September 2012 NY Hockey OnLine

NY Hockey On-Line

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September 2012Volume 1; Issue 4

Haseks Heroes Teams with Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Cole Tournament Big SuccessOn- and Off-Ice!

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Contents 2012NY Hockey OnlineAll rights reserved

NY Hockey OnLine is published monthly at no charge and can be accessed via the publication’s website

Dear Readers, Well the hockey season is upon us and NY Hockey On-Line has been in touch with many of you talking about what your organizations did over the summer and the plans you have for the 2012-13 season. With the possibility of some really great stories coming up in each Section, we decided to make another change to the magazine. Each State Hockey Section--Central, East, North and West--will have a sub-section in the magazine that you can print out, just for yourself. It’s like your own little mini-section. The more information each organization provides, the better the magazine will become. We still plan to run our major feature stories in the front part of the magazine, followed by the sections. We are still working on our email lists and ask that you continue to forward this to your coaches and players. We have taken as many email addresses from your websites as we can access and within the next month will be inputting them into our distribution list. We are asking that you add nyhockeyonline.com, as well as [email protected] and [email protected] to your address books so that our mail to you does not go into ‘spam.’ Well, enjoy the season, keep us informed of what’s hap-pening and we’ll see you at the rink!

Best wishes,Randy Schultz,

Publisher and Managing Editor

In This Issue:

Sabres Development ..........4NHL Teams with Youth .....6CENTRAL .........................7 Dream Big ......................8 Men’s College ...............11 Central News .................12 Women’s College ..........13EAST ...............................15 News ..............................16 Men’s College ...............17 Women’s College ..........20NORTH ...........................21 Men’s College ...............22 Women’s College ..........23 Wounded Warriors .........24 Potsdam Arena ...............25WEST ..............................27 News ..............................28 Nichols Camp ................30 Men’s College ...............32 Women’s College ..........33Kids Page .........................37

Mayor Byron Brown was pleased to announce today the selection of HARBORcenter Develop-ment, LLC (the development company affiliated

with the Buffalo Sabres) as the preferred developer of the Webster Block. He also released the term sheet, outlining the plan to create two new ice rinks, which coupled with the existing rink, makes this facility the “first of its kind” in the United States. The project also calls for a hotel, retail, a restaurant and new parking, for a total estimated project cost of $123 million. “This is an exciting day for Downtown Buffalo and its waterfront,” said Mayor Brown. “I want to thank HARBORcenter Development, LLC and the Buffalo Sabres for putting before us a remarkable proposal that will re-make this prime piece of city-owned land, and bring tremendous economic impact to the community.” “We are proud to be named the pre-ferred developer of the Webster Block,” said Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Sabres. “This project will further enhance the cur-rent development at Canalside and in the process, create a destination attraction to draw hundreds of thousands of people to Buffalo’s waterfront on a yearly basis. Canalside has seen a rebirth the past few years and we expect our project to act as a catalyst for future development on the waterfront.” The Webster Block, a 1.7 acre city owned site located directly across from First Niagara Center, is considered a prized downtown parcel due to its location in downtown Buffalo, its proximity to Canalside, two major sports ven-ues, and the Peace Bridge. The HARBORcenter Develop-ment project is expected to provide approximately 1,500 construction jobs. Once complete, the facilities are expect-ed to create 350 full-time jobs, and generate $4.1 million in state and local taxes, $48 million over the next ten years. “The City received two excellent and competitive pro-posals for the Webster Block, and there was strong support for each plan,” said Mayor Brown. “In the end, the Selec-tion Committee recommended the project it believed would be best for the City of Buffalo, and selected HARBORcent-er Development and the Buffalo Sabres.” Two major development proposals were submitted to the City of Buffalo after Mayor Brown issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April, 2012, encouraging developers to

put forth their best ideas to create something great down-town Buffalo. HARBORcenter Development, LLC (the development company affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres) submitted a $123 million hockey-themed proposal that included plans for two new ice rinks, (one with seating capacity for at least 1,800 people, and the other with seating capacity for at least 200 people) a hotel, retail and a restaurant. Ellicott Development Company led a team that proposed a $64 million plan that included office space, retail, a hotel and

apartments. A selection committee of Mayor Brown’s Senior Management Team, led by Brendan Mehaffy, Executive Director of the City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning, was named to review the proposals and submit a recommendation to Mayor Brown. A group of community leaders, including business owners and professionals, block club repre-sentatives and clergy, were also identified to work with the selection committee to review proposals and submit a recommendation.

On July 27, 2012, both Ellicott Development Company and HARBORcenter Development presented their propos-als to the selection committee and community representa-tives. The presentations were recorded and played repeat-edly on public access television and made available on the City of Buffalo’s website.The public also submitted com-ments in response to the presentations [email protected]. Following the presentations, the two development companies were invited back individually to meet with the selection committee and clarify any information. HAR-BORcenter Development met August 7th. Ellicott Devel-opment Company met August 8th.On August 20, 2012, both Ellicott Development Company and HARBORcenter Development returned to present additional information to the selection committee and seven community representa-tives. When all the factors were added up, including the size of the overall $123 million investment and the purchase price for the land, the HARBORcenter Development pro-posal gained favor. In addition to building the new facili-ties, the Buffalo Sabres agreed to the following terms:

Continued on Page 36

Buffalo Sabres Receive Approval for Major Development Project

NY Hockey OnLine Announcement / Page 4

By Randy SchultzPhotos Courtesy Big Rrothers, Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County (BBBSEC) and Hasek’s Heroes are two well-

known entities in the West-ern New York area. Interest-ingly, the two have combined forces to make an interesting hockey adventure. It also turns out that the two organizations have a common thread with their silent partner, the Buffalo Sabres. “It just worked out that we had a board member from the Sabres named Rich Joeller and Hasek’s Heroes had the same person on their board,” stated Alicia Bartsch of BBBSEC. “I think Rich was the key because he sat on both boards and could see the similarities between the two organizations,” added Sean Green executive director of Hasek’s Heroes. “He set up the meeting between the two boards. “He saw that it was a win-win situation for both organizations.” The mission of BBBSEC is to help at-risk children reach their full poten-tial through professionally supported mentoring relationships with carefully screened, well-trained mentors. A Big Brother mentor is asked to spend several hours a month with their Little Brother and are encouraged to participate in everyday activities like cooking a meal together, working on a school project or enjoying local sport-ing events. It’s through these experiences and the conversations that occur during them, that the child receives the guid-ance and support needed to navigate the social, emotional, development and educational issues they face. Hasek’s Heroes, founded by for-

mer NHL goaltending great Dominik Hasek, provides a foundation of athletic devel-opment and educational sup-port, enabling children from

low- to mod-erate-income fami-lies to achieve their future life goals through

the opportunity to learn basic skating and hockey skills. Green feels that Big Brothers and Hasek’s Heroes are a good fit for each other. “We have been going out and trying to find new participants with Hasek’s Heroes,” said Green. “Orga-nizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters have the participants that are looking for the need and we have the need and we were looking for players. “So we brought the two organiza-tions together.” It’s turned out to be a solid match. “We felt that so many of the prin-ciples important to Big Brothers Big Sisters, like sportsmanship, healthy lifestyles, education and leadership, were found in the Hasek’s Heroes pro-gram model,” said Thomas Guagliar-do, COO/Director of Development for BBBSEC . “This partnership will give the Big Brothers and their Little

