5-2, Ct. Polar Bears 4-1 and then in the quarterfinals and semi-finals faced two overtimes first a 3-2 win over the Alliance Bulldogs and a 3-4 OT win over the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks moved on to face the Ct. Polar Bears and the Bears took home the gold. Potsdam’s Margaret Troiano and Jordyn Clothier took Top Scorer honors placing #3 and #10 respectively. Troiano had 5 goals/3 assists; Clothier 3 goals/3 assists. The Lady Bulldogs only win was a 3-2 victory over the Mt. State Rock Stars. They lost to the Ct. Polar Bears and San Jose. Scoring for the Bulldogs was Diane Cerone, Sarah Kapian, Meredith Keenan and Erica Guicle. The final game in the Youth Girls Division was the 19U’s. The Chazy Lady Flyers from Upstate New York lost to the Colorado Tigers Elite in their first game. It was a 3-2 overtime loss. They beat Team Alaska 4-1 and then were dealt two more losses with the Steel City Select (2-1) and the Alliance Bulldogs (5-1) in the quarterinals. The Alliance Bull-dogs took home the gold. Christine Emery placed #8 in the Top Goalkeepers List at the

Buffalo Bisons 16U team that went on to the Nationals after their State victory. (Photo submitted by Buffalo Bisons)

The 14th Annual Todd Marchant Hockey School

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8 a.m. to 4 p.m.(Saturday is Final On-Ice Games & Awards)

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Enrollment Includes: 16 Hours on-ice, instructed by recognized area coaches, organized dryland activities, on-site medical trainer, guest speakers, lunch included, Todd Marchant Hockey School Jersey, autographed Todd Marchant photo! Goaltending Program available, as well as goaltending equipment!Hockey Camp Fees: One-week Session $365. Deposit of $100 required. Deposit is due May 7, 2012; final payment by June 18, 2012.

For Detailed Information/Registration Call (716) 688-4301 or www.marchanthockey.comAvailable Positions Are Filled On A First Come Basis!


end of the tournament. Scoring Chazy goals during the tournament were Jessica Huber, Sara LoTempio, Amanda Peterson, Alexis Guay and Emily Raville. In the Women’s Senior “C” competition the Rochester Edge lost their first game to the eventual tournament champion, Utah Thunder. They then beat Central Pittsburgh Pigeons and the Lady Monarchs and lost in the Semi-finals to Utah. Rochester had three goals listed in the Top Ten including #1 Jenn Hicks; #4 Nicole Siwik and #7 Brandy Moohr-Lemay. Putting the puck in the net over the weekend series was Bryanne Minnick and Ange Bials and Caitlin Adams had three assists. The Syracuse Warriors played in the “B” Divi-sion. Another tough battle in women’s hockey with the Warriors first game going to overtime and a 3-2

win over the SoCal Westside Shockers. It was a shoot-out in a 2-1 loss to the Rocky Mountain Se-lects before a 8-1 victory over Palm Beach and a 3-2 overtime victory over Brew City in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals they lost to Palm Beach 4-1. The eventual winner was the Happy Cows. Elise Nichols placed fourth in the Top Scorers with 4 goals/4 assists; Jill Cater-Cyker #5 with 3 goals/5 assists and Laura Dahm placed #6 among the goaltenders. The New York Women All Stars brought home the gold after battling Team Connecticut to a 4-3 vic-tory; a shoot out win over Honeybaked (2-1); a shut out over Assabet (3-0) and then 3-2 victories over the Minnesota Blue Js and Team Connecticut. Jennifer Hitchcock had 5 goals for a fifth place finish in the Top Scorers and Goalie Lucy Schoedel took #3 in Top Goalkeepers.


National News

The 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship began

Saturday, April 7 and continued through Sunday, April 17 in Burlington, Vermont. Four Cornell women’s ice hockey players have been named to Team Canada and will play in the 2012 IIHF World Championships. Forwards Rebecca John-ston and Brianne Jenner join defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau on the roster. All four have taken part in the Four Nations Cup in November 2011. Johnston won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2012 and all four players were nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Award this season. Johnston, the ECAC Hock-ey and Ivy League Player of the Year as a senior, won the gold medal playing with Canada at the 2012 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Jenner, who had an incred-ible 58 points as a sophomore this season, was one of the last cuts from that Olympic team but has since been a regular with Hockey Canada. Rougeau, the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman, will be looking to once again make a mark with in the international spotlight. Fortino, a Patty Kazmaier Top 10 Finalist, had the only goal in a 1-0 Canadian victory over the USA in a recent exhibition game. Cornell’s four players are more than any current university has on the team and Cornell Head Coach Doug Derraugh will serve as an assistant coach for Canada.

Pucci Named to Team USA

Josephine Pucci, Pearl River, NY, has been named to the 2012

U.S.A. Women’s National Team that will compete in the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Vermont.Pucci, a junior at Harvard Universisty, is a 5”8” de-fender. A graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, Pucci serves as the Assistant Captain of the Harvard team. She was nominated for the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award and received All-ECAC second team acco-lades and was a finalist for the Best Defensive Defense-man Award this season. She finished this season at Harvard with 21 points on five goals and 16 assists. She was tenth in the nation in points per game among defensemen, averag-ing .81 per contest. Pucci helped Team USA to a gold medal at the 2011 Four Nations Cup. Prior to attending

Harvard, she played defense on the Choate’s varsity hockey team and served as Captain. She was a mem-ber of the Mid Fairfield Connecticut Stars, which took silver in 2005 and bronze in 2008 and 2009 at the USA Hockey Nationals; she served as captain in 2009. Pucci was Choate’s MVP in both her junior and senior years, led the team to the 2008 Founder’s League Championship and she attended Select Camp in Lake Placid in 2007. Continued on Pg. 25

Photo

by G

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ot

2012 ROCHESTER EDGE SUMMER CAMP

July 22nd*-26th 9am-4pm $350

�3 hours on-‐ice

�Athletic Republic Skating Treadmill and Plyometrics

�Rapid Shot and Shooting Rooms

�Team building

�Daily prizes and giveaways

�*Camp Kickoff July 22nd 3:30-‐7:30pm

�Opening and closing ceremonies

�Theme Days

Batavia Hosts StateTier III Championship

(Provided by Batavia Hockey)

Eight teams from across the State traveled to Batavia for the NYS 12U Tier III Championship. Representing the North were Tri-Town and Louisville; Central: Onondaga and Cortland; East: Bronxville and Palisades and from the West: Canandaigua and Batavia.

