February 2012

February 2012Volume 1; Issue 5

Love of Country

and Love of Hockey Meet!

By Janet Schultz

Another year of the Empire State Winter Games has come to an end. It opened February 2 with 967 athletes participating in 14 sports, including

Women’s Ice Hockey. Organizers brought Lake Placid based actor James Tolkan in as the keynote speaker at Opening Ceremonies. Tolkan is best-known for his roles in Top Gun with Tom Cruise, and Back to the Future, with Michael J. Fox. Luge Racer Raychel Germaine lit the cauldron and Bobsled Driver gave a brief welcome to the athletes. Thepuckdroppedonthefirsticehockeygameat8 a.m. Friday morning with the West beating Long Island 9-1. The West’s Deanna Ventura got on the scoreboard

first,assistedbyMelissaJechovichandShawneeOber-holtzer. The single Long Island goal was an unassisted goal by Maryann Knot in the second period. Ventura had a hat trick and Oberholtzer had a playmaker. Next up was Adirondack and Central. Ending 4-1infavorofAdirondack,thefirstgoalwasscoredbyAdirondack’s Andrea Kilbourne-Hill, assisted by Christine Powers and Kara Buehler. The lone Central goal was shot in by Lomanto from Kristina Ronson-Robbins and Emily Martigano. Game three saw New York City taking Hudson Valley3-1.NewYork’sAlexisMoedputinthefirstgoalwith Hudson’s Jennifer Abramo tying the score at the end ofthefirst.NYC’sGoalieAshleyWalentymade21saves,allowing one rebound to squeak out for a 3-1 win. HV

Adirondack Takes GoldWestern, Silver; NYC Bronze

2012 Empire State Winter Games

In This IssueRelatively Speaking ............................5Dreams Come True .............................6Central Report .....................................8Love of Country & Hockey ................12East Report ..........................................13Top Gun ..............................................16Colleges Give Back .............................18North Report .......................................21Buffalo Hornets Celebrate ..................23West Report .........................................25BraunsteinBenefit ...............................27Home Grown .......................................30New Look for Cross Ice ......................33USA News and Notes ..........................35Kids Crossword ...................................36

Cover photo courtesy of West Point Military Academy.

P.O. Box 354North Tonawanda, NY 14120

(716) [email protected]

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

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Contents 2012Hockey New York State

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Goalie Sophia Kokkonis helped her team by saving 42 goals. Western outshot Central 46 to 9 in game four with Central’s MacKenzie Roy putting in a short-handed goal, unassisted. Kylie Mazetta, Marissa Dombouvy-John-son and Katie Stack scored for Western andHannonputafinaloneinthenetforCentral. Despite an injury in the second period, Central Goalie Lauren Dahn put in another stellar goaltending exhibition. Western’s Mazetta and Stack earned two points each for their team’s win. Christin Powers earned a hat trick and Kilbourne-Hill earned a playmaker with three assists for Adirondack in game fiveoverNewYorkCity.NYS’steamplayedhardbuthaddifficultygettingthepuck past the Adirondack goalie in the 9-0 shutout. It was Hudson Valley 2, Long Island 1 in game six. The low score showed the competitiveness of the two teams with Hudson Valley’s Kristine DeRosa and Alexis Swagemaker getting goals and Barbara Peng putting in the lone goal for Long Island. Western beat New York City 4-0 in game seven with Katie Stack putting in two; Annmarie Cellino and Elizabeth Gemmiti each adding one. Again it was the goal-tending that kept the score low with NYC Ashley Walenty making 28 saves and WNY’s Ashley Schneegold making 36 saves. Central trailed 2-1 going into the third period of game eight. That’s when they found their scoring touch and ended with a 4-2 victory over Long Island. The game winning goal came off the stick of Alisa Coomey at 9:02 of the third period, assisted by Kara Buehler. Forthefirsttimeeverinthehistoryofwomen’sice hockey Empire State Games, a mother/daughter combo played. Adirondack’s MacKenzie Lennox scored in the third period on an assist from Mom, Danielle Lennox. Ad-irondack had a 11-0 shutout over Hudson Valley in game nine.. New York City’s Ashley Walenty stopped 11 shots for a 2-0 shutout over Central in game ten. Scoring for New York were Stephanie Couzin and Alexis Moed. It was a high scoring game 11 as Adirondack put 9 goals in the net over Long Island’s 1. Adirondack outshot LI49-18withtheIsland’sMelissaMansfieldmaking40ofthose saves. Adirondack’s M. Lennox had two shots as did Powers.

Hudson Valley’s Goalie Kokkonis did an outstand-ing job in the net making 38 saves in the Valley’s 7-2 loss

to Western. West’s Donbovy-Johnson had two goals and an assist and Cellino posted one goal and two assists. InthefinalgameofregularplayCentral took Hudson Valley 4-1. HV’s starting Goalie Nancy Haggerty held offCentralduringthefirstperiodwithonly one goal scored by Lomanto. In the second Central’s Christina Beam put one between the pipes at 9:00 and that proved to be the game-winning goal. Lomanto had two goals in that game. New York City broke open a tight game with four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat Long Island 6-2 and capture the Bronze medal. The

scorewastied2-2enteringthefinalperiodwhenAdelaIbric put in her second goal of the game which proved to be the game-winner. She was assisted by Sarah Newman. New York put four shots behind Long Island Goalie Chris-tinaJohnstonina5:40spanofthefinalperiodtosealthevictory. Stephanie Couzin also scored twice for NYC and Newman had a goal and an assist while Alexis Moed con-tributed two assists. Long Island scorers included Christina Ciccone and Maryann Knott. In the Gold Medal game it was Adirondack 4, Western 2. Adirondack put two on the scoreboard in the opening period and never looked back. Danielle Lennox and Monique Rafferty scored 2:25 minutes apart in the opening period to give Adirondack the early advantage in a contest that was dominated by goaltending. Katie Stack responded for Western just :30 into the middle period to bring West within a goal. Adiron-dack’s Christin Power responded with an unassisted goal followed by Stephanie Holmes with one at 2:21 of the third. Sarah Hannon scored for the West as time expired giving West the Silver. Adirondack’s Chantel Johnston had 22 saves while WNY’s Ashley Schneegold recorded 24 stops.*

Hockey NYS February 2012 Page 4

When Orchard Park/Frontier’s Girl’s Varsity Ice Hockey Coach Jim McCarthy goes to the bench he doesn’t just have a group of girls sitting there

waiting for his instructions; he has four sets of sisters. We’ve had siblings in the NHL and in many travel and house teams, but four sets on one team--unique to say the least. “It’s funny,” said Coach McCar-thy. “It doesn’t hit you during tryouts; it happens when you are handing out numbers and jerseys and all of sudden I see that I have four sets of sisters.” “It has to be very unique, I can’t imagine there being another team, boys or girls, with four sets of siblings on it,” he concluded. “After practice I would think they bicker, but on the bus, in the rink, they all seem to get along,” he continued. “You have to see Grace getting a piggyback ride into the arena at 5:30 a.m. from her sister Katie.” The girl’s have similar stories about their entry into hockey, many had brothers playing, some went because the other one tried and a couplejustwentfromfigureskatingtohockeyor in some they were just trying out different sports. That was the case with Katie and Grace Page. Katie started playing hockey when she was eight years old. Grace began at seven. “I was trying out everything from dance, softball, soccer and hockey was the next one,” said Katie. “I started because Katie did,” said Grace. “But I found it to be fun, fast paced and keeps your brain thinking.” “It also keeps you in really good shape,” chimed in Katie. Sydney and Madison Potenza began their careers on a boys team in a house league at age eight. “Weusedtofigureskateandthenwewouldwatch our brother play hockey. One day a friend and one of the coaches asked us if we wanted to play and we told them yes,” said Sydney. Both girls played for the Hamburg Hawks. Mikaela and Alex Ditonto began in the Buffalo Regals GirlsHouseLeagueaftertheytriedfigureskating. “Alex moved up in her skating group and I couldn’t skate backwards so I quit,” said Mikaela. “I tried a different hobby or activity every month and then decided to try ice hockey and I asked Alex to join me.” “She said Gosh, No, but she was forced to go to the rink with me anyway so instead of sitting on the bench and doing homework, she joined up,” explains Mikaela. So if sisters are enough on one team, how about one set of sisters that are twins, like Megan and Jessica Urbank. New to the sport they began their hockey career three years ago with the Buffalo Regals and then went to the West Seneca Wings travel program. Considered old for starting hockey at 11, they watched their brother and Dad play and it

looked like something they wanted to try. The girls are aware of each other on the ice, but for the most part the sister is just another player. There are moments though when sisterly love comes into play.

Alexa plays defense and her sister, Mikaela is in goal. “A couple of years ago we had two goalies out with concussions so I do think about it,” said Alexa. “I think about it more probably but it’s not in the front of my mind.” “Iseeflashesoftheprotectiveness,”saidCoach MacCarthy. “They do protect each other if you watch. So don’t get too close to Mikaela

in goal or you may get a shove; if you hit Grace and Katie’s on the ice there may be trouble and the same with Megan and Jessica, who are quiet girls. If one is in the corner struggling, the other one will skate in to help. It’s a real cool thing.” “We talk about the games, we encourage each other but it re-ally goes to ‘I didn’t like that girl’ or ‘I should have

hit her harder,’ stuff like that,” said Katie. “I’mexcited,pumped,readytoplayandfightthebattleand win,” said Madison. “We don’t want each other to get hurt.” “We encourage each other on the bench,” said Megan. “We think about each other, watch each other and I see what she’s doing wrong.” “We criticize, but it’s constructive,” said Jessica. “I’ve never had an issue about anything,” said Coach Mc-Carthy. “Our parents like us on the same team because it cuts down on travel.” “We’re very glad that there’s varsity ice hockey,” said Al-exa. “We like playing for our school, in front of our friends. I didn’t support Orchard Park sports before, but now I do.” None of the girls are looking much beyond playing Var-sity Ice Hockey this season. They know that college scouts are coming to the games but for them it’s just about playing for their school and having fun.