Brothers a chance to share a new expe-rience together and use lessons learned on and off the ice at the event during other outings or when applicable in the child’s life.” BBBSEC has teamed with Hasek’s Heroes to provide a monthly skating and educational activity for the Big Brother mentors and their Little Broth-ers. The program had its first outing last November at the Bud Bakewell Riverside Ice Rink in Buffalo. The first hour is dedicated to time on the ice practicing skating tech-niques and to instruction from trained Hasek’s Heroes staff about the game. The second hour is spent in a class-room setting with discussions, les-sons and training focused on hockey technique, sportsmanship, health and wellness and other issues that effect young men. In the warmer months the ice was replaced with turf. The first hour was then dedicated to learning a number of other sports including soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. “We are delighted that this pro-gram will operate year-round and we plan to expand the program to more Big Brothers Big Sisters and Little Brothers Little Sisters,” concluded Guagliardo. “This is a great program with a lot of potential ahead of it.”*

Haseks Heroes Teams with Big Brothers Big Sisters for Hockey Adventure

NY Hockey OnLine Featire / Page 5

Back in late January, 40 Ca-nadian children, ages 7 to 12, came to Ottawa, Ont.

to participate in the first ever NHL Junior Skills competition. It was part of the Tim Horton’s NHL All-Star Weekend. The event took place outdoors at the city’s fa-mous Rideau Canal. The event was the finale of the Junior Skills competition which saw almost 4500 kids participate in 15 cities across Canada. But none of this would have happened if it weren’t for the Buffalo Shamrocks. Let’s turn back the clock to August 2011. “Over the past three years, I have made a lot of great hockey contacts across hockey, especially with the NHL, since winning the Mark Messier Award back in 2009,” remembered Tom Barnett, president of the Buffalo

Shamrocks. One day last August I received an email from an NHL official in Toronto. “He asked me if I would be around during the month of Au-

gust. He also asked if there would be a chance to roundup a group of 30 Shamrocks. “Then he asked if I could get both boys and girls. Could I get House-quality as well as travel players? “Could they be in game uni-forms? “My answer to all of those questions was a resounding yes!” So a date was selected in Au-gust. “I got 30 kids together and brought them over to Riverside Rink,” continued Barnett.” I was told by the NHL to plan on having them there all day. “When the NHL arrived in town with all of their trucks , they came in with lots of cameras and lighting, as well as inter-active computers with the people to run them.

“The Shamrocks were to be the test group for the NHL’s new-est concept, the Canadian Tire NHL Junior Skills competition. The NHL wanted to launch this

across Canada when the NHL season began. “I believe it was based on the NFL’s ‘Punt, Pass and Kick’ competi-tion, staged across the United States and ending up with the finalists at the Super Bowl. “So before the NHL could roll out this new idea, they had to see if it would work or not. For instance, how many kids could be on the ice at one time?

“How fast could they do a drill? Where would they stand on the ice? “How were they going to coor-dinate it? How would they get the names? “Could the NHL accomplish all the goals they wanted to with the Junior Skills competition? The Buffalo Shamrocks provided all the kids to get the answers.” It turned out to be quite a day for everyone involved.


NY Hockey OnLine Feature / Page 6

Hockey Skills Focus of New

Initiative!By Randy Schultz

Photos by Tom Barnett

Central New York State Hockey

Erik Cole’s Dream Big TournamentA Success at Oswego!

NY Hockey OnLine Sepember 2012 / Page 4NY Hockey OnLine Sepember 2012 / Page 4

By Randy SchultzPhotos by Janet Schultz

When the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup back in 2006, Erik Cole got his “day” with the Cup. His day included a trip back to his

hometown of Oswego, NY. “He had the event at Ft. Ontario,” recalled Tim Gra-ber, a close friend of Cole. “All the kids from the Oswego Minor Hockey Association were there. “When Erik arrived, the kids did a honor guard salute with their hockey sticks. Erik came through that tunnel of sticks with the Cup. “It was pretty emotional and exciting for everyone. And ever since that time Erik has really made an effort to support Oswego Minor Hockey. “That is where he started out with his hockey career. So I think that is where the idea came for Erik’s Dream Big Foundation.” And this past August the Erik Cole Dream Big Foun-dation held its Fifth Annual Hockey Classic at the SUNY

Oswego Campus Center Arena in Oswego. The three-day event is a 3-on-3 Cross-Ice Hockey Tour-nament that consists of 48 total games. The event includes five divisions of players in-cluding Mite, Squirt, Pee Wee, Bantam/Midget and Sled. Due to the popularity of the event, the Mite and Squirt divisions expanded from four to six teams each. The Pee Wee Bantam/Midget and Sled divi-sions had four teams each. It should be noted that when the Sled division was added in 2010, it became the first tourney ever in the United States or the World to feature sled teams playing in a cross-ice, 3-on-3 format. The only things missing from this years event was Cole himself and the golf tournament he hosts to cap off the hockey weekend. “Erik wanted to be here,” said Graber, tournament director, “but his off-season commitment to his team, the Montreal Canadiens, and his role as a player rep for the NHLPA and their on-going contract talks with the NHL, prevented him from being at the event. “But Erik is always thinking about his hometown. During the hockey season when Erik is playing for the Canadiens, a lot of people around here watch his games. “When he gets interviewed between periods, Oswego may be mentioned several times. People around here pay attention to that and are proud of the fact that Erik thinks so much of his hometown.” Kevin Caraccioli is one of three directors on the

“Erik Cole Dream Big Foundation.” He talked about the Foundation. “The Foundation was formed about five years ago,” remembered Caraccioli. “It was organized to help estab-lish a Foundation to assist children. “Our primary purposes are to further the interest among youth in the area in youth hockey and other sports, as well as support children who are battling things like cancer or other diseases. We try to help them out as well as their families. “The name of our organization came from a saying of Erik’s. He dreamed big as a kid growing up and he real-ized his dreams. “He’s not only made it to the NHL, but he’s won a Stanley Cup as well. So Erik wanted to form a Founda-tion and give something back to his community. “And to show you how the people support this event, we gave teams the opportunity to back out this year when we found out that Erik wouldn’t be here in-person. In-stead of backing out, we actually added more teams.