Batavia played the #1 seed from the East tieing them with 0:00 on the clock. Batavia then played Onondaga with a go ahead goal with 1:10 left on the clock, followed by an Onondaga goal with :49 left on the clock and leaving the game at a 4-4 tie. Batavia then lost to Tri-Town 5-1 to gain 2 points and miss the semi-final cross-over game. Canandaigua beat everyone they played and took the Championship Game in a 4-0 shut-out over Tri-Town. The Batavia Bantam Tier II team also played in the States. Again reports of tight games with Bronxville scoring with :47 left to beat Batavia 4-3. Game two was won by Batavia, 4-1 over Cortland and then they beat the hometown team to give them a place in the semi-final cross-over game. In a match with Onondaga they lost 4-2 with an empty net goal for Onondaga at the end of the game. Onondaga went on to win the title for the 14U Tier III Cham-pionship.

UB Signs Four

Coach Jody Rosen

has signed four players, three from Western New York, for the 2012-13 season. Danica Katz, Chrissy

Wolcott, Bai-ley Danahy and

Shauna Clair have signed their letters to become Lady Ice Bulls. Katz comes from Tampa, Florida where she has played since she was 10 years old, mainly on boys teams. She most recently played with the Tamp Bay Lightning Girls Team. The right or left winger plans to be a major part of the UB team. She is majoring in architecture or engineering. Cheektowaga native Chrissy Wolcott graduated from Cheektowaga High School and has played both boys and girls hockey. Most recently she played with the West Seneca Wings Travel team. A hockey player since age 5, Chrissy brings leadership skills with her hockey skill. The Psychology major was also the cap-tain of the West Seneca 19U team this past season. Bailey Danahy is a Mt. Mercy Academy graduate and played for Cazenovia, Buffalo Regals and West Seneca. She comes back to Buffalo after playing one year with Hamlin University in Minnesota. Bai-ley brings size and tenacity with her. She will be studying Studio Art at UB. Buffalo’s Shauna Clair is also returning to her hometown after playing a year of club hockey at Oswego State College. She is a graduate of Williamsville East High School and played for the Amherst 12U Selects as well as the Buffalo Bisons 19U team. She is a strong offensive player and will be looked at to put the puck in the net for the UB Lady Ice Bulls. The sociology major has been a hockey player since she was 5 years old. Coach Rosen feels all four will play great at this level of hockey and bring a lot of leadership to the team. “Danika sent me a video and I saw that she would fit right in,” said Rosen. “I tried to recruit Shauna two years ago but she wanted to go away to college,” explains Rosen. “I’m happy that she has made the decision to come home to school and hockey.” “Bailey is also a strong fit for the team and brings her DIII experience from Hamlin,” said Coach. “She can play defense and forward.” “I’ve watched Chrissy for a couple of years and when she transferred from Erie Community College I knew she would bring a lot to the table,” said Rosen.


Danica Katz, Chrissy Wolcott, Bailey Danahy and Shauna Clair with Coach Rosen after signing on as UB Lady Bulls. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


As a mix of travel, house and roller hockey players met months ago in October the

leadership of Co-Captains Joe Bauer and Ian Sylves and Assistant Captain Jesse Sasiadek all decided they had a large but attainable goal their senior year, to make it to the State Tourna-ment in NYC. Through a lot of hard work, determination and the best teamwork this club hockey team has ever seen the boys all joined in on the quest. The players didn’t care if they were told they would never make it to “states” for they believed in themselves. The energy and excite-ment began to build after every win they had during the regular season. With the undefeated record of 15-0-1 going into playoffs in the Southtowns High School Club Hockey League the boys first learned of the odds against them. Their first playoff game against the Maryvale Flyers was a tough win as Maryvale fought hard but the Highlanders came out victorious with a shutout win with the senior starter in net Ian Sylves. The 5-0 goals were spread out among all the lines as Austin Junik, Jared Bulinski, Mike Sokol, Nigel Cordulla, and Joe Bauer celebrated in the team win. The next goal for the team was to get to Super Sunday for the Small School Division. Though they played

hard in a two- game series against Cheektowaga Warriors in which the Highlanders learned they had to dig deeper as a team if they wanted to go farther. Although they did not win that series their record and win against Maryvale won them the third seed spot in the Small School State Championships held in Long Beach NY March 2-4. Once the schedule was posted the Highlanders again set more goals, to beat Cheektowaga on a clean sheet of ice. With the long bus ride to NYC the players all talked about hockey and how awesome it would be to win when they were told they should not have even been there. They used this willpower to motivate themselves and the energy on the bus was intoxi-cating. As game one approached the nerves got the best of the team and they lost to Southwest/Maple Grove in a close game of 4-3 with goals scored by Junik, Andrew Slawiak, and Sasiadek and a solid game in net by senior Nick Cordulla. The team went back to their game plan of play-ing as a team since they had to play Cheektowaga in game two that ended their Super Sunday dreams on Friday afternoon. The Highlanders went

on to beat Cheektowaga in a solid 2-3 win with goals scored by Mike Malacaro(2) and Bulinski. This was the icing on the cake. Although in game three the team fell short of their goal to win against a tough Starpoint team due to the win against Cheek-towaga the Highlanders made it to their first semi final game in years.

The coaching leadership of Head Coach Mike Torgal-ski, Assistant Coaches Pat Torgalski and Justin Mul-len motivated this young

group of men to not back down and had a solid victory against South-west/Maple Grove in a 4-1 win with goals scored by Cordulla(2), Chris Miller, and Slawiak and goaltend-ing by Sylves. The team excited to be playing in a Championship game knew they were underdogs with the Long Beach team being stacked with Junior players. The boys came out and played three solid periods of club hockey. The loss of 5-0 did not re-flect how tough they played and they never backed down. The graduating seniors: Joe Bauer, Nick Cordulla, Chris Miller, Jesse Sasiadek, Ian Sylves and Will Urban will talk about this into their college years. As for the upcoming seniors don’t let any-one tell you something is not within your reach as the sky’s the limit for these Highlanders! The parents and families of this team could not have been prouder of how hard they played this year. As the boys rose their sticks at the end of the Champi-onship game to thank the fans in the stands the fans cheered even louder to thank the boys for a great seasonGo Highlander!*

CH/JFK’s Willpower Beats the Odds!

(by Dawn Sylves, Team Manager, CH/JFK

Hockey NYS Needs YOU!

We Need Your Youth Hockey News

Send to:[email protected]

Deadline for April issue is March 28.

NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE

REPORT-EAST

By Warren Kozireski


RPI

With their season ending in a quarter-final playoff sweep to cross-town

rival Union, the Engineers will move forward without seniors Patrick Cullen, Mike Bergin, Joel Malchuk, Alex Angers-Goulet, Josh Rabbini, Justin Smith and Jeremy Coupal, who played in his only collegiate game over the final 5:49 Feb-ruary 18 and made his only career save against Princeton. Former RPI goaltender Allen York stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced in leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings for his first career National Hockey League vic-tory March 29th.

UNION

The Dutchmen won their third ECAC crown by sweeping RPI in the quarterfinals before defeating Colgate in the semi‘s and Harvard in the championship game.

That earned them a top seed and they earned their first trip to the Frozen Four by defeating Michigan State and UMass-Lowell in the East Regional. They were to face fellow first-Frozen opponent Ferris State in the first round of the Frozen Four in Tampa. Goaltender Troy Grosenik and de-fenseman Mat Bodie were named to the ECAC First Team All-League while for-ward Jeremy Welsh was named Second Team and Kelly Zajac Third Team. Grosenik was also named the Top Goaltender and Zajac Best Defensive Forward. Defenseman Shane Gostisbehere was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team and Rick Bennett was named ECAC Coach of the Year.


Cornell

The Big Red’s season came to an end in the national semifinals when

Cornell lost to Minnesota by a 3-1 margin. Minnesota, ranked #2 in the country, had two power play goals in the first period and that held through the third when Alyssa Gagliardi put in a power play goal. Amanda Mazzotta made the final game of her collegiate career one of the best when she saved 38 shots, includ-

ing 19 in a frantic first period. This was Cornell’s third consecu-tive appearance in the Women’s Frozen Four. Cornell closes its’ season and six seniors end their collegiate hockey careers. Graduating are Rebecca John-ston, Chelsea Karpenko, Amanda Mazzotta, Kendice Ogilvie, Catherine White and Amanda Young. They are graduating from the winningest senior class in program history. Cornell’s Laura Fortino was named a First Team All-American for the third consecutive year and forward Rebecca Johnston earned First Team All-Ameri-

can status for the first time. Also recognized was Junior De-fenseman Lauriane Rougeau who was placed on the Second Team All-Ameri-can for the third consecutive season. Fortino leads all Big Red defense-men with 37 points on eight goals and 29 assiswts. She was the only player until this season to be named First Team All-American. Johnston, the team’s leading scorer in each of her four seasons, has 61 points on 30 goals and 31 assists.

Rougeau, who scored in triple-overtime against Boston University that sent Cornell to the Frozen Four, was named Second Team All-America for the third consecutive season. She has scored six goals and added 20 assists for Cornell while racking up a +44 that is second on the team only to Fortino’s +46. RIT

History was made this year when RIT’s

hockey team claimed its first NCAA Division III Women’s National Cham-pionship. They scored three goals in the third period to break a 1-1 tie with defending national champion, Norwich University. They lost to Norwich in the championship round last year. Katie Moss of Webster NY scored for the Tigers and was named to the All-Tournament Team. RIT, who goes to Division I in Col-lege Hockey America next season, had a single season record with 28 wins.

Continued on Page 19

New York StateWomen’s Collegiate

Ice HockeyReportby Janet Schultz

[email protected]

The Rochester Insti-tute of Technology has applied to move

its nationally recognized DIII women’s hockey program to Division I. The announcement came fol-lowing RIT winning its first NCAA Championship on March 17. The Tigers will join College Hockey America (CHA) for the 2012-13 season. “We are very excited to have RIT join

College Hockey America,” said Bob DeGregorio, commissioner of the CHA. “They have had a very successful women’s ice hockey program at the Division III level and it is only fitting for them to elevate their women’s program to Division I. It is my belief that RIT, with the continued support of the administration, will meet the challenges of becoming a Division I women’s ice hockey program. I believe that they will compete im-mediately for both the CHA and the National Champi-onship when they become eligible to do so,” he con-cluded. The women’s program, founded in 1975, will play a full-league schedule next season and be eligible for the CHA post-season play; but not the NCAA post-season play. In 2014-15, RIT would be eligible for NCAA post-season play. The Tigers have had a winning tradition since the program’s inception. Since becoming an of-ficial NCAA Championship sport in 2001, RIT has become a national power, appearing in the NCAA three times and hosting the last two NCAA Division II Women’s Ice Hockey Championships. Sixteen Tigers have earned AHCA All-American honors during that span and since the start of the 2006-07 season, RIT has recorded a remarkable 135-22-10

record. “We are very excited to make the move to Divi-sion I,” said RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald. “We see the success the men have had at this level and want to mirror that. We are excited to play new teams and foster new rivalries.”“This is a huge day for the program,” said McDon-ald.

“We have been waiting for this and are ready for it,” commented McDonald. “There’s been rumors here and we were getting prepared so that when the NCAA moratorium was lifted we could make our application,” he continued. “The past couple of months have been exciting preparing for this,” he continued. “It’s an amazing feeling,” said RIT Co-Captain Tenecia Hiller. “We weren’t sure it was going to happen.” “I’m overwhelmed. We just won a national championship and not we’re going DI and become eligible to play in the DI playoffs,” said RIT Captain Kim Schlattman. “We are looking forward to it and it’s exciting.”*


RIT Goes Division IJoins CHA!

by Janet Schultz

RIT Women’s Ice Hockey Team learns they are going to the CHA as a Division I team in 2012-13.

(Photo by Janet Schultz)

Coach Scott McDonald at the Press Conference. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


Women’s College con-tinued from Page 17

Syracuse

The Orange, with a hat-trick from Shiann Dark-

angelo and a career-high 38 saves from Jenesica Drinkwater, didn’t have enough to move into the finals of the CHA Championship. They were beat by No. 6 Mercy-hurst and completed their season with a 10-22-3 overall record. However, honors went out to Sophomore Margot Scharfe, as she was named to the CHA Sec-ond Team while also earning the Individual Sportsmanship Award and Co-Best Defensive honor. Also named to CHA Second Team was Defenseman Caitlin Roche and Freshmen Nicole Fer-rara and Kaillie Goodnough were named to the All-Rookie Team. Scharfe is tied for the team-lead this season with 26 points and is tied for 81st in the nation in points per game; tied for 55th in goals per game while her 13 goals are seventh in the CHA and her 13 assists are eleventh. Roach has two goals and 11 assists for the Orange in addition to playing on both SU’s power-play and penalty killing units. She is tied for 50th in the nation in points per game among defense-men. Ferrara is third on the team with 17 points and her three game-winning goals are a team-high, including two in overtime. She is a two-time selection as the CHA Rookie of the Week. Goodnough of Mannsville,

NY, leads all Syracuse defense-men with 14 points this season on five goals and nine assists. Shiann Darkangelo took CHA Rookie of the Week Honors on March 5 after netting a hat-trick in a game against Mercyhurst. All three of her goals came on a power-play. That same week Drinkwater was named to the CHA Honor Roll.