Relatively Speaking!

by Janet Schultz

Front l to r: Katie Page, Grace Page, Meagan UrbankBack l to r: Sydney Potenza, Alexa Ditonto, Maddie Potenza,

Mikaela Ditonto, Jessie Urbank (Photo by Janet Schultz)


By Randy Schultz

It has probably been the dream of any hockey player who has ever played the game to be able to skate on a National

Hockey League ice surface for just one day. For one group of hockey players that dream became a reality. On January 14 and 15 Nassau Coliseum, home to the New York Islanders, was the setting for a special group of hockey players from six dif-ferent disabled teams located along the Eastern Seaboard. The Islanders played host to these teams and put on a clinic in a further effort to promote the NHL’s and Ameri-can Special Hockey Association’s Hockey Is For Everyone initiative. ASHA specializes in providing hockey opportunities on the ice for the Developmentally disabled, has almost 50 teams in its ranks. The six that participated in the Long Island event included the Long Island Blues, New York Raptors, East Coast Jumbos, Nova Cool Cats, Bucks

County Admirals and Philadelphia Fearless Flyers. Two of the organizers for the event were Mike Rousso and Neil Robbins, co-founders of the Blues. “We started this a few years ago,” said Robbins. “It was organized as a fund raiser. “It gives the kids a chance to skate on NHL ice. It also gives the

parents of these kids a chance to meet with other parents and get a chance to talk to each other, exchanging ideas along the way. “We also give a lot of kids from the area a chance to volunteer and work with these special need players. It is a chance for kids to give something back to their commu-nity. “I make sure to get all the food for the event and or-ganize all the volunteers. We also sold 450 tickets for the Islanders game that night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

ASHA Makes Dreams Come True!

“It’s all for the kids. There are no losers

in this. Everyone is a winner. --

Mike Rousso, Co-Founder, Blues


“If a scholarship comes through, it would be nice,” said Mikaela. “I just want to play as long as I can,” said Jessica. “It doesn’t matter what age you are, it helps to start young but it’s fun and you should try it,” advises Alexa, as-sistant captain of the OP/Frontier Team. “The varsity hockey is a bright light that showcases these talented players,” said Coach MacCarthy. “There has always been girl’s travel hockey, but for some reason no one seemed

to know it. These girl’s work hard and this gives them the opportunity to be seen by their classmates and play for their school.” “It’s only going to get better in the coming years,” Coach concluded. Katie and Grace are the daughters of Bill and Caryn; Sydney and Madison are the daughters of Don and Jackie; Megan and Jessica’s parents are Andrew and Amy and Mi-kaela and Alexa are the daughters of Mike and Liz.*

“As an added attraction, the hockey players get a chance to play a game between periods of the Islanders game.” But things didn’t end that Saturday. “The next day we had an ‘Outdoor Classic’ game,” continued Robbins. “The town of Oyster Bay donated every-thing. “There were even replica trophies for every team that participated.” Rousso, President of the Blues, gives a lot of credit for the success of the two-day event to three people. “First there is my wife, Laura,” said Rousso. “She keeps things organized. “Then there is Neil, who gets 15 to 20 different vendors to donate food, soda and everything else needed for the event. He works very hard at that. “I basically do a lot of emails and communication jobs. We work very well as a team.” There is one basic theme connected with the event. “It’s all for the kids,” commented Rousso. “There are no losers in this. “Everyone is a winner. With the hockey games, there are no off-sides to interrupt anything. “It’s just continuous action going all the time. Everyone has a great time. “It’s a great networking tool for parents, who enjoy the even almost as much as the kids do. And the exposure it gives the ASHA is great too.” Mike Hickey, president of ASHA, is very pleased with the event. “I went to the event a year ago and was very pleased with what I saw,” stated Hickey. “I can’t remember ever seeing that many special hockey players on the ice at one time. “This has quite an impact on our players and our programs. It can be life changing. “The big thing to remember about all of these teams is that age is not a factor. We have young kids playing as well as players in their twenties. “They actually mix very well together. We don’t play by normal hockey rules either. “No off-sides or icing’s. Just continuous hockey. “The big thing is that we get more back from the kids than we give to them. It is a great event. “I have to give a lot of credit to Mike and Mike in New York. They both do a great job and work very hard at put-ting this event together. “I hope to see it continue in New York as well as possibly in other parts of New York State. It’s a great experience for everyone involved.”*


CornellThe Big Red are 19-3 overall and 14-2 in the ECAC. Their only loss in January came at the hands of Clarkson. Amanda Mazzotta earned ECAC Goalie of the Week honors on January 24 after she logged three victories with two shutouts against top 10 opponents. Mazzotta has 10 wins and 2 losses this season coming out of January with a .924 save percentage. Leading the scoring for the Big Red are Rebecca Johnston with 37 points (17G, 20A); Brianne Jenner, 35 points (10 G, 15 A) and Jillian Saulneir, 34 points (16G, 18A). Johnston was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Month for January. The senior Forward scoredthefifth-mostpointsinprogram history and the most points of any Big Red player since 1982. She is also the leader in all of ECAC Hockey for goals and points while her 20 assists place her second in the league behind teammate Brianne Jenner. John-ston becomes the second Cornell player honored with a monthly award this year as Saulnier earned

Rookie of the Month in October and November.

CortlandAssistant Coach Kristi Kehoe has been named to Northeastern Uni-versity’s All Decade Team. Kehoe is one of seven former and current NE women’s ice hockey players who have been named to the team as part of the Women’s Hockey East Association’s 10-year anniversary. Kehoe,whoisinherfirstseasonat Cortland, played four seasons at forward and led the team in scor-ingherfirstthreeseasons. The Red Dragons are 4-11-1 and 2-9-1 coming into February andthefinallegoftheseason.Their only January wins were both over Chatham and both with two goals, including one shutout. InthefirstgameFarmington’sKatie Double (Victor HS) made 21 saves; in game two she faced 30 shots, 12 in the third period.

Kellie Micillo and Charlotte Carter got the goals in game one with Bi-son’s Chelsie Hausberger assisting. In game two, Erika Osborne put in the winning goal with Brianna Rossi (Stormville/Brewster Bull-dogs) putting in the second with Gina Tomei (Bronx/Sound Shore) assisting. Tomei is leading the Red Drag-ons in scoring with 9 assists fol-lowed by Rossi with 5 goals and 3 assists and Micillo with 5 goals and 1 assist. In goal it’s Double with a .895 save percentage after 14 games.

Elmira

Elmira is 15-1-1 overall and 10-0-0 in the ECAC putting a lock on a playoff position. Their only loss in January came at the hands of Plattsburgh (1-4). Lindsay Mitchell leads the team in scoring with 9 goals and 16 assists. Tori Charron is in second with 22 points and Ash-

NYS Women’s College Hockey Report-- Central Section

by Janet Schultz

Kehoe


ley Ryan (North Chili/Rochester Edge) takes third with 19 points. Buffalo’s Haley Welch has two goalsandfourassistsinherfirstseason with Elmira. In goal it’s Lauren Sullivan with a .930 save percentage.

SyracuseThe Big Orange of Syracuse is 9-16-3 overall and 0-3-3 in CHA play. They battled hard in a 4-8 loss to #5 Mercyhurst followed by an overtime 1-1 tie. They also tied CHA rival Niagara University 3-3 and lost 1-2, both in overtime. After a 3-2 victory over Quin-nipiac, three members of the Orange received weekly CHA honors including Margot Scharfe, Player of the Week; Kallie Billadeau,Goaltender of the Week and Nicole Ferrara, Co-Rookie of the Week. Scharfe had two points, scoring the opening goal of the second game, her tenth of the sea-son. Billadeau made 53 saves in the victory and Ferrara scored the game-winner in that game. Scharfe leads the team in scor-ing with 21 points; followed by Holly Carrie-Mattimoe (18 pts) and Shianne Darkangelo (14 pts). Mannsville’s Kallie Goodnough has nine points this season; Buffa-lo’s Jacquie Greco has a goal and an assist and Marathon’s Brittney Krebs has four assists. Goalie Billadeau has played in 16 games coming away with a 5-8-2-1 record and .842 save percentage/2.28 GAA followed by Jenesica Drinkwater with a 3-8-1 record, .902 save percentage and .896 save percentage.

Hamilton CollegeHamilton is 7-10-09 overall and 4-6-0 in NESCAC play. They mixed it up in January with wins over Cortland and Oswego, split-ting with Williams and Middle-bury and losing to Elmira, Trinity and RIT. Leading the team in scoring is Katie Zimmerman, 15G/7A; Laura Dicarlo, 6G7A and Stepha-nie Lang, 5G7A. Fairport/Buffalo Bison’s Abby Runyon has 4 goals and 7 assists this season, while North Tonawanda/Buffalo Bison’s Jill Tokarczyk has four assists as a sophomore forward.

OswegoFairport (NY) native Kelly Collins was named Oswego’s Athlete of the Week for January 30 after she scored the game winner, unas-sisted early in the third period in a 3-1 victory over Buffalo State and two assists in a 7-0 victory over the Bengals the day before. Collins is second in team scoring with 8 goals and 4 assists this season. Leading the scoring is MacK-enzieLeewith10goalsandfiveassists. Making 243 saves on 272 shots is Goalie Catherine Cote. Buffalo’s Bridget Smith has a .889 save percentage this season sav-ing 160 of 180 shots. The Lakers are 9-8-2 over-all and 8-4-2 in conference play as they enter February looking for a

playoff position.

UticaThe Pioneers are seventh in the ECAC West with a 6-10-2 and 3-7-2 record coming into February. They’velostfivegamesinJanu-ary, including one overtime loss to Neumann University and posted overtime ties with Potsdam twice. Megan Myers leads the scor-ing with 9 goals and 17 assists. Meghan McMahon has 12 points and Nicole Schwartz has 10. Both goalies are from New York including Ithaca’s Jennifer Hamel who has posted 13 wins and 2 losses and Whiteboro’s Ma-rissa Hotaling with 5 wins and no losses.

ColgateColgate’s season has them 8-18-1 overall and 3-12-1 after a tough start to the New Year. They found themselves on the losing side of games against Syracuse, Rensse-laer, #3 Cornell, Princeton, Quin-nipiac, Dartmouth, #9 Harvard, Clarkson and St. Lawrence, in-cluding a 3-4 overtime loss to #10 Dartmouth. Their January victory came in a 2-1 overtime win over

Union. Brittany Phillips leads the scoring with 12 goals and 16 assists, followed by Jocelyn Simpson (7G9A) and Melissa Kueber (3G12A). In goal East Amherst/Buffalo Bison’s Kimberly Sass has made 714 saves on 790 shots giving her a .904 save percentage. Rochester’s Susan Allen has played in two games and made 25 saves on 27 shots.*

Fairport’s Kelly Collins (Photo by Janet Schultz)


BROOME CCC

With 11 wins and three games remaining in the regular season, the Hornets entered February ranked fourth in the nation. RJ Fitzpatrick (Vestal) was leading the unit in assists while Anthony O’Malley (Binghamton) and Connor Lofgren (Ithaca) stood 1-2 in goals with 13 and 12 re-spectively. Tommy Missert (Syracuse) also had 24 points overthefirst20games.