NY Hockey OnLine Dream Big / Page 8

Erik Cole Makes Dreams Come

True!

“So this event has really gotten a life of its own, despite the absence of Erik this year. We continue to raise money for great causes including hockey at all levels in the amateur hockey scene. “And it is only going to grow more.” Since 1964 the OMHA has been providing area youth with the oppor-tunity to learn to skate and play hock-ey. Through the generous sponsorship of numerous local businesses, as well as a variety of successful fundraisers and an expanding equipment-lending program, the association works hard to support participation from boys and girls of all economic backgrounds. Located on the scenic shores of Lake Ontario in Central New York, Oswego is a compact city with a long tradition of quality hockey. With three ice rinks located within two miles of the downtown area, Oswego is home to the Oswego State Lakers Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams, the Oswego High School Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Hockey teams, as well as the OMHA. The OMHA is a member orga-nization of the New York State Ama-teur Hockey Association (NYSAHA). The OMHA is considered to be a “Tier II” (or “B” level) organization. “Oswego really likes to think of itself as a hockey town,” stated Graber. “We have somewhere be-tween 300 and 325 kids involved in

the Association. “That is really good for a com-munity the size of Oswego, which is around 18,000 people. And we have three hockey rinks for our use, includ-ing the college rink as well as two owned by the city. “That really helps when you have 28 teams and you need times for practices as well as games. You need a lot of ice and we have it. “We have about 80 kids involved in the initia-tion program. We provide the kids with the equip-ment at that level. “If they stick with it, they have the equip-ment. If they don’t, they can turn the equipment back in “We also have a parents program set up to donate equipment back to the Association. It is sanitized, put into storage and made available for future players to purchase and use at a dis-counted price. “The other thing we really pay close attention to is how much we

charge for registration fees. We hold three or four invitational tournaments during the hockey season. “Those are big money makers for us. That money goes right back into the Association.” Continued on Page 10


Continued from Page 9 There is a Snow Belt League for the House teams. That covers the Central New York organizations from Os-wego to Utica, New Hartford to Clinton and the Syracuse area. There are also organizations in Elmira and Ithaca areas. The Crown Jewel of Oswego is the Campus Center Arena. “That facility is only six years old and it is truly a Crown Jewel,” commented Graber. “The old arena, Rom-ney Field House, had an old-time feel to it. “The new arena has brought things to another level. The nice part to this new arena is that in its initial season, the Oswego men’s team won the National Championship for Division III. “During the regular season this arena is packed for games and this place holds over 3000 fans.” On this particular day, while many people are enjoy-ing the warm weather outside, their thoughts inside drift to winter.

“People really embrace summer when it comes,” con-cluded Graber. “It’s great that we’re located on the lake and you can go boating and have many outdoor activi-ties. “But come September, their thoughts will turn to the cold weather and hockey. They want to get back to their regular routines that includes the hockey season. “After all, this is a hockey town.”*

SQUIRT EAST DIVISIONGold Medals were awarded to East 3 – Alex Koproski, Jadon Lee, Adam Michalski, Tyler O’Grady, Will O’Toole, C.J. Watts. Coached by Eric Koprosky and Brien O’Toole Silver Medals were award-ed to East 1 – Calexander Connolly, Colin DeBejian, Katie Fierro, Dylan Hus-ted, Mason McKie, Ryan Mosher, Benjamin Rat-tray. Coached by Duane Debejian. Bronze Medals were awarded to East 2 – Nathan Christaldi, Joseph DiBlasi, Trevor Humez, Daniel Laurenti, Aidan Taylor, Alex Thorpe, Frankie Winchek. Coached by Ken Humez and Dan Taylor SQUIRT WEST DIVISIONGold Medals were awarded to West 3 – Ike Calverase, Cole Cullinan, Richard Duvall, Branden Lynch, Zairrin O’Neil, Caeden Ross, Tyson Smith. Coached by George O’Neil

Silver Medals were awarded to West 2 –Ryan Bartlett, Aiden Caroccio, Riley Goodwin, Mark Jones, Matthew Pelsue, Spencer Stepien, Alex Vescio. Coached by Dan Bartlett Bronze Medals were awarded to West 1 – Marcus Baker, Lukas Cady, Connor Grzeszczuk, Ryan McRitchie, Seamus Nicholson, Kevin VanBuren, Matthew Walker. Coached by Phil Cady PEE WEE DIVISION

Gold Medals were awarded to Pee Wee 4 – Caleb Clarke, Bill Greene, Drake Morgia, Derek Morgia, Connor Pratt, Tyler Wallace, Robert Welch. Coached by Bill Greene Jr. and Randy Pratt Silver Medals were awarded to Pee Wee 1 – Jack Irwin, Derek Kohut, Patrick Lan-glois, Brendan McRitchie, Ethan Proud, Dylan Reitz, Eric Shear. Coached by Dan-iel Langlois and Mark Proud Bronze Medals were award-

ed to Pee Wee 2 – Katrina Grzeszczuk, Shane McCarthy, Benjamin Peri, William Rattray, Julia Roman, Ethan Varney, Carter Vashaw. Coached by Tom Roman Bronze Medals were also awarded to Pee Wee 3 – Athony DiBlasi, Jonathan Mc-Cann, Blue Lagoda, Nathaniel Lindsey, Derrick Mosher, Hari Nanthakumar, Jack Ryan. Coached by Mark Lagoda


OSWEGO HOCKEY RESULTS FROM THE ERIK COLE DREAM BIG FOUNDATION INC. 2012 HOCKEY CLASSIC


COLGATE RAIDERS

The Raiders magical run ended with a late sea-son stumble with just two wins over the final nine games. Add the departure of top scorers

Austin Smith and Chris Wagner to the pros and the rebuilding starts. But the cupboard is hardly bare. Joe Wilson (North Syracuse) and Robbie Bour-don both eclipsed the ten goal mark last season while sophomore John Lidgett will be counted on to better his 15-point first year. The defense is solid in front of junior goaltender Eric Mihalik with senior and Vancouver draft pick Jeremy Price, sophomore Spiro Gou-lakos (16 assists) and Colum-bus selection Thomas Larkin back for his last go-around with classmate Nathan Sinz. A strong incoming class of eight is all from On-tario and six of the eight are coming from the Central Canadian Hockey League, while two are products of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Half of the new-comers played for the Cornwall Colts of the CCHL and made the league champi-onship series. Kyle Baun comes to Colgate after playing two seasons with the Colts, amassing 103 points in 98 games. He had 48 career goals and 55 helpers. He was second on the team in goals and fourth in points in 2011-12 and also played in the U19 World Junior A Chal-lenge as part of Canada East. Mike Borkowski also makes the trip to Hamil-ton from the Colts, where he tallied 116 points in 77 games in 2011-12 and was a second team CCHL All-Star. He led all CCHL players in postseason points in 2012 with 20 on eight goals and 12 helpers. Borkowski finished his junior career with 214 points in 249 games and was a two-time CCHL All-Star selection. Spencer Finney is the lone goaltender among the newcomers. He joins the Raiders after a stint with the