Oswego

Tonawanda native and

Oswego Head Coach Diane Dillion regis-

tered the program’s best ECAC West record at 8-8-2 to earn the fourth seed in the league playoffs. The Lakers hosted their first-ever home playoff contest and defeated Neumann, 3-0, in front of the home crowd in their first playoff win to advance to the ECAC West Semifinals. In the Semifinals the Lakers fell to Plattsburgh, 1-0, finishing the season at 11-14-2. Forward Megan Howe (Statford,Ont) was named to the All-ECAC West Second Team after finishing tied second on the squad with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points. Defender Kathryn Sbrocchi (Mississauga,Ont) was an All-ECAC West Honorable Mention leading the team’s blue liners with four goals and seven assists for 11 points. Oswego was led by two New York State women including Cale-donia’s MacKenzie Lee with 18

points on 10 goals and 8 assists and Fairport’s Kelly Collins ended her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 50 points (36 goals, 14 assists). Both are graduating this season. The Lakers are returning three of their top five scorer’s including Howe, Melissa Seamont (North Bay, Ont) and Carly Henderson (Markham, Ont). Also returning is Hamburg’s Bridget Smith and Catherine Cote (Quebec) in goal. Smith recorded a 6-5-1 record with a 2.16 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.

Colgate

Colgate’s Women’s Ice Hockey Head Coach Scott Wiley

resigned from his position after 10 years of service to the Raiders. During his tensure Wiley recorded an overall record of 137-174-34 including a 19-14-3 mark during the ’08-09 season. The 19 wins are a program record. The Raiders also reached the ECAC Hockey playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons, including mak-ing it to the semi-finals in 2006-07. Wiley was named ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year in 2003-04. He served as a volunteer coach in 1999, before becoming a full-time assistant coach in the next two seasons. Colgate was in its second year as a Division I program when Wiley came on board. Continued on

Page 21

Cornell freshman forward Cole Bardreau missed one game in this—his first season of collegiate hockey. That wouldn’t be news except for the fact that he

played for several weeks with a broken bone…in his foot. The 5’10” 185 lb. center finished his first collegiate season with four goals and four assists. Included were two power play goals and a clutch game-winner in overtime on home ice against Dartmouth January 20th. “I knew I always wanted to go Ivy (League), so it was between Cornell, Harvard and Yale,” said Bardreau. “My first college game was Cornell-Harvard here which was an unbelievable experience, but I came for a visit and fell in love with the atmosphere. “It’s one of a kind that set the standard and the education and it was close to home, so it is a perfect mix. The bad news is I only get two tickets every game and all my grandparents, aunts and uncles want to come. It’s been a great experience so far.” The website “Bluechip Bulletin” in July described the soon-to-be 19 year old as “a small-ish, pesky energy line guy with a stout build. A streaky offensive contributor, Bardreau is never going to lead your team in scoring. Or if he is, you’re in trouble. What he is going to do though is draw penalties, work his tail off, and be the kind of player you want to have in the dressing room.” “That’s probably the best part of my game. I’ve always been a little agitator guy out there stirring things up. I try to get guys off their game whenever I can. I’m not the biggest guy which tends to bother them more.” “I’m used to a bigger guy clearing the way for me on my line, but I’m getting used to play-ing with smaller guys. It’s a little tougher in the corners getting beat up, but I’m enjoying playing with the skill guys.” Previous to this season, Bardreau played two seasons of high school hockey at Fairport before spending the 2010-11 season with the United States National Team Development Program playing international competitions in addition to

a handful of games in the USHL. For the 2010-11 season, he appeared in 60 games and scored 11 goals and had 15 assists for 26 points, ranking him eighth on the team. He was also a member of the U.S. team that captured the gold medal at the IIHF U18 World Championship in April 2011 in Germany. He also represented the United States at the 2010 U-17 World Hockey Challenge. And as for the broken foot… “I really didn’t notice for the first week and I had a rough beginning of the season with mono, but now I think I’m getting back to full strength. Just freewheeling and getting back out there again.” Continued on Page 25


CORNELL VIA FAIRPORT: COLE BARDREAU

By Warren Kozireski


Continued from Page 19

Coach had five student-athletes earn All-ECAC Hockey first, sec-ond or third team honors and two major awards during his tenure. After the 2005-06 season, Tara French was named to the ECAC Hockey third team, while Sam Hunt was a member of the All-Rookie Team. French was also named the inaugural ECAC Hock-ey League Student-Athlete of the Year and was the first women’s hockey player to be named ESPN The Magazine academic second-team all-district. Hunt along with classmate Kiira Dosdall were both named to the All-ECAC Hockey third team in 2007-08. Buffalo’s Kimberly Sass be-came the first Raider to claim first team honors in 2008-09 after be-ing named Goaltender of the Year. In 2009-10 Katie Stewart became the first Colgate forward to be named to the All-ECAC Hockey first team. In 2011 the Raiders partnered with Autism Speaks U to create a new chapter at Colgate to assist in educating the community on Autism. The team raised over $18.000 for chosen charities and set a goal of raising $30,000 in 2012. The Raiders were recog-nized by Austim Speaks and the NHL for their initial project that included Lighting Up Starr Rink Blue and special puzzle-piece jer-

seys that were worn and auctioned off. Wiley was also active with ECAC Hockey working with Pink The Rink in a partnership with the American Cancer Society.

St. Lawrence

The Saints shocked the hockey world when they defeated

#3 Cornell 3-1 to win their first ECAC Championship and earn a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Junior Kelly Sabatine was the offensive hero as she scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal with 1:50 left in the third. Rookie Goaltender Carmen MacDonald made 33 saves and earned Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. On March 10 St. Lawrence’s season ended with a 6-3 loss to #4 Boston College in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Saints finished their season 24-10-4 overall. Head Coach Chris Wells was selected by his peers as the Amer-ican Hockey Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year. Wells guided the Saints to the 24-10-4 record, the program’s first ECAC Hockey Tournament title and a bid to the NCAA Champi-onship. Through his four seasons behind the bench, Wells compiled a record of 80-53-16 and two

NCAA ap-pearances. A graduate of St. Lawrence, he played four seasons with the men’s hockey team, winning the 1992 ECAC Championship. He is assisted by Ted Wisner and Mare MacDougall and is the second coach in the program’s history to receive the honor. Paul Flanagan won in 2001.

RPI

Rensselaer fell short of the playoffs, ending with a 9-21-

4 season.