COLGATE

The Raiders sweep over travel partner Cornell the last weekendofJanuarywasthefirstsincethe2003-04season. ‘Gate had won only twice with one tie over a nine game span to start the second half of the season to fall mid-pack in the ECAC. ForwardAustinSmithstoodfirstinthecountryingoals per game and second in points per game while linemate Chris Wagner was among the top 15 in points and seventh in assists per game.

College commitments for 2012-13 according to College Hockey Inc.:CORKEY, Brett Vernon Vipers (BCHL) BAUN, Kyle Cornwall Colts(CCHL) FINNEY, Spencer Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL) LOUGH, Kevin Cumberland Grads (CCHL) BORKOWSKI, Michael Cornwall Colts (CCHL) JOHNSTON, Ryan Nepean Raiders (CCHL) SPINK, Tyson Cornwall Colts (CCHL) SPINK, Tylor Cornwall Colts (CCHL)

CORNELL

Fridaythe13thwasluckyfortheBigRedas,forthefirstsince 2005; they scored two shorthanded goals in a game. Senior Sean Collins and freshman Joel Lowry tallied the goals at Quinnipiac. FreshmanJohnMcCarron’sfirstcollegiategoalcameat Colorado College January 6. Sophomore defenseman MathieuBrissonscoredhisfirstcollegiategoalatPrinc-eton January 14. Freshman Cole Bardreau (Fairport) scored on a power play 2 minutes, 5 seconds into overtime in a 4-3 victory over visiting Dartmouth on January 20. Senior captain defenseman Keir Ross has been named oneof10finalistsfortheLowe’sSeniorCLASSAward.To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be

classifiedasanNCAADivisionIseniorandhavenotableachievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. Commitments for 2012-13 according to College Hockey Inc.:HILBRICH, Christian Indiana Ice (USHL) STOICK, Gavin USA Under 18 Team (NTDP) TIITINEN, Teemu Lincoln Stars (USHL) MCCARRON, Patrick St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL) KNISLEY, John (Pittsford) Vernon Vipers (BCHL)

CORTLAND

Three points out of a playoff spot with four games remain-ing, the Red Dragons of had their work cut out for them to extend their season. Adam Bevilacqua and Joe Christiano (Hilton) contin-ued to pace the offense with 19 and 17 points respectively. SophomoreMikeHenriciregisteredhisfirstgoalandassistinhisfirstgameasaRedDragonagainstUticaJanuary 6.

ELMIRA

InadogfightwithManhattanvillefortheECACWest regular season crown, the tenth ranked Soaring Eagles had four games remaining in the regular season. Seniors Kevin Willer and Brendan Sanders each had surpassed the 20-point mark but the team needed more consistent goaltending to avoid a playoff stumble.

HAMILTON

The Continentals were winless in their last seven heading intothefinalfourgamesoftheregularseasonandwerein danger of missing the playoffs. NESCAC takes the top eight teams into the postseason and they were tied with ConnecticutCollegeforthefinalspotthreepointsoutof

NYS HOCKEY MEN’S COLLEGE

REPORT CENTRAL SECTION

By Warren Kozireski


seventh. Michael DiMare and Anthony Scarpino had 30 and 28 points respectively—both more than double the next clos-est teammate on the team scoring list.

HOBARTThe Statesmen were 9-4 in non-conference games, but had just two victories against ECAC West opponents and were battling Neumann for last place with four games remain-ing on the schedule. Onlyfiveplayershadscoredindouble-digitsthroughthefirst21gameswithYorktownHeightsnativeGregCicola second on the list.

OSWEGOThe Lakers had lost just one game since November and were riding a seven game winning streak heading into the finalfourgamesoftheregularseason—allathome. FreshmanChrisCarrregisteredhisfirstcollegiatepoints against Cortland and Hamilton. Carr assisted the firstgoalandscoredthesecondgoalagainstCortlandJanuary 21st and assisted on Oswego State’s third and

finalgoalversusHamiltonJanuary22.HewasNamedSUNYAC Rookie of the Week for his efforts. ChrisBrownrecordedhisfirstcareerhattrickatBrockport January 28 and senior Jared Anderson scored hisfirstcollegiategoalagainstGeneseoJanuary27. Senior defenseman Hank Van Boxmeer, the son of former Sabres and Amerk John Van Boxmeer, netted his firstgoaloftheseasonagainstUticaJanuary14.

UTICAThe 9th ranked Pioneers were an amazing 11-2 against non-conference opponents, but were a middling 3-4-1 against ECAC West competition as they found themselves in the middle of the pack with three games left before the postseason. Evan Chlanda (Islip), Trevor Hertz and Tim Coffman (Elverson) all had scored 20 points or better with sophomore Jon Gaffney one point away from joining them.

MORRISVILLE On Probation

According to the NCAA website and announced January 19, Morrisville State College committed major violations in itsmen’sicehockeyprogram,accordingtofindingsbytheNCAADivisionIIICommitteeonInfractions.MorrisvilleState’sviolationsincludeinconsistentfinancialaidpackagingduringthe2009-10and2010-11academicyears.Penaltiesin this case include two years of probation and a postseason ban. Violations by Morrisville State arose through the awarding of International Incentive Grants (IIG) and Canadian StudentInitiativeGrants(CSIG),financialaidprogramsthatwerecreatedtoboostenrollmentofinternationalstudentson campus. The IIG program gave a tuition discount to all international students who enrolled while the CSIG program gaveahousingdiscounttoallCanadianstudentswholivedoncampus.Althoughtheschool’sadmissionsofficemadevisitstoCanadaonoccasion,manyofthepotentialinternationalstudentswerereferredtotheadmissionsofficebyMor-risvilleState’smen’sicehockeycoaches.Thecommitteenotedtheviolationswereunintentional,butsignificant. During the 2009-10, approximately 29 percent of the awards were given to student-athletes while student-athletes comprised approximately 12 percent of the general student body, exceeding the proportionate amount by more than 16 percent. In 2010-11, nearly 37 percent of the distributed aid was awarded to student-athletes, even though they made up only 13 percent of the general student body, exceeding the proportional amount by nearly 24 percent. Because the percentages were not closely equivalent to the amount of student-athletes within the general student body, the school’s awards were in violation of Division III rules. The penalties include: Public reprimand and censure. •TwoyearsofprobationfromJanuary19,2012,throughJanuary18,2014. •Effectiveimmediately,anyoftheinstitution’sathleticsteamswhoserostersincludeoneormorestudent-athletesre-ceiving CSIG and/or IIG shall end their seasons with the playing of their last regularly scheduled, in-season contest and shall not be eligible to participate in any postseason competition, including conference tournaments and NCAA champi-onships. Further, any affected teams shall not be eligible for regular season conference championships consideration for as long as their rosters include student-athletes receiving CSIG and/or IIG (the institution proposed this sanction begin-ning with the 2012-13 academic year).*


When the Army Black Knights hockey team wins, Andy Starczewski is usually in the middle of the scoring. In fact, he’s in the middle of most scoring

when they lose as well. The junior forward led the Knights in goals and points throughthefirst25gamesthisseason. But it has been quite a road trip since his high school days. Youth hockey with the Whitestown Youth Association program, three years at Whitesboro High followed by two sea-sons at Northwood Prep in Lake Placid. Then playing for three different teams in three different leagues at the junior level during the 2008-09 campaign. “I started that year in Indiana in the USHL and on paper it was probably the best team in the league at the time,” said thejuniorforwardinmid-January.“I’vealwaysbeenafirstor

second line kind of player and they had so much talent there that the coach and owner asked me if I would like to develop in the OPJHL (Ontario). “When I got there (Seguin, Ontario) the coaching wasn’t what I was used to. I had a tryout with Pembroke earlier so I went there and learned under their coach Sheldon Keefe. He has a great mind for the game so it was probably the best decision I’ve made in my life. Sheldon Keefe made me the hockey player I am today along with (Army head coach Brian) Coach Riley.” And then the decision to commit to Army. “AfriendofminecamehereafewyearsbackandIthoughtitwouldbesomethingspecialifIcouldfulfillmy dream of serving my nation and playing Division I hockey,” said the junior forward in mid-January. “Times are tough sometimes and you do wonder why you made the decision, but the guys we have and the atmosphere we have is a lot different from any other Division I sport—not just hockey.” “It’s a huge commitment starting some days at six o’clock in the morning and going until 11:30-midnight going non-stop with school, military commitments and here for hockey. “It’s all business and like a fulltime job. It’s a of time and a lot of dedication, but I think that’s what makes it special.” With six games remaining in this, his next to last hockey season, the 6’1” 205 lb was one goal away from 25 career goals and six points from 50 in his career. In a 2011 interview with Fran Perritano of the Observer-Dispatch in his hometown, Starczewski said in response to a question about serving his country: “I was always in awe with the American Solider and aspired to be one. On September 11, 2001 I was in eighth grade sitting in Mrs. Donnelly’s second period American History class when Mr. Kuhn walked in and said‘turnontheTV…anystation.’WhenIsawthefirsttoweronfireandasecondplanecomingin,itwaslike a switch. If I was 18 years old that day, my life would have been very different.” Themoreyoufindoutaboutsomepeople,theeasieritistorootforthem…onandofftheice.*

ANDY STARCZEWSKI-ARMY VIA WHITESBORO

By Warren Kozireski


Women’s East Section College Report

by Janet Schultz

The Engineers are 8-16-4 and 5-9-2 as they wind

down their season. Eleeza Cox took Rookie of the Week honors January 31 for her putting the puck in the net three times in the six goals netted by RPI in a sweep of Union College. She leads the team

in goals scored with 12, scoring in six consecutive games. Leading in points is Jordan Smelker with 10 goals and 15 assists. Goalie Kelly O’Brien has faced 367 shots this season, stop-ping 329 of them.

Union College

Comingintothefinallegoftheseason Union is 4-20-4 overall and 2-12-2 in conference play. They have faced tough competition in Cornell, Colgate, the University of Connecticut, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Yale and RPI. They took a 2-2 overtime tie from Connecticut and also tied with Brown.

With 5 goals and 6 as-sists, Bryanne Panchuk leads Union in points and Goalie Kate Gallagher has made 431 saves on 458 shots. Marcy/Syracuse Stars Lauren Hoffman has 2 goals and 5 assists this season.*

Team New York City Gives Back to the Game Lake Placid, NY, home of the Empire State Win-ter Games, features many sports that utilize facilities that were once built for the Olympics. Athletes from all over NewYorkcompeteineventsrangingfromfigureskatingto downhill skiing. New York City is represented each year by a women’s ice hockey team. Its players bring a wealth of experience and successful prior collegiate involvement. This year’s team represents colleges including Rochester Institute of Technology, Hamilton College, Holy Cross, Boston College, Manhattanville College, Dartmouth, and Minnesota State. These women also hold careers in engineering, sportsTVresearcher,finance,andteachingtonameafew. After work, at least half of the players give back to the game as ice hockey coaches. They are actively coaching in girls associations such as at Central Park Ice Hockey at Lasker Rink. Team New York City has won the bronze medal the last two years at the Empire State Winter games and repeated this year.*

The West Point Army Atoms playing between periods at the Feb. 4 NY Islanders game. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


The NY Junior Islanders honored at recent Islanders game. The team is coached by Benoit Hogue. (Photo by Janet Schultz)

The 14th Annual Todd Marchant Hockey School

Mites - Squirts - PeeWees’s - Seniors 1997 - 1999 (Bantan/Midget)

One Week OnlyJuly 23 - 28

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

Northtown Center at Amherst

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 equip-ment!