Trenton Golden Hawks of the OJHL and played in 177 career games with 85 wins and eight shutouts. He went 25-7-3 in his final season with the Hawks with a 2.69 goals against average and a .915 save per-centage. He was an OJHL All-Star in 2010 and was named the league’s most improved player. Ryan Johnston comes to Colgate as the reign-ing CCHL Defenseman of the Year with the Nepean

Raiders. He also helped the Raiders to the CCHL title and was voted playoff MVP. He had 18 points in the postseason and led the league’s defense-men in regular season points with 71 in 56 games. Johnston recorded 135 points in two sea-sons with the Raiders and was a CCHL First Team All-Star. Kevin Lough joins the team af-ter four seasons with the Cum-berland Grads of the CCHL,

where he was team captain. He played in 227 career games and recorded 95 points on defense. He was a silver medalist at the World Junior A Challenge and was voted CCHL Defenseman of the Tournament. He was a CCHL First Team All-Star.

Darcy Murphy makes the trip to Ham-ilton after two years with the Wellington Dukes of the OJHL. He led the league in goals with 52 in 48 games and was a first team all-star. He went from 14 goals in 2010-11 to 52 in 2011-12 and was voted the league’s most improved player. His 52 goals were a franchise record and overall he finished with 86 points, which was second in the league. Tylor Spink comes to Colgate after

250 career points with the Colts and 81 last season. He helped guide the Colts to the CCHL championship series against Nepean and also competed twice in the World Junior A Challenge. He recorded 108 points, including 21 in the postseason in 2010-11 with 35 goals. Tyson Spink is another Cornwall Colt to be joining the Raiders. He played three seasons for the Colts and tallied 275 points in 178 career games. He recorded 92 points last season with 42 goals and 50

Central New YorkMen’s College Hockey Report

by Warren Kozireski

NY Hockey OnLine Men’s College Hockey-Central / Page 11

helpers. He was second in the league in goals and was a first team CCHL All-Star. Non-conference home games with Niagara, Bowl-ing Green and RIT sandwich a trip to Miami of Ohio to begin the season. The team also will play in the Cape Cod Classic October 26th for the third straight season as well as travel to UMass and host Sacred Heart before and after the holiday break.

CORNELL BIG RED

After finishing one game and one goal from the Frozen Four one

year ago and losing just four seniors, anticipation is high in Ithaca this fall.Junior Any Iles (Ithaca) will likely find his name among the statistical leaders in the coun-try again after playing in every minute of every game last

year posting 19 wins with a 2.12 GAA and .919 save percentage. Greg Miller returns for his senior season after leading the Big Red in scoring with 31 points. Dustin Mowry, Boston draft pick Brian Ferlin, LA Kings se-lection Joel Lowry and Edmonton pick John McCar-ron return up front as well on a deep unit with Cole Bardreau (Fairport) potentially filling a top-two line center spot. Nick D’Agostino and Joakim Ryan are back to anchor the usually solid defense which lost two seniors and will need to sort out the pairings picture early. Lightning selection Kirill Gotovets and Chica-go property Braden Birch will get first shot at moving up into the top four. Freshman defenseman Reece Willcox (Philadel-phia Flyers) should be an everyday defenseman and may challenge for the top four right away. He spent the last two seasons with the Junior A Merritt Cen-tennials of the British Columbia Hockey League, a popular pipeline to Cornell. He posted 10 goals and 27 assists for 37 points in 105 games over two sea-sons from the blue line, including four power-play goals. He was named the team’s Top Defenseman and Academic Scholar in 2012,

as well as the Most Promising Player in 2011. He was selected as a BCHL Second Team All-Star during the 2011-12 season and also played five games with gold medal-winning Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in November. Forward Christian Hilbrich figures to be an everyday player immediately after scoring 13 goals to go with 20 assists for 33 points in 58 games last season with the USHL’s Indiana Ice. Pittsford native John Knisley also arrives via the Vernon Vipers. The Big Red will oppose the three teams that joined the Big Red in the NCAA Midwest Regional in March—Michigan, Ferris State and Denver—as part of their non-conference sked. Also slated is a return to Madison Square Garden in front of a likely SRO crowd to battle Michigan and a season opener with the U.S. National Development October 19th.

NY Hockey OnLine Central / Page 12

Central News and Notes......Central State Youth Hockey will hold a Try Hockey for Free day on September 29 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Morrisville State College’s Ice Plex. There will also be an informational meet-ing at 2:30 p.m. for anyone interested in a learn to play program. For information call 315-825-5058 or email [email protected]

Central Board Members, Coaches, Players, Parents--send your story ideas, press releases and photographs to:

[email protected]

Deadline for October is September 25

NY Hockey OnLine Central Women’s Hockey / Page 13

Hamilton College

Hamilton is searching for a new assistant

coach after Brendon Knight accepted a position with the Syracuse Univer-sity Women’s Ice Hockey Team.

Colgate

Former Niagara Uni-versity Women’s Ice

Hockey Head Coach Josh Sciba has found a new home at Colgate as an assistant coach. Sciba served NU for three years as assistant coach before being named Head Coach in 2011-12. After lead-ing Niagara to a 10-16-8 season the program was eliminated from the sports offerings at NU. While serving NU Sciba ran the offense and worked with the special teams during games and also implemented game strategies during practice. He coordi-nated all individual and group video sessions in each facet of the game and made all travel arrangements and handled community service activities for the team. Sciba participated in USA Hockey Select Festivals the past four years and was the assistant coach of many of those teams that featured the top- 14 and 15 year old players in the country. Prior to his coaching career, Sciba played professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League for three different teams during the 2007-08 season, including the Las Vegas Wranglers, Bakersfield Condors and Dayton Bombers.

Sciba is a graduate of the Univer-sity of Notre Dame, where he was a member of the hockey team for four seasons. He was named Offensive Player of the Year in 2005-06 and was given he Monogram Award for

all four years. He finished his col-lege career with 141 games played and tallied 72 points. He was also an assistant captain for the USA National U17 and U18 teams.