Clarkson

After an outstanding cam-paign, Erica Howe (Ot-

tawa) brought the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year award to Clarkson. She was the reason for the Golden Knights’ success this winter, playing in all but 47 minutes in the Clarkson goal. Howe posted a .941 save percent-age; 1.41 goals-against-average and a .727 win percentage with five shutouts in ECAC Hockey play. She backstopped the team to a third-place finish in the confer-ence with a 15-5-2 league record. Through 37 games overall, Howe boasted a .927 save per-centage and a 1.75 GAA en route to a 22-10-5 record. She is tied for second in the nation in shutouts


with seven. She was also one of three finalists for the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year. Not only was Howe recognized, but Co-Head Coaches and Husband and Wife Matt and Shannon Des-rosiers were finalists for the ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year Award. Under the leadership of the Des-rosiers and with help from Assistant Coach Matt Kelly and Volunteer Coach Carly Eusepi, the Golden Knights finished in third place in the ECAC. The season ended when the Golden Knights lost to Quinnipiac 2-1 in the conference’s best-of-three quarterfinal-round series.

Hamilton

Katie Zimmerman was named to the

NESCAC All Confer-ence Second Team. She led Hamilton to a 10-14-1 overall record, includ-

ing 7-9-0 in the conference. She led the conference with 17 goals and tied for third place with 26 points. Her 17 goals are the most for the Con-tinentals since 2008-09. She is also tied for fifth with five power-play goals and tied for seventh with three game-winning tallies. Zimmerman leads all current Hamilton players with 36 goals and 31 assists in 74 career games. In addition to Zimmerman’s hon-ors, 42 Hamilton College student-athletes were recognized by the New England Small College Athletic Con-ference (NESCAC), including four in women’s ice hockey. Recognized were Julia Beaty, Becca Hazlett, Jen-nifer Keefe and Julia Williams.

American Hockey Coaches Association AwardsCCM Division III Women’s Hockey All-Americans

First Team East G: Sydney Aveson, Jr., Plattsburgh D: Geneva Lloyd, Jr., Amherst College D: Kristina Moss, Jr., Rochester Institute of Technolo-gy F: Jillayne DeBus, Jr., Norwich University F: Julie Fortier, Sr., Norwich University F: Teal Gove, Jr., PlattsburghSecond Team East G: Laura Chamberlain, So., Rochester Institute of Technology D: Sarianne Lynn, Sr., Norwich University D: Amanda Wilks, Sr., Norwich University F: Lauren Greer, Jr., Middlebury College F: Stacey Hochkins, Sr., College of the Holy Cross F: Kourtney Kunichika, So., Rochester Institute of Technology

2012 ECAC Women’s Hockey Awards

First Team All League: Jillian Dempsey, Harvard/Forward; Rebecca John-son, Cornell/Forward; Brianne Jenner, Cornell/Forward; Laura Fortino, Cornell/Defense; Lauriane Rougeau, Cornell/Defense; Erica Howe, St. Lawrence/Goaltender.

Second Team All League: Kelly Sabatine, St. Lawrence/Forward; Jillian Saulnier, Cornell/Forward; Kelly Babstock, Quinnipiac/Forward; Jose-phine Pucci, Harvard/Defense; Sasha Nanji, Dartmouth/Defense; Rachel Weber, Princeton/Goaltender.

Third Team All League: Rylee Smith, St. Lawrence/Forward; Kelly Foley, Dartmouth/Forward; Lyndsey Fry, Harvard/Forward; Regan Boulton, Quinnipiac/Defense; Brooke Fernandez, St. Lawrence/Defense; Aubree Moore, Brown/Goaltender.

All Rookie Team: Sara Robson, Brown/Forward; Eleeza Cox, Rensselaer/Forward; Jillian Saulnier, Cornell/Forward; Amanda Boulier, St. Lawrence/Defense; Sara Edney, Harvard/Defense; Carmen MacDonald, St. Law-rence/Goaltender.

Coach of the Year: Chris Wells, St. Lawrence

Best Defensive Defenseman: Lauriane Rougeau, CornellBest Defensive Forward: Tie: Reagan Fischer, Darthmouth and Chelsea Karpenko, Caornell.Rookie of the Year: Jillian Saulnier, CornellGoaltender of the Year: Erica Howe, ClarksonPlayer of the Year: Rebecca Johnston, CornellSKOR Sports Trophy: Brown University

Awards continued on Page 25


The Buffalo Sabres Foundation, Buffalo Sabres Alumni Asso-ciation & National Fuel have

joined together with the Veterans Af-fairs Western New York Healthcare System to provide recreational on-ice services to local veterans using sled hockey and traditional stand-up hockey as a driving force for physi-cal and emotional rehabilitation. The two new teams will be called Buffalo Sabres Sled Vets and the Buffalo Sabres Warriors. The three organi-zations have commit-ted a total of $90,000 per year for the next three years to support the program. The funding will pay for equipment, uniforms and ice time, as well as tournament and travel costs. The partnership is a culmina-tion of a relationship that started in the fall of 2011, when a free hockey clinic, open to any disabled veterans in the area, was held at Riverside Ice Rink. The first clinic, run by Norm Page of USA Sled Hockey and Hasek’s Heroes, drew 15 veterans who experienced sled hockey for the first time. Since then, more than 75 veter-ans have participated in eight on-ice clinics. Next month, 26 veterans from the program will participate in the USA Disabled Hockey Festival in Dallas from April 13-15. “We are so fortunate in Western New York to have the support from the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Sabres

Foundation, and National Fuel to provide this recreation therapy sport for Veterans,” said Brian G. Stiller, medical center director. “As a veteran health care provider it is so heartening to know that this show of support exemplifies our Buffalo commitment to our nation, service members and veterans.” The program is a new addition to the sports offered through the VA

Hospital recreation therapy program and is designed to build confidence, help with readjustment and physi-cal fitness and improve their quality of life through mind and body. The veterans participating in the on-ice program range in age from early 20s to late 60s and may have physical or other disabilities.

“We hope other markets through-out the country will take notice and begin to develop these programs in their own communities,” said Cliff Benson, chief development officer and president of the Buffalo Sabres Foundation. “At National Fuel, we have built a long-standing tradition of extend-ing a hand to those who need help and a top priority are the brave men

and women who have served in the U.S. Military,” said David F. Smith, Chairman & CEO of National Fuel Gas Company. “Our returned veterans have unconditionally risked their safety and well-being to defend our free-dom and protect our country and they need our commitment and thanks for their efforts. If their time on the ice as a member of these teams makes

a difference in their day, our investment is well worth it,” Smith contin-ued. “It is an honor to be involved with this group of individuals. They deserve the opportunity to be able to compete on the ice, to be a part of

a team and we couldn’t be happier about lending our support.” saod Rob Ray, president of the Buffalo Sabres Alumni. The program is open to all indi-viduals who served in the military and currently reside in Western New York. With the continued growth of the program, plans are underway to create different teams based on level of ability and an anticipated full schedule of practices and games dur-ing the 2012-13 hockey season. For more information on how to become involved with or to support the Buffalo Sabres Sled Vets pro-gram, please contact Pam Kaznowski of the VA Western New York Health Care System at 716-862-6814 or via email: [email protected].