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!


Hogan Named Associate Coach in Chief

Mark Hogan has been named NYSAHA Associate Coach-In-Chief ACE Coordinator. Mark has served as the West Section ACE coordinator and now will serve the entire state in that capacity.*

ARMY

Heading into February, the Black Knights were virtu-ally locked into being the road team for the Atlantic Con-ferencefirstroundseriesMarch2-4.Theirfatewaslargelysealed with a seven-game conference winless skid to start the 2012 portion of the schedule. JoshRichardsrecordedhisfirstcollegiatepointswitha goal and an assist January 27 against Air Force. Commitments for 2012-13 according to College Hockey Inc.:

ST. DENIS, Michael Exeter Academy, Phillips HS (NEDI) FAUST, Willie Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL) PLAGEMAN, Kyle Culver Military Academy HS (IN-HS) GEHRT, Jonathan Austin Bruins (NAHL) JENKINS, Luke Amarillo Bulls (NAHL) HELLER, Thane Boston Junior Bruins (EJHL) VOGEL, Kyle Wenatchee Wild (NAHL) BURNS, Robert New Jersey Hitmen (EJHL) POMARICO, Christian Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) MCNULTY, James Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL) KOZLAK, Joe Amarillo Bulls (NAHL) HEARN, Shane Hebron Academy HS (NEDI)

HUDSON VALLEY CC

The Vikings picked up their fourth win of the season onthefinaldayofJanuarywithStormKnightandRomanMalyshev tied for the top spot in scoring. The road gets no easier with three regular season games remaining—two of those against top-ranked Mon-roe CC on home ice.

MANHATTANVILLE

TheValiantsstoodthreepointsbehindfirstplaceEl-mirawithfivegamesremaining(onlyoneathome)intheregular season including two with Elmira. Scott Hudson and Brendan Turner stood 1-2 in team scoring while Luc Van Natter also had reached the ten-goal mark.

Senior goaltender Pierre –Olivier Lemieux entered Febru-ary 15th in the nation in save percentage.

R.P.I.

Afterwinningjustthreeoftheirfirst19games,theEngineers began to jell going 4-3-1 in January. Defenseman Nick Bailen (Fredonia) and Brock Higgs were atop the scoring chart while freshman goaltender ScottDiebold(Buffalo)gothisfirstcollegiatewinatRIT.Eight regular season games for the unit to make up the fourpoints(andpassthreeteams)neededtohostafirstround playoff series. Commitments for 2012-13 according to College Hockey Inc.:BUBELA, Milos Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)

DEVITO, Jimmy Chicago Steel (USHL) BOURBONNAIS, Riley USHL Selects (USHL) MILLER, Mark Omaha Lancers (USHL) ZALEWSKI, Michael Vernon Vipers (BCHL) KASDORF, Jason Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) BRADLEY, Christopher Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)

UNION

The Dutchmen went 6-1-1 in January to launch themselvespastCornellintofirstplaceinECACwithonemonthleft.Fouroftheirfinalsevengamesareagainstthesecond place Big Red and third place Colgate, so the race is wide open for the 11th ranked team. Kelly Zajac had passed the 30-point mark and in the top ten in assists per game while Jeremy Welsh was among the top ten in goals per game with 18 and tied for firstinpowerplaygoals. Commitments for 2012-13 according to College Hockey Inc.:

BOYLE, Tim Noble Greenough HS (NEDI) DI PAULI, Theo Chicago Steel (USHL) GINGRAS, Sebastien Brockville Braves (CCHL) WILKINS, Matthew Brooks Bandits (AJHL) CRUICE, Nick South Shore Kings (EJHL)

NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE REPORT-EASTBy Warren Kozireski


2012 Top GunTournament Champions

Top Gun Takes on New Look

For the past 30 years Amherst Youth Hockey has held a Top Gun Winter Classic tournament but with new tourna-ments springing up and the fact that many of those same

teams would make a trip to Amherst for the States or Nationals, they backed off. One hockey Mom had another idea. Tiffany Sayers, who is employed by Pro Hockey Develop-ment, Toronto, Ontario, saw it as an opportunity to make the Top Gun Tournament a premiere tournament for cross and half ice and they added a 10U and 12U Girls division. “With the American Development Model (ADM) becom-ing mandatory for all Mite and under age groups next season, I think a tournament like this has the potential to be the premier tournament in this region,” said Steve LoVullo who helped Say-ers develop the tournament. “With the short time span, teams had already committed to other tournaments,” said Sayers, who didn’t get approval until Fall to run the tournament.

One of the unique aspects was that Amherst Youth Hockey had purchased actual portable boards that separate a pad of ice into three or two sections, depending on the age group. This gave the tournament a real hockey feel, whereas the old use of bumpers and cones give it a less than “professional” feel. “It had a tournament feel,” said Sayers. “Everyone that came into the arena was so amazed. “They were also happy about keeping score, which doesn’t happen at that age in house teams and the kids were actually playing in a tournament format,” she continued. One team came without a goalie because they don’t use goalies in their house team. She explained that they just took one of their defensemen, put him in the net with no equipment and he played goalie, as well as a little defense. While some were concerned, others found it very exciting. “They did win a couple of games,” said Sayers. “We had no rule that anyone had to have a goalie, so we let them play the way they were used to.” Twenty teams came to play in the cross-ice tournament and 24 teams for the full ice tournament. Teams came from Pittsburgh, and Niagara and Erie (Ontario). “It makes it exciting and makes them want to move on to


travel hockey,” she continued. Top Gun is a recreational tournament, with no gate admis-sion but included other activities that raised funds for the orga-nization including craft stations, autograph and photo sessions with Buffalo Sabres Sabretooth, tattoo station and an open skate. “We had a place where the kids could buy a tee shirt and design it themselves,” said Sayers. “One group came out and made up their own Championship tee shirt, it was adorable and so much fun to watch.” When the group evaluated the tournament, held in January, they found that everything went like clock work. They received many compliments from parents on the entire weekend. “Theboardsdefinitelygaveitarealhockeyfeel,”saidSayers. “The format gave it a real tournament atmosphere and the kids had fun.” At this point Amherst Youth Hockey is the only organiza-tion that owns these boards in the State of New York. “I would love to see a “select” team come in from Cleve-land if they can’t bring more than one team,” said Sayers. “We may not be able to attract teams from Canada but we could attract teams from all over the northeast because of the ADM being put into effect next season by USA Hockey.” “I thought it was excellent,” said LoVullo. “Kids, parents, coaches alike loved the half ice format, loved that actual boards were used to separate the “two rinks” and it had a perfect com-binationofADMthatwasagespecificwithatruecompetitivehockey tournament feeling.” Next year’s tournament is scheduled for the weekend of January 18 and will include 2004-06’s playing cross ice; 2003’s playing full ice and possibly a Mite cross ice tournament. If you have a team interested in taking part in next year’s tournament, contact Sayers at [email protected]. This year’s winners were the Niagara Redcoats, Amherst Bruins, Amherst Knights, Buffalo Saints, Amherst AAA 2002’s and in the newly established girls’ division is was the Amherst Knights in U12 and the Buffalo Regals in U14.*

Results from The 18th AnnualSarah Backstrom Tournament

Erie, Pa.

10U House Gold: Ann Arbour Cougers Silver: Burlington Barracudas

12U House Gold: Scarboro Sharks Silver: Indiana Lady Chiefs

12U Tier II/REP Gold North Halton Twisters Silver: West Seneca Wings

14U House Gold: Burlington Barracudas Silver: Oakville Hornets

14UTier II/REP (1 OT) Gold: Niagara Rapids Silver: Bluewater Hawks

16U Tier II/Rep Gold: Buffalo Stars Silver: Columbus Chill

19U House Black (SO 7) Gold: Mt. Lebanon Hornets Silver: Oakville White Lightening

19U House Black Gold: Shaha Panthers Silver: Burlington Montgomery

19U Tier II/REP (SO-5) Gold: West Seneca Wings Silver: Burlington Halse

Each year the Erie Lady Lions host this tour-nament to honor Sarah Backstrom, a hockey playerwholostherfightwithleukemiaatage18. The application for the 2013 Tournament is now on-line. Go to www.erieladylions.com.


Hockey NYS Needs YOU!

We Need Your Youth Hockey News

Send to:[email protected]

Deadline for March Issue is February 26!

“Pink the Rink,” Wounded

Warriors Project and

Autism Awareness

--NY College’s Support Causes

Close to Their Hearts!

RIT women¹s hockey team raised $11,067 forthe Wounded Warriors Project in conjunction with their two-game series against ECAC

West rival Buffalo State on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20-21. RITworespecialcamouflagejerseysthatwereauc-tioned off online. The 23 jerseys fetched $8,609. Junior Kris-tina Moss had the highest selling jersey, at $3,000. Freshman Julie Hall¹s jersey sold for $350. Every jersey sold for at least $215. In addition, the Tigers sold special “Support Wounded Warriors” t-shirts. On the ice, the Tigers earned four big points in the

ECAC West race, coming away with 5-1 and 6-2 wins to improve to 16-1-1 this season. Moss was namedthe ECAC West Player of the Week after recording six points in the two games. RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald is thrilled to donate to such a worthy cause. “We wanted to do something that really stood out in a national sense, said McDonald, who has led the Tigers to a 123-22-10 mark in six seasons at RIT.” With what happened on September 11, 2001, we wanted to support our military and how they sacrificeforourfreedom.Thecommunitysupportwas tremendous, with two good crowds, and most importantly, their generosity to help support a great cause.” TheWoundedWarriorProjectisanonprofitorganization that exists to honor and empower Wounded Warriors who incurred service-con-nected injures on or after September 11, 2001.