New Recruits: Head Coach Greg Fargo has added six recruits including Forward Jenny Currie (Chelmsford, Ma/New Hampton School); Forward Katelyn Parker (Bellingham, Wash/Gilm-our Academcy); Defense-

man Cacy Maciejewski (Yorkville, Ill/Yorkville High School); Defenseman Nicole Gass (Cookshire Eaton, Que/Ontario Hockey Academy); Defen-seman Aime DiBelli (Nelson, BC/Penticton High School) and Goalie Ashlynne Rando (Sugarland, Tx/Dulles High School). Colgate opens their season with an exhibition game against Etobicoke at home on Sept. 23 and then travel to play teams in Minnesota. They open their ECAC season at home on Octo-ber 5 against Northeastern.

Utica College

Utica opens its season on October 21 in an exhibi-

tion match against the Toronto Aeros on October 21. Their ECAC season opens Novem-ber 2 against Oswego State College on November 2 at home and then they travel to Oswego the following day for the second of the two-game

stand.

Cornell

The Cornell women’s hockey

program released its 2012-13 sched-ule that features a challenging set of contests that the team hopes will pre-pare it for a run at a fourth consecu-tive Frozen Four appearance. The highlight of the early season is a weekend trip to Boston for two games against Boston University. The Boston Terriers were in Ithaca three times last year, including the NCAA Quarterfinal contest that went into triple overtime and sent Cornell to the Frozen Four. The Big Red is unde-feated in its last three meetings with Boston. Another strong out-of-the-con-ference game features the return of Mercyhurst to Lynah Rink. The teams split a series on Mercyhurst’s ice. Cornell has also scheduled an out-of-conference game against Syracuse on January 15. In ECAC action, the Big Red will square off with St. Lawrence three times, Harvard twice and Dartmouth twice. Other games include Ivy League and ECAC battles against Princeton, Yale and Brown along

Central Women’s College

Ice Hockey Report by Janet Schultz

NY Hockey OnLine Central Women’s Hockey / Page 14

with ECAC Hockey contests against Union, RPI, Quinnipiac, Colgate and Clarkson. The ECAC Hockey Tournament begins on March 1 with semifinals and finals taking place the follow-ing weekend in the home rink of the highest remaining seed. The NCAA Tourament opening round takes place March 15-16, and the 2013 Frozen Four will be held in Minneapolis, Minn. on March 22-24. Looking at new recruits, Cornell has brought in Churchville, NY’s Anna Zorn. Anna is the second of her family to play at Cornell, as sister, Liz (‘10) had the sixth-most power play goals for Cornell in the NCAA era. Anna, however, will be looking to carve out her own identity for the Big Red after playing her club hockey for the Rochester Edge. She captained the team last season. Other recruits include Jess Brown (Wellington, Ohio), Victoria Pittens (Whitby,Ontario), Taylor Woods (Morden, Manitoba) as forwards. On defense, Kelly Murray (Calgary, Al-berta), Morgan Richardson (Ottawa, Ontario) and Cassandra Poudrier (Montreal, Quebec). Stefannie Mosak (Sackville, Nova Scotia) is the in-coming goaltender.

Oswego

Oswego opens their

season with an exhibition game against the Toronto Aeros on October 26.

Their first ECAC contest will be at home against Utica on Saturday, Nov. 3 followed by the Alumni Weekend Green Night on November 9 and the Alumni Weekend Gold Day on November 10, both games against Potsdam. On December 8 the Lakers will

hold their United Way Food and Toy Drive when they take on Amherst and on January 26 and 27 they will Pink the Rink and face off against Steven-son. As they move to close their season they will hold Faculty and Staff Ap-preciation Day on February 8 and Senior Day on February 9. Both those contests will be against Elmira.

Syracuse

The Orange will welcome Fresh-

man Julie Bengis from Stormville, NY as a goaltender this season. Bengis played for Kent School last season. Other incoming

players include Nicole Renault, (Plymouth, Michigan/Little Caesar’s U19), Danielle Leslie, (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Balmoral High School), Melissa piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass/Assabet Valley U19) and Emily Auerbacher (Gladstone, NJ/Boston Shamrocks). Also watch other New Yorker’s including Marathon’s Brittney Krebs, Buffalo’s Jacquie Greco and South Mannsville’s Kaillie Goodnough. The Orange open at home on October 5 against New Hampshire followed by Northeastern on October 6.

Elmira

Dean Jackson has been

named Head Coach of the Elmira Women’s Ice Hockey Team. Jackson has spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach with the Soaring Eagles men’s hockey team. Over the course of his tenure as an assistant, Elmira went 90-39-13 and advanced to five consecutive NCAA tournaments including the NCAA Semi-Final his first season. As a player for the Soaring Eagles from 1999-2003, Jackson became a member of the prestigious 100 point club, garnered ECAC West Rookie of the Year honors and was named to the ECAC West All-Conference Second Team in 2003. Following his collegiate career he played professionally for the Elmira Jackals (UHL), Fayetteville Fireantz (SPHL) and Richmond Renegades (SPHL). He was named Southern Professioal Hockey League Player of the Month in November 2005 and a SPHL All-Star in 2006. Jackson has also served as a head instructor and program coordinator for World Class Hockey Development Canada. Elmira will open their season against Norwich on October 27 and open their ECAC contests against Cortland on November 3.

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East Hockey

College PreviewsSchedules Announced

NY Hockey OnLine East / Page 16

East News and Notes......The Lady Islanders began their season on Tuesday, September 4 with practices on Tuesdays and Thurs-days at the Six Hills Rink, Dix Hills.

John Jay TournamentBenefits Local Hockey

Programs

The First Annual John Jay Patriots Ice Hockey Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, Sept. 17 at James Baird State Park.

This tournament is being held to raise funds for the John Jay Ice Hockey Club program. It will help high school athletes pay for ice costs, hotels, meals, and travel for overnight tournaments. The hockey program is entirely self-supporting and re-ceives no school district funds. The golf course is a beautifully designed by nationally renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones with scenic views and selectively challenging holes. Registration for the 18-hole “Scramble” begins at 8 a.m. The shotgun golf start will be at 9 a.m. There will be tournament prizes, as well as raffle ticket and silent auctions. For further information e-mail: [email protected]. Online registration can be done at: http://jj-puck.com.assn.la/

Attention: East Board Members, Coaches, Players, Parents!

Send you organization/team news, press

releases and photographs to:

[email protected]

Deadline for October Issue is September 25!

NY Hockey On-Line is looking for semi-professional and/or NHL players who

played in your organization and have returned to help you today!

ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS

Following a season with the fewest con-ference victories

(three) since joining the MAC/Atlantic Conference in 2000, the Black Knights begin their rebuild with 13 freshmen joining 14 return-ing lettermen. “We are excited about our 13 newcomers who will make an im-mediate impact both on and off the ice here at West Point,” said head coach Brian Riley, who enters the season two wins short of 100 behind the Knights bench. “Our main goal will be to be playing in our best hockey coming down the stretch so we can com-pete for an Atlantic Hockey Asso-ciation championship.” Pearl River, NY native (F) R.J. Burns (New Jersey Hitmen-EJHL), (F) Willie Faust (Odessa Jackalopes-NAHL), (D) Jonathan Gehrt (Austin Bruins-NAHL), (F) Shane Hearn (Hebron Academy-Prep), (F) Thane Heller (Boston Jr. Bruins-EJHL), (D) Luke Jenkins (Amarillo Bulls- NAHL), (F) Joe Kozlak (Amarillo Bulls-NAHL), (F/D) James McNulty (Flin Flon Bombers-SJHL), (F) Andrew O’Leary (Topeka Road Runners- NAHL), (D) Christian Pomarico (Muskegon Lumberjacks-USHL), (F) Josh Roberts (New York Apple Core-EJHL), (F) Michael St. Denis (Phillips Exeter Acad-emy-Prep) and (F) Kyle Vogel (Wenatchee Wild-NAHL) join the squad.

Senior Ryan Leets will again enter the season as the number one goaltender, but sophomore Rob Tadazak had a better save percent-age and goals against average and will push for more time. Sophomore defensemen Mau-rice Alvarez and Mac Lalor will be expected to again generate the offense from the blueline while Whitesboro, NY native and senior Andy Starczewski will be looked to for most of the offense one year after his 13 goal-24 point cam-paign. The Black Knights begin the season at Nebraska-Omaha with Notre Dame and Maine for the Stampede tournament. New Divi-sion I squad Penn State, Brown and Merrimack dot the non-confer-ence schedule as well as traditional games against the Russian Junior All-Stars (12/27) and the Royal Military College (1/26).

RPI ENGI-NEERS

RPI is hoping their final regular season weekend sweep of top-tier teams

Cornell and Colgate along with

a first round playoff upset at Clarkson propels them into the start of the 2012-13 campaign. And they begin by return-ing nine of their top-ten scor-ers from one year ago led by junior Brock Higgs and senior defenseman Nick Bailen. Seniors C.J. Lee and Marty O’Grady will help lead a quar-tet of impressive sophomores in Ryan Haggerty, Jacob

Laliberte, Zach Schroeder and Mark McGowan who each had 11 or more points in their inaugural collegiate seasons. The defense is a veteran crew with the senor Bailen plus juniors Guy LeBoeuf, Bo Dolan and Washington draft selection Pat Koudys along with sophomore Luke Curadi filling primary roles in front of senior netminder Bryce Merriam. Three New Yorkers are listed among the nine recruits to the pro-gram as listed on the RPI website with quotes from head coach Seth Appert.FORWARDS: Milos Bubela (6-2, 190) from Ban-ska Bystrica, Slovakia/Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL) • 29 regular season games … 5

goals and 13 assists for 18 points … 6 penalty min-utes. • 5 playoff games … 0 goals and 2 assists for 2 points … 6 penalty minutes

“Milos is a highly skilled forward with good size to compli-ment his game. He was one of the top scorers on the Slovakian World Junior team before he joined

NY Hockey OnLine East Men’s College Hockey / Page 17

Eastern New YorkMen’s College Hockey Report

by Warren Kozireski

NY Hockey OnLine East College / Page 18

Dubuque.” Andrew Commers (5-10, 180) from Edina, MN/St. Thomas Acad-emy (USHS) • 31 regular season games … 23 goals and 23 assists for 46 points. “Andrew is a highly competi-tive forward who is a leader and a winner. He was a two-time state champion at STA including as a captain this past year. Travis Fulton (5-10, 165) from Oakville, ON/Vaughan Vipers (OJHL) • 45 regular season games … 24 goals and 38 assists for 62 points … 43 penalty minutes. • 7 playoff games … 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points … 10 penalty minutes. “Travis is a high energy com-petitive forward who also produces offense. He led the Vipers in goals, assists and points and will fit well with the way we play. He was an assistant captain this year.” Mark Miller (5-11, 185) from Massena, NY/Omaha Lancers (USHL) • 57 regular season games … 11 goals and 9 assists for 20 points … 43 penalty minutes. • 4 playoff games … 0 goals and 1 assist for 1 point … 4 pen-alty minutes. “Mark is a highly competi-tive forward and a leader who was captain for Omaha this past year. The way he plays is a great fit for our style.” Mike Zalewski (6-2, 200) from New Hartford, NY/Vernon Vipers (BCHL) • 60 regular season games … 38 goals and 37 assists for 75 points … 83 penalty minutes.

“Mike is a skilled power for-ward who has the size and talent to be a strong two-way player for our program. He was an assistant captain for Vernon, which he led in goals, assists and points.”

DEFENSEMEN: Craig Bokenfohr (6-3, 195) from Spruce Grove, AB/Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL) • 60 regular season games … 8 goals and 22 assists for 30 points … 114 penalty minutes. • 4 playoff games … 0 goals and 2 assists for 2 points … 19 penalty minutes. “Craig is a strong defender and captain of one of the best junior programs in Western Canada. He has the talent to become a top two-way defenseman for our program.” Chris Bradley (6-2, 190) from Williamsville, NY/Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) • 54 regular season games … 7 goals and 14 assists for 21 points … 10 penalty minutes. • 6 playoff games … 0 goals and 3 assists for 3 points … 0 pen-alty minutes “Chris was one of the best two-way defenseman in the USHL this past season. He can run a power play but also shut down the top players on the other team. He was also an assistant captain for Youngstown.” Phil Hampton (5-11, 185) from Oakville, ON/Oakville Blades (OJHL) • 40 regular season games … 6 goals and 12 assists for 18 points … 10 penalty minutes. • 10 playoff games … 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points … 2 pen-alty minutes.

“Phil is a skilled, puck-moving defenseman who was a captain for two premier programs in Canada, the Oakville Blades and Team Canada East.”

GOALTENDER: Jason Kasdorf (6-3, 190) from Winnipeg, MB/Des Moines Buc-caneers (USHL) • 35 regular season games … 10-16-3 … 2.75 GAA … .913 SV PCT. “Jason is a talented and big goalie with a strong junior pedi-gree. He is a draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets who took his former junior team, the Portage Terriers, to the Canadian National Champi-onships.” The Engineers jump right into the first hosting Frozen Four runner-up Ferris State October 12-13 before heading to Minnesota State. They also host Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart with a trip to St. Cloud State among non-confer-ence opponents.