Three Way Partnership Helps Veterans

Heal Through Hockey!

It’s FREE! It’s All New York! It’s All Hockey!

www.Hockeynys.com


Niagara University Eliminates Women’s Ice Hockey By Janet Schultz

The Purple Eagles, ranked #3, saw their season and pro-gram come to an end at the CHA Tournament when they were defeated by Robert Morris 3-2.

Following the Tournament, NU sent out a press release an-nouncing the elimination of Women’s Ice Hockey and leav-ing the young players with no place to go for next season and the hockey world in shock. The Univer-sity administra-tion stated that to “strengthen exist-ing competitive opportunities and ensure sustainable

future success for the Department of Athletics, Niagara Univer-sity announced its restructuring of its intercollegiate athletics program.” That restructuring included the addition of women’s track and field as a varsity program and the immediate contraction of the women’s ice hockey program. The decision was made based on a 2012 study by the Col-legiate Consulting, a nationwide athletic consulting firm, along with an internal assessment conducted by the NU administration. This action affects 20 student-athletes along with three full-time coaching positions. “As a Niagara alumni I’m disappointed to see them lose a program, lose a hockey team,” said RIT Coach McDonald. (Continud on Next Page)

West News

...Long-time Buffalo Hornets Ad-ministrator Patricia (Pat) Dlugosz passed away March 29 fol-lowing a lengthy illness. In addi-tion to over 30 years with the Buffalo Hornets and Buffalo Light-ning, Pat was also the first recipient of the Buffalo Sabres Hockey Mom Award. She is survived by her husband, Michael; sons, Craig (Kelly) and Alan and grandchildren, Nathan and Sarah. Arrangements were handled by James W. Cannan Funeral Home, Inc., Buffalo.

...Kenmore Girl’s Varsity Ice Hockey Player Kate Miller was named WIVB-TV Scholar Athlete for March. Miller will be going to Syracuse following her graduation from Kenmore West High School.

Continued on Page 25

What Happens To Them?


NU Elminates Women’s Hockey Continued

“As we try to grow our sport, we were hoping that everyone was going to move forward and not take a step backwards,” he commented. “I feel awful for them and I would be totally lost if that happened to our program,” said RIT Women’s Ice Hockey Captain Kim Schlattman. “I have a friend on that team and she is in total shock. It puts those girls in a hard spot.” “When you go to college as a student athlete, you find it hard to be just a student,” she con-tinued. “Some will be looking to transfer and I personally don’t think it’s fair but it does happen.” “It’s unfortunate that it happens to some teams but I still feel that women’s hockey is getting stronger and growing,” said RIT co-captain Tene-cia Hiller.

West News Continued

...The Great Lakes Girls Hockey League donated $100 to the Buffalo Regals 16U and the West Seneca Wings 12U teams to help them with costs associated with their travel to the USA Hockey Nationals. ... The Niagara Girls 16U team has openings for the 2012-2013. An additional try-out will be held Tuesday, April 17 at Hyde Park in Niagara Falls from 7:00-7:50 p.m.


NESCAC Awards

All Conference First Team: Lauren Greer, Middlebury; Kayte Holtz, Bowdoin; Sara Ugalde, Middlebury; Ge-neva Lloyd, Amherst; Madison Styrbicki, Middlebury; Alexa Pujol, Trinity.

All Conference Second Team: Courtney Dumont, Con-necticut College; Josie Fisher, Amherst; Katie Zim-merman, Hamilton; Ashley Salerno, Amherst; Saman-tha Weinstein, Williams; Brianne Wheeler, Colby.

Player of the Year: Geneva Lloyd, AmherstRookie of the Year: Jordan Schildhause, Wesleyan College; Hometown: Woodbury, New YorkCoach of the Year: Carson Duggan, Trinity


Pucci also played varsity softball four years and served as captain to the team in her senior year. She is a three-time MVP in softball. In addition she was also a striker on the varsity soccer team for three years and named a New England Prep School All-Defenseman in 2009. Her awards are numerous including being the winner of the Hester C. Macquire Award, Eugenia Baker Jessup Award, Carolie Ruutz-Rees Award for Athletic Achievement, Charles Wickliffe Kennerly Memorial Award and the Flora MacDonald Bonney Prize for contributions to the welfare of the commu-nity. A clarinet player, she also volunteered for the Special Population Skate while in high school.


Bardreau won a Section V hockey title at Fairport before departing for the US-DTP and his former coach asked him to write an inspirational speech before their title game against Pittsford this past February. While the speech didn’t work (Pittsford defeated Fairport for the championship), he still has found memo-ries of his high school playing days. “The school spirit here at Cornell is on another level, but the high school stage with a couple thousand people and all your buddies in the crowd going nuts was an unbelievable experience. “Stepping stones along the way…” *


NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE

REPORT-WESTBy Warren Kozireski

BROCKPORT Senior James Cody was named a 2012 Division III All-American East Second Team selection—the first hockey player in school history so honored.

CANISIUS Freshman Cody Freeman netted his first collegiate goal in the playoff quarterfinal opening game at UConn. All-time leading scorer, Cory Conacher, became the second Golden Griffin to sign a contract with a National Hockey League team signing a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It’s an awesome feeling,” Conacher said. “Every kid dreams of playing in the NHL and signing with the Lightning is the first step of reaching my dream. A lot of credit goes to all of my coaches during the years from Dave Smith at Canisius to Wes Wiseman with the Burl-ington Cougars and Jon Cooper at Norfolk. It is a great honor to sign a contract but that is only half of the dream and I’m looking forward to earning a spot on the roster.” In his four-year standout career with the Griffs, Conacher set or matched 12 career, single-season and

single-game records. The 2009-10 Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year owns the program’s standards of 147 points, 62 goals and 12 game-winning tallies. He also set the school’s records with 53 points and 33 assists during his junior campaign, while breaking the goals mark with 23 in his senior year.