Their mission is to “honor and empower wounded warriors” of the United States Armed Forces. WWP works to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. The women¹s hockey team has developed a strong tradition of giving back to the community. Last year, the Tigers partnered with Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and Geneva General Cardiology Associates to raise $10,219 for Finger Lakes Health to help “Black Out Heart Disease. In 2010, both the men¹s and women¹s teams along with Zeta Tau Alpha raised $21,248 for cancer research in their “Make The Rink Pink” On Jan. 6 the women’s hockey team presented a check for $3,825 to the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester in conjunction with a fundraiser that the Tigers hosted at Park Point in October. On Feb. 10-11, both the men¹s and women’s hockey squads once again teamed up with Zeta Tau Alpha Women’s fraternity for their Second Biennial Make the Rink Pink. Fans wore pink, rather than their traditional orange and they auc-tioned off pink jerseys and sold pink tiger tee shirts. Proceeds will be donated to Rochester General’s Lipson Cancer Center and Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness.


Bengals Honor Former Player

Buffalo State Col-lege’s men’s and women’s teams wel-

comed back their alumni in a celebration weekend January 20 and 21. First up was the women’s alumni game named after former player Maddy Lof-tus, who was killed when Continental Flight 3407

crashed in Clarence (NY) on approach to Buffalo Inter-national Airport in 2009. Maddy was on her way to play in the Bengals annual Alumni Game. Taking part in this year’s tribute were: Emma Wadsworth, Bree Cote, Aman-da Johnson Jessica De Carlo, Katie Olejarski, Dyanne Roberts, Julie Ruszala, jess Czmara, Marissa McMullan, Kristi Reed on Team White and on Team Black: Mary Keddie Halas, Kelsey Truran, Jennifer Trees, Kim Costan-zo, Melissa Jeckovich, Nicole Bennett, Courtney Wagner, Mary Cohen, Jamie Overbeck (now assistant coach for the Bengals), Amanda Uschold and Crissay Michalek. Team White beat Team Black. Following the women’s game, the men welcomed back their alumni members in a action-packed game. The Rink was Pink for both of those contests as well as for the afternoon regular season game with the women facing Oswego and the men facing Morrisville. All funds raised will go to breast cancer research through Roswell Cancer Institute and the CHA, who matches funds and donates to the charity designated by the CHA Tournament host.

Colgate Skates for Autism

Colgate College’s Starr Rink went blue for the Second Annual Light Up the Starr Rink Blue event to mark the beginning of the team’s 2012

Autism Awareness Project. The team created this project in support of Kati Wil-

liams, a teenager from Norwich (NY) who has been an avid fan of Colgate for several years and now works as the team’s manager. She has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significantdifficultiesinsocialinteractionandrestrictiveand repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. The team will be wearing special autism jerseys de-signed by 11-year-old Christian Mast. Mast is an author, hockey player, student, friend, brother and son who has autism, a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. The jerseys were auctioned off through an on-line auction after the game. The Raiders over 1,200 fans wore blue to the game withthefirst300enteringthearenareceivingafreelightblue special event tee shirt. The shirts are being given away through the sponsorship of Price Chopper, Crows, Oliveri’s, the Colgate Bookstore, Colgate Inn Hamilton inn and Seven Oaks. Colgate is also continuing its annual Player Puzzle Fundraiser as part of its 2012 Autism Aware-ness Project. Each player has created their own individual online puzzle on the Web site for Autism Speaks, North America’s largest autism science and advocacy organization. Fans can purchase a piece of a player’s puzzle for just $10 and help support Autism Speaks U. These digital puzzle pieces can be sent to family, friends and supporters of the Colgate women’s hock-ey to help put the pieces together and raise money for

Buffalo State Alumni gather for Maddy’s Game! (Photo by Janet Schultz)

A moment for Maddy. (Photo by Janet Schultz)


autism research. To purchase puzzle pieces, or for more information about the project and its events, please visit www.colgate.edu/autism. ColgateisalsoholdingaraffleandauctiontobenefitGoalsforGoodandtheAutism Awareness Project. Beginning February 3 and continuing through February 18 fanscanpurchaseraffleticketsinthelobbyoutsideStarrRinkduringmen’sandwom-en’s home ice hockey games. They can also bid on items at auction.colgateraiders.com. Withtheraffle,fanscanselectwhichraffleitemtheywanttoplayfor.Winnerswillbe

notifiedonFebruary20.ItemsincludeaSyracuseCrunchjer-sey, a Jim Craig (1980) USA signed jersey, a voucher for one pair of Bauer APX skates,

gift baskets and a Bauer Autism Speaks stick signed by the men’s and women’s Colgate ice hockey teams. There is also an on-line live auction which includes NHL jerseys, NBA jersey and signed sticks.

Other Colleges Join the Fight!

Many other colleges throughout the State have or are playing games for charity including Oswego

who pinked their rink during their Friday (Feb. 3) game against RIT. Their proceeds, which totaled $1,000, will benefittheAmericanCancerSocietyandthefightagainstbreast cancer. The Lakers will donated their admission receipts and auction off a pink jersey. Niagara University’s Pink the Rink was held Friday, Feb. 3 when they hosted Mercyhurst. Student athletes Daniela Dal Colle and Erica Owczarczak took charge of the sixth annual “Skate for the Cure.” All four colleges in the CHA take part in this fundrais-er. The program was started to help raise awareness and fundstowardsthefightagainstbreastcancer.ThePurpleEagles wore custom-made pink jerseys, which will be sold following the game. Player Kristen Richards’ grandmother and cancer sur-vivor dropped the ceremonial puck. Proceeds from NU go to Niagara’s Partner in Pink, Mt. St. Mary’s Hospital, as well as dedicated to an organiza-tionfightingbreastcancerattheCHAChampionshipstobe held later this year on the campus of Robert Morris College.*

Oswego Team Pinks the Rink (Photo by Jim Feeney)

Ceremonial puck drop with RIT Captain Kim Schlattman, Ira Reimer, grandmother of Freshman Laker Samm Reimer. (Photo by Jim Feeney).


Upstate New York Girls 2012 Hockey Playoffs

ThefinalswillbeheldSaturday,February11.InSectionXSemifinalplayoffsitwas:

#4 Massena 3; #1 Potsdam 4#3 Canton 2; #2 St. Lawrence 8Moving into the Section X Championship game:Potsdam beat St. Lawrence 4-2.Potsdam moves to play Ithaca at the Upstate NY Semifinal.

Section VII#4 Lake Placid, 2; Beekmantown 5#3 Saranac Lake, 2; Albany 6Beekmantown 5; Albany 0 in the Section VII Cham-pionship

Section III#3 Skaneateles 2, #2 Alexandria Bay 3 (OT)#4 Oswego, 1; #1 Ithaca, 0 (OT)Alexandria Bay 2, Oswego 0 in Section III Champi-onshipBeekmantown faces Alexandria Bay in the Upstate NYSemifinals.

WinnersoftheSemifinalsmeetintheChampionshipgame on February 11.

North Section Women’s College Reportby Janet Schultz

The Potsdam Bears struggle this sea-son with a 7-7-3

overall record and 1-5-2 in conference play. They began the New Year with a loss to Plattsburgh, fol-lowed by three victories (Castleton and Cortland) and tied two games with Utica. Emilee Hazeden was named to the ECAC West Honor Roll after recordingherfirstthreepoints of her Bears career in the ties with Utica. She assisted in the 3-3 game and had two goals in the 4-4 game; netting three points in her six games. Leading the Bears in scoring this season is Annmarie Lewis with 9 goals and 9 assists, followed by Breanne Roy (4-14) and Jessica Silveira (11-6). Making the saves are Jen Conophy of Glenmont,

New York, with a .902 save percent-age and Dawna Salvarinas with a .908 save percentage. Lewis was named ECAC West Player of the Week for February 5 after she scored four goals in a two-game split with Neumann, including the game winner and tacked on an empty-netter in a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Neumann.

St. Lawrence

The Saints are on a winning streak after tak-ing six consecutive games before taking Clarkson to a 1-1 overtime tie in January. Their only loss (6-4) came at the hands of #2 Cornell. Their scoring leaders include Rylee Smith, 33

points; Kelly Sabatine, 31 points and Karell Emard, 28 points. In goal they have Carmen Mac-Donald with a .925 save percent-age and Caitlyn Lahoene with a .909 save percentage. MacDon-ald has a 12-5-3 record while Lahonen has a 3-3-1. Akwesane’s Ally Bero has 13 points this season.

Clarkson Clarkson will host Brown and Yaleintheirfinalregularseasonschedule as this publication goes to press. They are 16-7-5 overall and challenge for one of the top spots in the ECAC. Fiveseniorswillseetheirfinalgames including Juana Baribeau, Danielle Boudreau, Kali Gil-

landers, Gabrielle Kosziwka and Katelyn Ptolemy. Baribeau has 22 points this season, scoring 14 goals and 8 assists. Carly Mercer has 12 goals and 21 assists and Jamie Lee Rattray has 15 goals and 16 assists.*

Around the North......Zoe Shannon took an honorable mention as Varsity Athlete of the Week at Albany Academies. Zoe is an eighth grader playing varsity ice hockey.

Lewis


NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE REPORT-NORTHBy Warren Kozireski

CLARKSON

As the calendar turned to February, the Knights were merepointsawayfromfinish-ing among the top four in ECAC andavoidingafirstroundplayoffseries. Senior goaltender Paul Karpowich continued to appear

among the top ten in the nation in save percentage, but the team was relying on him a little too much averaging the fifthfewestgoalsscoredinconferencegames. FreshmandefensemanJamesHowdennettedhisfirstcollegiate goal against rival St. Lawrence January 21st. Commitments for next season according to College Hockey Inc.:MOOR, Tyler Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL) BESSETTE, Simon Wellington Dukes (OJHL) BOUCHER-GOULD, Jordan Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) FINCH, Christian Stouffville Spirit (OJHL) ANTONI,Gabe SpringfieldJr.Blues(NAHL)KIRISITS, Kevin Brockville Braves (CCHL) MEGANNETY, Patrick Georgetown Raiders (OJHL) FERREIRA, Dave Brockville Braves (CCHL) DINALLO, Jeff Newmarket Hurricanes (OJHL) KULEVICH, Jake Berkshire HS (NEDI)

PLATTSBURGH

The Cardinals entered February ranked third in the nation among Di-vision III teams and riding a nation-best 12 game unbeaten streak dating back to Thanksgiving. Sophomore goaltender Mathieu Cadieux was number one in the na-tion with a 1.80 goals against average and seventh in save

percentage at .932. The team was succeeding with defense allowing a tied-for-third-in-the-country 1.89 goals per game and were leading the nation on the penalty kill at 91.5% as the least penalized team. The balance on offense was also evident with nine forwards led by senior Kyle Kudroch and two defensemen all with ten or more points through 19 games, but none at 20 or more. According to Junior Hockey News, The Cardinals have 2012-13 commitments from forward Max Balaban and Zach Popp from the Northern Cyclones and defense-man Rich Botting (Binghamton) from the Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack of the AJHL.