UNION COLLEGE

After the most successful season in program his-tory which featured a trip

to the Frozen Four, the Statesmen hope for a repeat minus just a few of last season’s key components. Top scorer Jeremy Welsh left a year early to sign a pro contract and leading assists man Kelly Za-jac graduated leaving two holes on the top line and power play. Junior

NY Hockey OnLine East College / Page 19

Daniel Carr was a 20-20 man as a sophomore and will fill one of the roles with seniors Wayne Simpson and Kyle Bodie along with juniors Josh Jooris in the mix as well after all recorded 20+ point campaigns. The defense also lost two key components but returns solid with Mat Bodie, Shayne Gostisbehere offensively and seniors Greg Coburn and Shawn Stuart defen-sively. Junior goaltender Troy Grosenick is back after his stellar 22-6-3, 1.65 GAA season. The Statesmen welcome six recruits this fall including defen-semen Timothy Boyle (Noble & Greenough School) and Sebastien Gingras (Brockville). Boyle, a puck-moving defen-seman with size, helped Noble & Greenough to one of its best seasons in program history as the team finished with a record of 21-5-1 and earned a spot in the finals of the NEPSAC Open Tournament for the first time. In two seasons at Nobles, Boyle recorded 46 points (nine goals, 37 assists) in 53 games. Boyle was selected in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Ot-tawa Senators. He is the younger brother of Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers. Gingras played three of the last four seasons with the Brock-ville Braves of the Central Canada Hockey League. An offensive defenseman and a threat on the man advantage, Gingras helped the Braves reach the CCHL play-offs, leading all defensemen with 43 points (12 goals, 31 assists) including 17 points on the power play (three goals, 14 assists).

In 141 career games with Brock-ville, Gingras totaled 126 points (33 goals, 93 assists). He is the son of former NHL defenseman Gaston Gingras, who played parts of 12 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues. At forward Nick Cruice (South Shore), Theo DiPauli (Chicago Steel), David Roy (Brockville) and Matt Wilkins (Brooks) enter the mix. Cruice has played the past two seasons with the South Shore Kings of the Eastern Junior Hock-ey League and led his team to the EJHL Semifinals after the Kings won the Southern Division title with a record of 37-8. In 87 games with the Kings, Cruice totaled 105 points (37 goals, 68 assists), finish-ing fourth on the team in scoring this past season with 53 points (19 goals, 34 assists). DiPauli has played the past three seasons with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. A solid two-way forward, DiPauli served as captain of the Steel and recorded 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 47 games over the past two seasons. A member of the 2010 USA Under-18 Select Team, DiPauli helped Team USA earn a silver medal at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. Theo was born in Italy and moved to the United States when he was 13 years old. Roy, a big centerman, played each of the last four seasons with the Brockville Braves and was a teammate of fellow recruit Sebas-tien Gingras for three seasons. An assistant captain for the Braves, Roy finished second on the team in

scoring in 2011-12 with 69 points (32 goals, 37 assists) in 57 games, including a team-best 12 power play goals. In 199 games with the Braves, Roy totaled 185 points (80 goals, 105 assists). Wilkins spent the last two seasons as a top forward for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Ju-nior Hockey League. Wilkins was the league’s leading scorer with 99 points (34 goals, 65 assists); including a team-best 15 power play goals in 60 games. Wilkins served as a team captain in 2011-12, and helped lead his team to a regular-season and postseason titles. In 120 games with the Ban-dits, Wilkins totaled 176 points (64 goals, 112 assists). Union opens at home October 6th against Merrimack before a five game road swing to Bowling Green, AIC and UConn starting ECAC play at Troy against rival RPI November 2nd. The team will also play in the Catamount Cup in Vermont during the holiday against Vermont and Merrimack.

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NY Hockey OnLine East Women’s Hockey / Page 20

Manhattanville

The women’s ice hockey team opens their season with a ECAC

East-West Classic against SUNY Plattburgh on October 26 and El-mira College on October 27. Their

regular season begins against the University of Mas-sachusetts/Boston at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye.

Union College

Assistant Coach and three-time Olympian Julie Chu

was named to the Team USA Development squad. Chu led the US to a Silver medal in 2010 and 2002 and a Bronze in 2006. She has played in over 200 games for

Team USA. Union opens at home against the University of Connecticut on September 29 and opens their Liberty League season against Clarkson at Potsdam on Octo-ber 26.

RPI

Jordan Smelker was selected to play for the U22 USA

Women’s Ice Hockey Team in a three-game series against Canada in August. The Junior comes from Anchorage, Alaska where

she played for Team Alaska’s 19U team. Whitney Naslund, a 2011 RIT graduate was selected to attend the USA Development Camp, along with Smelker. She played four years of DI hockey and is RPI’s all time leader in career games at 142 and played the 2011-12 season with the Boston Blades of the CWHL. RPI opens their season at home against the University of Connecticut on October 5 and 6 and opens their ECAC season at St. Lawrence o October 26.

East Women’s College

Ice Hockey Report by Janet Schultz

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Hockey North

Sled Hockey Comes to Fort Drum Soldiers!

NY Hockey OnLine North Men’s Hockey / Page 22

CLARKSON GOLDEN KNIGHTS

One year after finishing tied for sixth with a 9-9-1 regular season record and being eliminated in the first round of the ECAC playoffs by RPI, the

Knights embark on a new season without their four-year starter in goal (Paul Karpowich) and their top two scorers (Nick Tremblay and Louke Oakley). The coaching staff welcomes nine freshmen who will be asked to step into key roles, but it will be last year’s juniors and sophomores who hold the key. Juniors Ben Sexton (Boston draft pick) and Allan McPherson will be likely first liners with sophomore de-fenseman Sam Labrecque quarterbacking the power play and out to prove his omission from the ECAC All-Rookie Team was an oversight. Six of the incoming recruits come from the Ontario Ju-nior Hockey League (OJHL), including three who played for the 2012 OJHL Champion Stouffville Spirit. Forward Simon Bessette netted 34 points in 46 as captain of the Wellington Dukes (OJHL) and forward Todd Chris-tian was named the Notre Dame Hounds Most Valuable Forward after leading them in scoring with 57 points in 57 games, including a team-high 25 goals. Forward Jeff DiNallo recorded 38 points in 38 games with Newmarket (OJHL), Christian Finch was RBC National Junior Tier II Player of the Year and OJHL Most Valuable Player as the Stouffville Spirit (OJHL) leading scorer with 104 points, including a league-high 67 assists. The other two forwards are Patrick Megannety, who net-ted 26 goals in 41 games with the Georgetown Raiders (OJHL) and Christian Powers of Stouffville and Hamilton, who tallied 61 points in 47 games and added 23 more points in 23 playoff games. On defense Paul Geiger was voted the OJHL Best De-fenseman with Stouffville averaging 1.25 points per game and led all OJHL defensemen in playoff scoring with 34