NIAGARA The Purple Eagles saw their season come to an end with a 2-1 overtime loss to RIT in the AHA semi-finals. Freshman Chris Lochner scored the only Niagara goal and ended Niagara’s ten game unbeaten streak against the Tigers since RIT advanced to Division I. “To get here (the conference final four) and experi-ence this in just our second year in the league I think will be invaluable for us,” said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder. Purple Eagles senior goaltender Chris Noonan regis-tered the first postseason shutout in school history when he whitewashed Robert Morris in AHA quarterfinal ac-tion. Noonan’s 1.60 GAA and .944 save percentage are currently the single-season records in the AHA for their respective categories...Noonan’s GAA is currently tied for 15th place on the NCAA’s single-season record GAA list (Chad Johnson, Alaska-Fairbanks, 2009) and his save percentage is good for seventh on the NCAA’s single-season save percentage list. He was named to the AHA All-Conference Second Team and signed an amateur try-out (ATO) deal with the Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate for the Toronto Maple Leafs March 30th.

“We’re not here (the conference final four) if Chris doesn’t have the season he had,” said Burkholder. “His winning percentage and save percentage broke a lot of records and we are so happy and proud of Chris.” Niagara men’s hockey sophomore forward Scott Ar-nold has signed an (NHL) deal with the Phoenix Coyotes, making him the sixth Purple Eagle to ever sign an NHL contract. “It’s an honor to sign a professional contract,” Arnold said. “Growing up, I always dreamed of playing in the NHL and now I am one step closer to making my dream reality. I’m really looking forward to becoming a part of the Phoenix Coyotes organization and thank them for this opportunity.”

R.I.T. Goaltender Shane Madolora set RIT’s all-time single season and career records for shutouts in the win. He now has seven shutouts this season and 13 in his career. He was named to the AHA All-Conference First Team. Seniors Cameron Burt and Chris Haltigin, named All-Conference Second Team, broke the school record for games played at the Division I level in the first game of the AHA final four by playing in their 146th career contests. The previous record was held by Dan Ringwald (2006-10) who played in 145 career games. Mike Colavecchia was also named All-Conference Second Team. Four seniors signed Amateur Tryout Agreements with teams in the East Coach Hockey League (ECHL). Burt inked with Ontario, Scott Knowles with Kalamazoo, Madolora with Stockton and Daniel Spivak joined Read-ing.

OTHER NOTES:

•Williamsville native Cole Schneider was named to the AHA All-Conference First Team at forward as the UConn sophomore led the team in goals (23), assists (22) and points (45) as well as game-winning goals (4).Please add a Nazareth note to the West section. •Former local hockey standout Rory Fitzpatrick has been added to the coaching staff at Nazareth College and will serve as a volunteer assistant coach for the Golden Fly-ers, who will play their first season in 2012-13. A native of Irondequoit, Fitzpatrick completed a dis-tinguished 18-year playing career in 2009-10. His career included 287 games in the National Hockey League with stints in Montreal, St. Louis, Nashville, Buffalo, Vancou-ver and Philadelphia. He spent his last two seasons as a defenseman for his hometown Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. “Rory will be a great addition to our staff,” said Nazareth Coach George Roll. “He has a great working knowledge of the local hockey scene and should com-mand a great deal of respect.”


Central SectionGirls Hockey Clinic

July 149 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

July 15 9:30-11:00 a.m.

The clinic will be held at Skaneateles Community Center


NYS HOCKEY MEN’S COLLEGE

REPORT CENTRAL SECTION

By Warren Kozireski

COLGATE Senior forward Austin Smith was named one of the Hobey Hat Trick; the final three finalists for the 2012 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. This follows his being named the ECAC Most Valuable Player and First Team All-League. This year’s Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced Friday, April 6 from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL during the NCAA Fro-zen Four. The 32nd annual announce-ment will be aired live on the NHL Network at 6:00 p.m., ET. Sophomore Chris Wagner was Second Team All-ECAC and defen-seman Tom Larkin Third Team. * The Texas Stars an-nounced that the team has signed rookie forward Austin Smith to an ATO (amateur tryout agreement). Smith joined the Stars in Okla-homa City on April 6 to begin his pro career. Smith recently com-pleted a four-year career at Col-gate. The All-American candidate for Colgate and top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award had an outstanding senior season with 57 points on 36 goals and 21 as-

sists. He led the country in shorthanded goals with six and he was third in the nation with 57 points. The Dallas na-tive ended his career 15th on the all-time Colgate scoring list with 160 career points and is the top

American-born skater in Raider history. Dallas drafted Smith in the fifth round (#128 overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Smith was a finalist for the 2012 Hobey Baker Award. (Courtesy Colgate website) *The Ducks have signed center Chris Wagner to a three-year entry-level contract. Per club policy, no financial terms of the deal were disclosed. Wagner, 20 (5/27/91), recently completed his sophomore season with Colgate of the East-ern Collegiate Athletic Confer-ence (ECAC), scoring 17-34=51 points with 69 penalty minutes (PIM). Leading all NCAA Divi-sion 1 underclassmen in scoring, Wagner’s 51 points currently rank sixth in the nation. He ranked as high as fourth in the nation when the Raiders played their final game of the ECAC tournament (third-place game vs. Cornell on Mar. 17). Earlier in the tourna-ment, he recorded 5-1=6 points in Colgate’s three-game ECAC

quarterfinal series vs. Quinnipiac. In addition, the 6’0”, 200-pound center recorded the second-most points in one season for Colgate since former Duck Andy McDon-ald (58 points) did so in 1999-00 (teammate Austin Smith has the most since 1999-00, scoring 36-21=57 points this year). Wagner is also Colgate’s highest scoring sophomore since 1994-95 (Mike Harder, 58 points). (Information from Anaheim Ducks Website).

CORNELL The Big Red advanced to play in the ECAC championship final week-end for the fifth consecutive season with a quarterfinal series sweep of Dartmouth. Their season ended with a 2-1 loss to Ferris State in the NCAA Midwest title game. Sophomore forward Dustin Mowry and fresh-man defenseman Joakim Ryan were named to the All-Regional Team. Freshman forward Brian Fer-lin was named the Ivy League and ECAC Rookie of Year and sopho-more goalie Andy Iles was named to the All-Ivy first team and ECAC second team. Ferlin was also named to the All-Ivy second team, along with junior linemate Greg Miller and junior defenseman Nick D’Agostino, who also made ECAC second team. Ferlin is Cornell’s first Ivy rookie of the year since Riley Nash won the honor in 2008. He is the seventh Big Red player to earn the award since it was first bestowed in 1980, with Joe Nieuwendyk (1985), Cor-rie D’Alessio (1998), Vinnie Auger (1994), Kyle Knopp (1996) and Denis Ladouceur (1999) Sean Collins signed a two-year contract with the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, the team announced March 30th.