POTSDAM

InadogfightwithCortlandand Brockport both one point be-hindthemforthesixthandfinalplayoff position, the Bears held games-in-hand on both. Senior Sy Nutkevitch stood third in the conference and 11th in Division III with 30 points and sixth in assists pergameoverthefirst19.TrevorCopeandAdamPlaceremain next on the scoring chart. Theteamplaysitsfinalfourregularseasongamesaway from home before the play-in round of the playoffs February 22.

ST. LAWRENCE

The Saints will be playing an ECACfirstroundplayoffseries;the only question was where. They started the year’s second month

fourpointsawayfromhostingthatserieswithfiveoftheir eight February against teams they are chasing. Kyle Flanagan (Canton) and Greg Carey were the only two players who had eclipsed the 20 point mark throughthefirst26games. Commitments for next season according to Col-lege Hockey Inc.:

HAGEN, Alex South Surrey Eagles (BCHL) CAREY, Matthew Toronto Jr. Canadiens (OJHL)*


Peter Preteroti has one of the biggest

extended families in Western New York. Maybe even in New York State. The reason? The Buffalo Hor-nets hockey organi-zation. The Hornets are celebrating their 40th an-niversary season this year. Preteroti has been a part of the Hornets since dayone,firstasaplayer and then, since 1979, as it’s president. Although he wasn’t part of the actual organizing of the Hor-nets, Preteroti has a good under-standing of how the organization got started. “We’re actually an off-shoot of the Buffalo Saints organiza-tion,” said Preteroti. “I’m not sure exactly what the situation was at the time, but there was some kind of trouble in the Saints. “What came from that were two more hockey organizations, the Depew Rovers and the D and L (Depew and Lan-caster) Hornets. “We were actually formed through the D and L Little League baseball club. People that were in-volved in that helped form the hockey team. “It originally started as a house league back dur-ing the 1972-73 season. And we began play at Holi-day Twin Rinks and the Village of Depew Ice. “Over the years we evolved into travel and be-came members of the Frontier Youth Hockey League. We started putting a team at every level of hockey.” But just seven years into their existence, the Hor-

nets made a couple of changes that would impact the organizationforyearstocome.Thefirstwaschang-

ing the name of the team from D and L to Buffalo. The second, and maybe more important change came on November 30, 1979. It was a date that would change Preteroti’s life forever. “It was a date I’ll never forget,” recalled Preteroti. “Infact, I can even tell you what time it was. “At 7 p.m. on that date I took over as President of the Hornets organization. Up

until that time George Weber had been Chairman of the Board and Gary Holland had been president. “Both decided to leave at the same time. I was referee and chief of the organization at the time. “Nobody else wanted it. So I stepped up and took over at the age of 24. “I wanted it. I was an aggressive kid at the time and was willing to do anything for the organization that would help them. “I was on the board of the Hornets when I was 18. So taking charge of the organization is something I really wanted.

Happy 40th Anniversary

Buffalo Hornets!by Randy Schultz


“I felt that it was my life. It was all I wanted to do. “We were a Double-A organization at the time, with teams at every level. We eventually added girls and women’s hockey in the 1980s. “Along the way we’ve also become two entities. There is the Hornets Hockey Association, Inc., which istheactualnot-for-profityouthentity. “Then we have the Buffalo Stars Junior hockey with is 10 years old. It is separate from the Hornets. “We then tied it all together through Buffalo Stars Sports and Marketing. But we still answer our phones, ‘Hornets hockey.’ “And I made sure along the way that I surrounded myself with good people that would help make this hockey organization great.” Good people including Gretchen Mullen, Executive Vice-President; Ed Gajewski, Vice-President of Operations; Norm Robinson, Vice-President of Girls and Womens Hockey; Greg Flury, Vice-President of Medical and Facilities. But as these members of the Hornets organization will tell you, there is more to the organization that just the teams playing hockey. “We are a family,” stated Mullen, who has been with the Hornets since 1990. “There is just no other way to describe it. “When we do things, we encourage the families to get involved. And we do a lot of activities. “There is the annual Christmas party. Each year we do a community service. “This year it was the Food Bank. This year we had so much food that had to have two trucks to take it away. “We always are trying to give back to the commu-nity. It’s great not only for the kids, but their families as well. “In this organization, we care about the kids. The numbers might not always be great on the scoreboard, but the moral and good feelings the players have for each other speaks for itself.” “It’s the only reason we’re here,” added Gajew-ski. “There is no other reason for our existence. “And we have kids and their families coming from all over Western New York. We’ve got players

from Cuba, Rochester and Niagara Falls. “Yes, a lot of our players are still from the Lan-caster and Depew areas. But people from other areas know of us.” “There is also the big banquet at the end of the year,” remarked Flury, who, like Preteroti, is an origi-nal player with the Hornets. “Every kid is recognized. “Everyone comes together and has a good time.” Maybe Robinson had the best idea for summing up the Hornets. “It’s not hockey, it’s a way of life,” commented Robinson. “We try to teach life lessons as well as hockey here.” Which all stems back to Preteroti. “Have we had kids that have come through here that have gone on to the NHL,” questioned Preteroti.

“No. “What about Division I hock-ey? Maybe a couple. “We’re not that type of orga-nization that is going to hang their hat on kids who have gone that route. What we care about is if they become good citizens. “We’ve had players come

through who are now doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers, among other careers. We’ve had kids come through who are now outstanding young men and women. “We’ve now got third generation players coming to us. The families keep coming back and back. “We’re proud of the over 6000 players that have come through our doors over the past 40 years. Each and every one of them.” The magic question that now surrounds Preteroti is how much longer will he run the Hornets? “Until I die,” he quietly answered. And there is a reason for that answer. “When I was a teenager, I didn’t like myself,” continued Preteroti. “I had no direction in life. “Then I found this organization. They opened the door for me. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the Hor-nets. “There are a lot of hockey organizations out there that say they only open the door for the best. “Well, I guess we open the doors for the rest.”*

“We are a family. There is just no other way to describe it.”--

Gretchen Mullen, Hornet’s executive vice president.


West SectionWomen’s College Hockey Reportby Janet Schultz

Buffalo State

Buffalo State’s Bengals are riding a rough patch with a 6-11-2 overall record and 3-8-1 in the conference coming into February. Six straight losses in January give them a goal to make things better in February.

Christine Williams (Niagara Falls/Niagara County Coyotes) leads the scoring with 13 goals and 7 assists for 20 points this season. She is followed by Brianna Murphy (Depew/Buffalo Bisons) with 4 goals and 11 assists. In third is Jeyna Minnick (Rochester/Rochester Edge) with 8 goals and 5 assists. Between the pipes Jordan Lee has played in 18 games putting up a .913 save percentage facing 470 shots this season. Cheektowaga’s Jess Garland has seen action in 3 games and has a .891 save percentage.

Niagara University

The Purple Eagles come into February with a 9-12-6 overall record and 2-3-1 in the CHA. They lost to #5 Mercyhurst 4-5 and 2-4 followed by an overtime tie with Syracuse (3-3) and an overtime loss to the Orange (2-1), before splitting with Robert Morris. Jessica Hitchcock leads NU in scoring with 12 goals

and 7 assists this season. She is followed by Jenna Hen-drikx (7-9) and East Amherst/Buffalo Bison’s Kelsey Welch with 8 goals and 7 assists this season. Kalli Funk was named Co-CHA Rookie of the Week for January 30 after scoring the only goal of the weekend and her sixth of the season in a 1-0 win over Robert Mor-ris. Goalie Sarah Moses was named NU Student-Athlete of the Week after she helped I the split with Robert Mor-ris.Moseshadherfirstcareershutoutinthe1-0victoryover the Colonials. In addition, Moses was named CHA Goaltender of the Month.

RIT

The Tigers continue their winning tradi-tion with a 17-1-1 overall record and 10-1-1 in the ECAC as they wind down the season. Plattsburgh gave them their only trouble after the New Year with a 1-1 overtime tie and a 1-3 loss in game

two. The Tigers soundly defeated their other opponents which included Adrian College, Buffalo State and Hamil-ton. Leading the Tigers this season in scoring is Kourtney Kunichika with 11goals and 17 assists. She is followed by Kolbee McCrea, 14G/11A and Tenecia Hiller, 13G/8A. Webster’s Kristina Moss has 5 goals and 15 assists this season and Amherst’s Hannah Epstein has four assists. In goal is Laura Chamberlain leading with a .941 save percentage in 11 games played.*


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RYH/Maksymum Form Girls’ Junior Hockey Team(Submitted by Jeff Kolcon, Maksymum)

Rochester Youth Hockey in partnership with Maksy-mum Hockey is pleased to announce the formation of the Maksymum Edge Girls’ Junior Hockey team.

The Edge will provide a full season format for play-ers looking to showcase their skills and build a competi-tive experience with expectations of moving on to college hockey. The team will mirror the development model of both the Maksymum Junior B hockey team and the Roch-ester Stars Junior A team of the Eastern Junior Hockey league. The team will practice 4 times a week along with off-ice conditioning provided by Athletic Republic. “Having the ability to offer girls junior hockey in Rochester is both exciting and timely,” states Ray Cardel-la, Director at Large with Rochester Youth Hockey and longtime Director of the Rochester Edge Program. “We have seen a lot of talent leave Rochester to pursue high level competition and exposure. This venue will allow us to effectively compete with the other junior programs and academies.” Morgan Beikirch, Director of Girls Hockey for Maksy-mum LLC and former college coach adds, “It is extremely important to keep our talent local. Our younger girls need role models to connect the dots to college hockey. If our best girls always leave, it is a disincentive for some little girls.” Although the priority is given on developing local

talent, The Edge will also expand their, reach to competi-tive players throughout North America. “We expect to see some players from all over involved in our program. This will be a great stepping stone for high school players and graduates looking to improve their exposure to college hockey scouts.” The Maksymum Edge Girls’ Junior Hockey team is exploringaffiliationwithseveraljuniorleaguesbutwillfocus mostly on college campus showcases and major showcase tournaments. “We expect that every game will attract college attention,” says Beikirch. Training and development will consist of 4 practices a week along with 2-3 off-ice sessions. The team will have at least one weekend per month without games and travel. The team will be featuring a new logo and color scheme heading into their inaugural 2012-13 campaign. The Maksymum Edge will announce the head coach and tryout schedule in the next several days. Any ques-tions can be directed to Morgan Beikirch [email protected].*


Buffalo Girl Named to Eastern Selects

Olivia Smith, Tonawanda, has been selected to play for the PeeWee U12 Interna-tional Selects Program. The PeeWee Selects Program held a tryout in Buffalo in January. More than

200 girls were invited from across North America to compete for 50 positions. Those selected took part in the program’s international spring training development camp and will play in the World Selects Invitational to be held in Prague, Czech Republic April 25 through May 4. Select Hockey is an elite hockey prospect development program owned by Selects Sports Management, Inc. Since 2003 Selects Hockey has worked with top 12 to 16 year old hockey players from across North America and Europe to expose them to all avenues of hockey in an effort to facilitate opportunities at the NCAA, Junior and Professional levels. The program has helped over 100 players receive NCAA scholarships to play men’s and women’s hockey over the past eight years to such schools as Boston University, Harvard, Boston College and the University of Michigan. Olivia currently plays for the Kenmore Girl’s Varsity Ice Hockey team. She is a 7th grader at Kenmore.*

Scenes from the Dianne and David Braunstein Benefit.