Collins finished second on the team with career-high totals in goals (13) and points (26) as one of two as-sistant captains on the squad and was the team’s leader in faceoffs with a 56.4 winning percentage. Collins was selected by the Blue Jackets in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft prior to his arrival at Cornell.

HOBART The Statesmen won their second ECAC West title as the third seed defeated Manhattanville in the semi-finals before shutting out Neumann in the championship game 5-0 behind Nick Broadwater’s 26 saves with Peter Quig-ley (Poughquag) and Greg Ciciola (Yorktown Heights) each adding two goals. Broadwater was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament with Brian Hannah and Brad Richard also All-Tourney selections. With his third shutout this season, Broadwater tied the Hobart record for most shutouts in a season. Broadwater also tallied three shutouts last season. Keith Longo ‘09 also posted three shutouts in the 2005-06 and 2008-09 seasons. The Statesmen won their first ECAC West champion-ship in the 2003-04 season. The team did not receive an NCAA bid; the ECAC West does not have an auto-bid.

OSWEGO A 5-0 NCAA quarterfinal victory over Elmira launched the Lakers into the final four for the third consecutive season—a first for the program. They fell to Amherst in the semi-final to end their season. Andrew Hare made 23 saves in the quarterfinal win marking just the 33rd shutout in NCAA Division III play-off history. Earlier the Lakers lost in SUNYAC championship to Plattsburgh 3-2. The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for Oswego and was the first loss to the Cardinals since March 7, 2008 in the SUNYAC title game. Junior forward Jon Whitelaw was recognized by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) as a 2012 Division III CCM Men’s Hockey All-America East Second Team honoree. The third-ranked Oswego State men’s ice hockey team (24-4-2) fell short of capturing its second NCAA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championship when it fell to defending national champion and fifth-ranked St. Norbert (21-5-5) by the score of 4-1. The Lakers earned the program’s third NCAA runner-up trophy after finish-ing second in 1987 and 2003.

UTICA Senior captain Tim Coffman was named to the US-CHO.com Division III East Region All-American Third Team. Coffman is just the second Pioneer in program-his-tory to be named an All-American, joining 2005 graduate Jimmy Sokol. Also an ECAC Men’s West All-Conference first team selection, he broke a seven year old school scoring record, which was set by Sokol back in 2005, with his 130th point on Jan. 28 in a win against Hobart.

UNION Union College defeated Michigan State and UMass-Lowell in the NCAA Eastern Regional to earn a trip to their first Frozen Four in program history.Their 3-1 victory over Michigan State marked the first NCAA postseason win in the Division I era. “We really haven’t thought about us not being a big-time school,” said first year head coach Rick Bennett. “Those guys in that locker room feel we belong here, which we do.” The Dutchmen lost to Ferris State in the Frozen Four semi-finals with Daniel Carr accounting for the only goal on a tip from a Greg Coburn shot from the point. “This is not the way we wanted this to end, but these student athletes have nothing to be ashamed of,” said Bennett postgame. “We had a tremendous season.” “Penalties kind of caught up to us and it was something we’ve been good at all year. I really can’t explain it.”

Other Notes

•Hours after the conclusion of the contest, junior for-ward Jeremy Welsh, who shattered the school single-sea-son goal scoring record with 27, decided to leave college a year early signing a two-way contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. •New York State was well-represented at the Frozen Four with Union College sophomore goaltender Troy Grosenick a Hobey Baker Top Ten Finalist, Colgate senior defenseman Kevin McNamara a 2012 Hockey Hu-manitarian Award top five finalist and players from two teams. Union College featured Massena native Matt Hatch, freshman goaltender Colin Stevens from Niskayuna and freshman Trevor Mingoia (Fairport) on the roster. Boston College featured New Yorkers Patch Albers from Clifton Park on defense and freshman Danny Linell from Great Neck.



NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE REPORT-NORTHBy Warren Kozireski

CLARKSON The Knights and RPI battled through three overtimes in their second game of a best-of-three quarterfinal playoff game—at 113:48 the sixth longest game in NCAA history. Clarkson won the game but fell in the deciding game three the following night to end

their season. Senior goaltender Paul Karpowich was named ECAC Third Team All-League.

PLATTSBURGH The Cardinals defeated Oswego 3-2 to win their 21st SUNYAC Championship before falling to Amherst in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The win snapped a 12-game winning streak for Oswego and was the first win against the Lakers since March 7, 2008 also in the SUNYAC title game. Mathieu Cadieux and Mike Grace (Rochester) were named 2012 CCM Hockey Division II-III Men’s Hockey All-Americans with both players receiving second team honors.

ST. LAWRENCE Forward Kyle Flanagan was named ECAC Third Team All-League and freshman forward Chris Martin

North News...

...Clifton Park Girls report that they had an amazing season and are now preparing for Tryouts. The program has grown to over 50 girls on four teams. Tryouts are April 28 and 29 with the schedule posted at http://www.eteamz.com/cpyha/ Coaches for this season include Joe Delong, Girls 12UA; Rockey Discanio, Super Minor and Bob Flansburg, Squirt Major. Tryouts for the boy’s programs are also on the website and they will be held April 15, 28, 29, May 4 and 8.

... The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and VFW Post 1231 hosted a Wounded Warrier Sled Hockey clinic/games for wounded soldiers at Fort Drum, New York in March. The clinic and game was held to raise money to purchase sleds for the troops to start a Sled Hockey Program in Watertown.


Two members of the Rochester Edge U10 Girls’

Hockey team showed their “team first” at-titude when they chose to shave their heads in support of childhood cancer. Melissa Graham and Julianna Barry par-ticipated in the St. Baldrick’s Foundation event that took place at Mickey Finn’s in Victor, New York on March 11, 2012. St. Baldrick’s “funds research to find cures for childhood cancers to help survivors live long and healthy lives.”

“Graham Cracker” and “JuJu” were part of Team HOPE and raised $600 dollars together. Melissa Graham was excited to participate and stated, “I wanted to conquer kids’ cancer in mem-

ory of my mother who died of cancer.” Julianna Barry said, “I feel good about helping kids with cancer and now I kinda look like Mark Messier.” Coach Morgan Beikirch was ecstatic to hear about the girls involvement with the event and stated, “these are the moments as a coach that really touch your heart. These girls work hard on

the ice and are great teammates in the locker room, but to see them transfer their unselfish attitudes to such a worthy cause is truly commendable. I am very proud of both of them!” For more infor-

mation about the St. Bal-drick’s Foundation, please visit www.stbaldricks.orgGirls Clip for

Cancer

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April 2012