Clockwise from Top left: Dianne talks with members of the Buffalo Junior Sabres; Gary LeBraun wins a jersey; Dianne and David with Hockey USA’s Kenny Rausch; David with East Section President Ralph Scarpino; David with Larry Playfair; the crowd; NYSAHA President Joe Baudo with Hockey NYS Publisher Steve Manson and

the NYSAHA Section Presidents with Hockey USA’s Kenny Rausch. Center:

The committee who organized the event.

It was more than a successful eve-ningfinanciallybut that afternoon Dianne received news that the cancer was gone.* (Photos by Janet Schultz)


BROCKPORT

Threepointsoutofthefinalplayoffpositionwiththree games remaining was not the ideal spot, but the Golden Eagles were holding out hope that sixth place Geneseo gets swept and they win two of three to sneak in. Senior Ian Finnerty stood 11th in the country in scor-ing and classmate James Cody was 11th in goals per game through February 6.

BUFFALO STATE

The Bengals were skidding a bit towardthefinishlinewitha2-3-0recordsince conference play resumed. They still were tied for third with three games left in the regular season, but just two points from dropping to sixth in the tight SUNYAC. Trevor McKinney, Justin Knee and Drew Klin (Lan-caster) all had surpassed the 20 point mark with James Durham (Marilla) hot on their heels.

CANISIUS

Senior goaltender Dan Morrison closed to within 60 saves of the all-time school record of 2,771 career stops held by Bryan Worosz set between 2001-2005. There were eight games remaining in the regular season to break the record. Senior captain Scott Moser had played in 106 consecutive games—the second longest

streak in the program’s history. The longest streak is 114 gameswhichMoserwouldreachonthefinaldayoftheregular season if he remains healthy. Sophomore goaltender Tony Capobianco posted his firstcareershutoutwitha28-saveeffortJanuary20thagainst Sacred Heart. StephenFarrellnettedhisfirstcollegiategoal–theeventual game-winning score—against Robert Morris February 4th. 2010 alum Cory Conacher was chosen to start the AHL All-Star game representing Norfolk in the Tampa Bay system.

ERIE CC

The second-ranked Kats were 16-3 with four games remaining and were led by Christopher Kendall

(Cheektowaga) and Scott Roy who each had 41 points—tied for second nationally. Cory Kifner (Williamsville) and Joshua Jaszcz (Cheektowaga) both were over the 30 point mark.

FREDONIA

The Blue Devils have playedfiveconferencegamesthat have gone to overtime with the last two (February 3-4)theonlyOTlosses.Theywentintothefinalthreegames tied for third. Senior Bryan Ross was among the top-20 scorers in Division III and reached the 50 goal career mark against Brockport January 20.

GENESEO

Sophomore Zachary Vit had 29 pointsoverthefirst22gamesandtheKnights had 10 others players with ten or more points for their balanced attack. DavidArduinscoredhisfirstcareerhat trick and junior netminder Adrian Rubeniukpostedhisfirstcareershutoutwith12savesto lead Geneseo to an 8-0 victory over the host Franklin PierceJanuary7.FreshmanZackCavalliniscoredhisfirstcareer goal in the same contest. FreshmanJustinScharfe(Webster)scoredhisfirstcareer goal against Hobart January 11 and sophomore JonathanSucese(Fairport)scoredhisfirstcareergoalagainst Cortland January 28.

MONROE CC

Withfivegamesleftintheregularseason,theTri-bunes maintained their top spot in the national rankings with an 18-3 record. Dan Turgeon was leading the team in goals and as-sists and second in the NJCCA. Zach Lewis, Mike Boyd (Syracuse) and TJ Reilley (Rome) all had 30 or more

NYS HOCKEY COLLEGE REPORT-WEST

By Warren Kozireski


points giving the Tribs four of the top ten spots nationally in scoring.

The three-headed goaltending monster of Rasmus Nilsson, Rick Hennard and Tom Dehr (Varysburg) also stood 1-2-3 nationally in goals against average in back of the stingy defense.

NIAGARA

Senior Sam Goodwin was named as one of 23 individu-als that have been named a nominee for the 2012 Hockey HumanitarianAward.TheCommunicationsOfficerforNiagara’s Student-Athletedvisory Committee spent some time in Africa over this past summer helping to teach the children English. DefensemanC.J.Chartrainrecordedhisfirstcareertwo-goal game on January 20 and freshman Chris Lochner notchedhisfirstcollegiatehat-trick,scoringthreepowerplay goals January 21 in a weekend sweep of AIC. Senior goaltender Chris Noonan was named the Atlantic Hockey Conference Goaltender of the Month for January. Noonan earned a 1.18 goals-against average and a .959 save percentage after stopping 209 of 218 shots in the month. Niagara rode a seven-game winning streak from Janu-ary13-February3;theprogram’sfirstsincethe2001-02season. It launched the team into the top four in Atlantic Hockey with six games remaining in the regular season. Niagara University Athletics will induct former stand-out Joe Tallari (’04) into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 10. Tallari scored 60 goals, 65 assists and 125 points in 144 career games. The 2002-03 College Hockey America Player of the Year had a stellar junior season, with 26 goals, 29 assists and 55 points en route to being Niagara’s first-everfinalistfortheprestigiousHobeyBakeraward.TallarifinishedsixthintheNCAAduringhisjuniorseasonin points per game (1.62) and 11th in goals (26). Tallari’s name is still found numerous times within the Niagara record book, including for career points (10th – 125), career goals (T-4th – 60), career power-play goals (9th – 16), career game-winning goals (T-7th – 10) and career games played (T-4th – 144). The two-time cap-tain also holds many of Niagara’s single-season records, including points (T-1st – 55), goals (4th – 26), assists (7th – 29) and game-winning goals (T-7th – 4).

Commitments for next season according to College Hockey Inc.:

WEIDAUER, Christian Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL) CHIARANTANO, Matt Georgetown Raiders (OJHL) KOLENDA, Dan Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL) DINEEN, Matt Newmarket Hurricanes (OJHL) CONTE, Patrick Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) STOUFFER, Ryan St. Louis Bandits (NAHL)

R.I.T.

TheTigershadafivegameconferencewinning streak to put them among the up-per tier of Atlantic Hockey, but stumbled with a three-game winless skid heading intothefinalsixgamesoftheseason. Senior goaltender Shane Madolora and

the defense were keys to the team’s success. He was amongthetopfiveinsavepercentageandgoalsagainstwhile standing alone nationally atop the shutouts list with six. FouroftheTigersfinalsixregularseasoncontestswill be played on home ice. Among the games is a home-and-home to conclude the season—a team RIT has yet to beat since turning Division I. Commitments for next season according to College Hockey Inc.:

MILLER, Andrew Chicago Steel (USHL) SHUMWAY, Bradley Wichita Falls Wildcats (NAHL)KUQALI, Alexander Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) MITCHELL, Josh Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL) SIDHU, Rajan Coquitlam Express (BCHL) HUDSON, Woodruff Indiana Ice (USHL) SCHULER, Daniel Powell River Kings (BCHL)

OTHER AREA NOTES

• UConnsophomoreColeSchneider(Williamsville)notched the second hat trick of his career against Niagara and was named Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week end-ing January 8.

• SophomoregoaltenderBrandenKommfromBentleystopped 65 of 68 shots in a three-point weekend against Robert Morris in January.*


“Lee Stemp-niak is one of those types of players that comes along once in a coach-ing career. He could score, check, play the power play, kill penalties and take that extra shift when needed. “I can say that I was very fortunate to have been able to coach a player like Lee.” That is how Dartmouth College hockey coach, Bob Gaudet, described Stempniak who, in four short seasons, became a legend in Big Green hockey history. Today, Stempniak is quietly making a name for him-self in the National Hockey League. Now in his seventh NHL campaign, the right winger has played for the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Phoenix Coyotes. Currently he is skating for the Calgary Flames, a team he was traded to in late August from Phoenix. Despite his NHL success, Stempniak wasn’t that well known back in his pre-college days. “It wasn’t like Lee was a household name at the time we recruited him,” recalled Gaudet. “Brenden Whitlet, one of my assistant coaches at the time, scouted Lee and liked what he saw. “You have to remember that recruiting is a lot of luck. With Lee, we got a kid who was striving towards excellence on the ice. He was trying to be the best hockey player he could be.

“And I think Lee hit his stride about halfway through his freshman year and never looked back.” While Gaudet may say that he wasn’t sure what he was get-ting when Stempniak was recruited, there was no doubt that the Western New York native had the tools to play major college hockey. Stempniak had played two seasons of hockey for the Buffalo Lightning of the OP-JAHL. In his second season he recorded 85 points (34 goals and 51 assists) in just 48 games. The 2001 St. Francis High School

graduate was also a member of the New York State 16 and 17 team that represented the region at the United States Junior Olympic Festival. For Stempniak, it was just a matter of time before he would be recruited, or so he thought. His home town of West Seneca, NY is a long distance from Hanover, NH, home of the Big Green. “I really didn’t know if there would be any interest in me,” remembered Stempniak, who was valedictorian of his senior class and member of the National Honor Society at St. Francis High School. “I had an interest in a college like Dartmouth. “I knew that they had an interest in me as well. But so did Cornell, Miami of Ohio, Yale and Niagara Univer-sity. “But there was something different about Dartmouth. The coaching staff there seemed to know where I would fitin.Coachesfromtheotherschoolsseemedtogivemethe same talk, but Dartmouth seemed to have a genuine interest in me. “It turned out to be the best move I ever made. It exceeded all of my expectations.’ For four seasons the West Seneca, NY native led the

Home Grown:

Lee Stempniak By Randy Schultz Photos by Janet Schultz


ECAC team into bat-tle on the ice. During those four years Stempniak never missed a game, play-ing 135 consecutive starts and scoring 63 goals and 88 assists for 151 points. He was a Second Team All-American in his senior year and a First Team All-American in his junior campaign, at the time becoming thefirstDartmouthplayer in 15 years to

earn that honor. To top all of that, Stempniak was drafted by the St. LouisBluesinthefifthroundofthe2003NHLEntryDraft. Stempniak never forgot the coaches and players he played with prior to his arrival in Hanover, New Hamp-shire. “I played for West Seneca Hockey all my life,” recalled the 5-11, 196-pound Stempniak. “Matt English wasmycoachforatleastfiveofthoseyearsIplayed. “He stressed a lot of basic hockey to me that I’m still working on today, even after several years in the NHL. He was very important to me throughout my early hockey career. “Playing for the Lightning really helped my prog-ress up the hockey ladder. It was one of the best experi-ences I’ve ever had. “It was a huge step for me when I was made the jump to major college hockey. I found out very quickly thatcollegehockeywasveryhighpacedinmyfirstyear. “But thanks to the coaching at Dartmouth, as well as excellent teammates around me, I was able to im-prove my game.” Probably one of the greatest team honors Stempniak ever received was when he was named captain of the Dartmouth team for the 2004-05 season. “To me, that’s one of the greatest honors ever bestowed on me,” said Stempniak. “It was an honor for me because the captain is elected by the players on the

team. “And being captain is about responsibility and when things don’t go well, they look to you. Sometimes it’s about too much fault when things don’t go well and too much credit when they do. “I just tried to play hard and lead by example. Had I not been named captain I wouldn’t have changed my personality or the way I play. “I always felt that there were other guys on the team who didn’t have the ‘C’ or ‘A’ on their jersey and were still leaders on the team. We had a lot of leaders on that team.” Gaudet, has never forgotten Stempniak. “He is one of the top players to ever wear our col-lege’s hockey uniform,” said the Big Green hockey coach. “Lee showed great leadership skills, both on and off the ice. “He is one of the best all-round people I’ve ever beenassociatedwith.Heisveryselflessontheice.While he may have been happy when he scored a goal, he was equally happy when one of his teammates scored. “Off the ice, Lee is a very humble person. He un-derstands humility. “He is well grounded. And because he is so humble, Lee doesn’t get the recognition or notoriety he should.” For Stempniak, the talented forward still doesn’t take anything for granted. “I know that I’m playing in the best hockey league in the world,” concluded Stempniak, who shoots right. “I’m very fortunate to be here. “But I never forget my roots. Western New York was a great place to grow up. I have a lot of great memories. “It is a great hockey area.”*


NAZARETH Names New Assistant Coach

Jared DeMichiel, former goaltending standout at RIT, has been named assistant coach for men’s hockey at Nazareth College. DeMichiel will assist head coach George Roll in recruiting players in preparation for

Nazareth’sfirstseasonofintercollegiateplayin2012-13. DeMichiel graduated from RIT in 2010 was the Tigers’ starting goalie during their run to the Frozen Four during the 2009-10 season. He led all of DivisionIwith27victoriesthatyearandwasafirst-teamAtlanticHockeyAssociation all-star as well as Goaltender of the Year. After graduating from RIT with a degree in Business Administration, DeMichiel signed with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears and played professionally for parts of two seasons. In addition to Hershey, DeMichiel played with the South Carolina Stingrays and Elmira Jackals of the East Coast Hockey League and with Providence of the AHL. Since his playing days, DeMichiel has been an assistant coach with the RIT women’s hockey team and as a goalie instructor at several camps and clinics.*


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It is about 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning in mid-January. A group offivepeoplearewalkinginto

the Feature Rink at Northtown Cen-ter at Amherst, New York. Normally the people would continue talking, make their way to their seats and watch hockey. But on thisdayallfivesuddenlystopwithall collectively saying, “Whoa.” The reason for their reaction is that the rink is divided into three smaller ice surfaces with portable dasher boards separating the trio of smaller rinks. It is the Amherst Hockey Asso-ciations way of presenting Cross-Ice Hockey. A very impressive way to say the least. “I don’t know if there is another set-up like this in New York State,” commented Joe Baudo, president of the New York State Amateur Hockey Association. “It really catches the eye when you walk in the arena. “A lot of places use bumpers others use foam boards. Someevenusefirehosestodividetherinkup. “Amherst youth hockey purchased these larger boards. It really changes the rink appearance. “People now really see ice rinks. The appearance makes a big difference. “It makes a better development for the kids.” It looks like a lot of work. But in actuality it is not. “It takes about six people to set it up,” remarked Eric Grizdek, general manager of the Arena. “And we’ve actu-ally got it down to a science when it comes to setting it up.

“We can set up the three rinks in about six minutes. It’s amazing. “We have enough boards avail-able to split our NHL-sized rink up. And we can go across the way to our Olympic-size rink, simply add a couple more boards, and split that up into three rinks for the kids.” How was this able to become a reality? “We’re very fortunate to have this as well,” continued Grizdek. “We raised a lot of the money for the dasher boards thanks to the Na-tional Tournaments we’ve hosted over the past few years. “Amherst Youth Hockey made the large capital investment. There was also a donation from the Am-herst Police Club.” “There is a company in Min-nesota called Rink Systems that

makes these three-foot high boards,” added Jack Quigley, Equipment Coordinator for Amherst Youth Hockey. “It was like graduating up to a new level. “We are able to have six groups of kids on the ice at one time playing hockey. We can also set up the boards to simply split the rink in half for the older kids and have two games going at one time. “It has been a huge investment. But we feel that it has been worth it. “It is truly amazing.” Representatives from USA Hockey were also very impressed. “This is a great setup,” remarked Kenny Rausch, a USA Hockey manager for Youth Ice Hockey. “It’s great not only for the parents who now have a great visual of a youth hockey game going on, but for the kids as well.

“On this size ice you don’t see too many breakaways. On longer ice surfaces you may see as many as 15 to 20 breakaways during a game. “This is a tighter area. Kids are

Cross Ice Has a New Look--In Amherst

by Randy Schultz Photos by Janet

Schultz

The Boards can be taken apart and put back together in abou six minutes with six people.


making passes and creating plays.” The response has been very positive. “All you have to do is look out on the ice and see the kids with all the smiles they have on their faces,” com-mented Bob Schell, Amherst Youth Hockey secretary. “This is real hockey on a small rink. “We have found that once the people come in with their kids at such a young level they’re hooked.” “It seems to work out very well for the players,” continued Tim DiGiulio, 2004 Level Coordinator for the Amherst Hockey Association. “Most of our games for seven year-olds is four-on-four. “Everybody gets a touch on the puck. A lot of passing goes on. “Players get a chance to go into the corners for the puck. They get a chance to set up a lot of plays. “Even more importantly, most of the parents seem to have bought into the new system. They’re getting a chance to see their children play in games, besides just practicing. “So it seems to be a win-win situation for everyone. And most importantly the kids are having fun. “Isn’t that what it’s all about?”*


Hockey Across America February 17 through 19 is the Fifth Annual Hockey Across America celebration with activities being held at rinks across the United States. If your organization is doing something special, take some photos, write a quick press release and send it to [email protected]. We’ll use it on our website and in the next issue of Hockey NYS E-Magazine.

Women’s Ice Hockey Twenty-two women were named to the U.S. Women’s Na-tional U18 Team in December. Among them were Court-ney Burke, Albany; Dana Trivigno, Setauket; Miye D’Oench, New York. Burke is a defenseman who is currently playing for Shattuck-St. Mary’s U19 team. She had 76 points (24-52) in 2010-11 and was a member of the Women’s U18 Team that took the Gold at the IIHF 2011 World Cham-pionship. Burke played for the CD Selects (NY) from 2004-08. She is the daughter of John and Valerie Burke. Trivigno is also a member of the Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey team and plays forward. She was also a member of the 2011 IIHF Women’s World championship team. Prior to attending Shattuck, Trivigno

played for the Long Island Royals. She is the daughter of Bob and Nancy Trivigno. Miye D’Oench is a forward from the New Jersey Rockets U19 Tier I team. She was the top point-getter in Tier I Elite Hockey League with 76-42-118 in 62 games for the Rockets in 2010-11. She also served as team co-captain. D’Oench is the daughter of Russel D’Oench and Tank Takagi. They competed at the 2012 Inter-

national Ice Hockey Federation U18 Women’s World Championship in Czech Republic in December. Team USA lost to Canada 3-0 in the Gold Medal game, bringing home the silver with a 4-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record. Coach Heather Linstad found it disappointing but felt the team worked really hard and created many scoring chances. To get to the championship round, Team USA beat Russia 8-0; Sweden, 7-0 and the Czech Republic, 13-1. Team USA faced Germany in the semi-finalsanddownedthem7-1.

2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games The roster for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games has placed Joe Wegwerth of Brewster and Nathan

Billitier of Spencerport on it. Weg-werth, 6’2”, 190 lb. Forward comes from the Brewster Bulldogs organiza-tion and Billitier is a 5’11” defense-man who plays for the Rochester Stars. They played at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games held in Inns-bruck which included team play plus a skills contest. The gold went to Finland; silver, Russia and Bronze, Canada. Team USA placed fourth. Billitier had one goal and one as-sist and Wegwerth had two goals and two assists. The US did not send a women’s team.

Housley Named to IIHF Hall of Fame Phil Housley will be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in May. Housley retired from hockey in 2004 after a 21-year NHL career. He represented the US as a player with thefirst-everWorldCupofHockeyin1996 and helped the US to a silver-medalfinishinthe2002Olympics.The former Buffalo Sabre is serving as head coach of the boys’ varsity ice hockey team at Stillwater, Minn. High School. Other News... --Three New York State natives are participating in the 2011-12 U.S. National Under-17 Vlad Dzurilla Tournament in Piestany, Slovakia. Included in the group is defenseman Steven Santini of Mahopac; forward Kevin Labanc, Staten Island; assistant coach, Matt Curley, Madrid.

USA Hockey News

and NotesBurke

D’Oench

Trivigno


--Three native New Yorkers are participating with the 2011-12 U.S. National Under-18 team in the Five Nations Tournament in Panelia, Finland. They include forward Matthew Lane, Rochester; assistant coach Tyler Eaves, Queensbury; equipment manager, Brock Bradley, West Stockholm. -- The U.S. National Developmental Sled Hockey Team recently posted a 1-0-0-2 record in an exhibition

series against Canada held in Colorado Springs, CO. Five native New Yorkers played for Team USA including Mike Blabac, Buffalo; Mason Newbold, Lockport; Jeremy Lyon, Buffalo; Paul Schaus, Buffalo; Tim Shoemaker, Lawtons. Two other New York natives were on the team includ-ing assistant coach, Alexi Salamone, Grand Island; player/coach Mike Blabac, Hamburg.*


Put in the name of the team that goes with the city listed.I.e. Buffalo - Sabres

Answer to puzzle will be posted on hockeynys.com in “Blog”!

Documents

February 2012