points, including 31 assists. In goal, two newcomers will vie for playing time right away in Andrew Hunt and Greg Lewis. Hunt arrives via the Surrey Eagles (BCHL) where he was a BCHL Coastal Conference First-Team All-Star after playing in 52 games recording a 30-19-1 record while posting a .913 save percentage and a 2.92 goals against average. Lewis played in the NAHL with the Wenatchee Wild. In 26 games he recorded a .923 save percent-

age and a 1.77 goals against average with four shutouts. He sparkled in the postseason with a 1.71 GAA and a .942 save percentage. “We are excited about the upcoming season,” said head coach Casey Jones, who begins his second season behind the Clarkson bench via email. “The veterans have been training hard over the summer, and have really benefited from working with our strength & conditioning coach, Jaime Rodriquez. “The incoming freshmen provide us depth in a lot of areas. They will push our returning veterans and should compete to earn a regular role in their rookie season. With a young team, we will have some growing pains at the start, but as the season progresses, we feel we have the tal-ent and competitiveness to challenge for a top four spot in the ECAC.” The non-conference schedule begins with a pair of games at Colorado College and two weekends of home games against Holy Cross (one game) and Niagara (two games). They travel to Canisius for a pair before the conference schedule starts November 9-10 at Yale/Brown. UMass/Lowell visits post New Year’s for two games as well.

ST. LAWRENCE SAINTS

After rebounding from a 5-10 start, the Saints built some late momentum in winning six of their final eight conference games before falling in

first round of the playoffs. They hope to build on that late run heading into their 75th season with head coach Greg Carvel beginning his first official season after sharing the duties last season with Mike Hurlbut. The team is just eight wins away from the 1,000th in program history.


Northern New YorkMen’s College Hockey Report

by Warren Kozireski


To many Canton, New York residents, Mark J. McKen-na is known as a civil engineer at Fort Drum in the Northern part of New York State. But to a group of

Fort Drum’s Warriors in Transition Battalion, McKenna is a “shaker and mover.” Early last March McKenna was able to present two sled hockey games, one in Canton and the other in Wa-tertown, to raise money for the benefit of the Warriors in Transition Unit. And it all started from something McKenna had wit-nessed just a few weeks earlier. “A group of us were working out in the gym at Fort Drum when a soldier came though the doors in a wheel-chair,” recalled McKenna. “He looked around the room, did a 180 and when back out the doors. “As I was leaving the gym later that day, I asked one of the attendants what they did for the wounded soldiers at Fort Drum. I could see that the weight room was not conducive for those in wheelchairs. “I asked if they played wheelchair basketball. The at-tendant told me they had it , but that it was nothing that was really organized. “So being the hockey nut that I am, I began to think about the possibilities of playing sled hockey. So I wrote to Laurie Kennedy (New York State Amateur Hockey As-sociation Disabled Hockey Coordinator) and Norm Page (USA Hockey sled hockey representative) if they could help me with this idea.

“My plan was to raise money to buy sleds for the wounded soldiers to play sled hockey with at Fort Drum. “But I also knew that I would need hockey equip-ment for the players. So I called on the hockey coaches I knew from around the area including those from St. Lawrence University, SUNY Canton, SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson and even Syracuse Uni-versity to see if they could donate any equipment, which they did. “But I was still short by about $1200 worth of equipment. So I talked to my suppliers (McKenna owns and operates a hockey equipment business

on the weekends) of equipment and they helped me with the rest of the hockey equipment needed. “A guy I know in nearby Massena made hockey bags for the players. They were all red, white and blue in color with the Wounded Warrior logo on one side and the 10th Mountain logo on the other. “Then I got two major sponsors, the Canton VFW Post 1231 and the Society of American Military Engineers at Fort Drum. They bought the hockey jerseys and the sleds for the events. “It ended up that the sleds were donated by Mobil-ity Sports, located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Because I was hosting a two-day event, USA Hockey took care of the shipping and Mobility Sports loaned them to us, rent-free. “Despite that, I still needed to buy six sleds for the event. That came at a cost of $500 each.


Fort Drum Puts Wounded

Soldiers On-the-Ice

by Randy SchultzPhotos by Janet Schultz

NY Hockey OnLine North / Page 24

Clarkson

Seven members of the Clarkson Women’s Ice Hockey team were

chosen for the Canadian U22 De-velopment Team Selec-tion Camp. Selected were Shan-non Ma-cAulay (Mt. Herbert, PEI), Erica Howe (Ot-tawa), Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata), Carly Mercer (Exter), Erine Ambrose (Keswick) and Renata Fast (Burlington). Cayley was unable to attend. Rattray was then selected for the U22 Team to play in the Canada vs USA tournament in Calgary in Au-gust. Joining the Clarkson squad this season are Erin Ambrose, a defense-man out of Keswick, Ontario. She played for the Toronto Junior Aeros of the PWHL last season; Olivia Howe, forward, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and the Notre Dame AAA Hounds; Shannon MacAulay, forward, Mt. Herbert, Prince Edward Island, war-ner Warriors of the JWHL; Renata Fast, defense, Burlington, Ont., Bur-lington Junior Barracudas (PWHL) and Cayley Mercer, Exeter, Ontario and the Bluewater Junior Hawks. Going into their 10th season, Clarkson will open in a non-confer-

ence game against their arch rival St. Lawrence. They open their ECAC play against Mercy-hurst.

Plattsburgh State

The Platts-

burgh women’s team opens their season with an exhibition

game againt Etobicoke on October 20. They will then play in the Norwich East/West Classic against Manhat-tanville and Norwich on October 27 and 28 before beginning their ECAC season against Chatham on November 3 and 4.

Potsdam

Potsdam’s rink is under renovation. (See related story and photos on

following page). The will open their season on the road at Newport, Rhode Island against Salve Regina University and stay on the road until their home opener on December 1 against ECAC rival SUNY Cortland.

North Women’s College Ice

Hockey Report by Janet Schultz

Continued from Page 22

Their top four point-getters are back in 30+ point men Greg Carey and Kyle Flanagan (Canton) while sophomore Chris Martin is hoping to build on his ten goal-26 point freshman season. Senior defense-man George Hughes dished out 20 assists last season and will again play a key role on the power play.The team lost just four senior for-wards and one on defense, but only one of the group scored more than two goals all season. Junior Matt Weniger gets the nod in goal following his 13 win and two shutout season. He needs to improve on his .896 save percent-age if the Saints are to move into the upper half of the ECAC. The Saints begin the season with road trips to NCAA playoff participant Western Michigan and Maine before returning for their home opener against Alabama-Huntsville November 2nd. They also have on-ECAC contests at Northeastern and Boston College Thanksgiving weekend along with Clarkson, Vermont and RIT over the holiday break.

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$8.7 Million Renovation at Potsdam’s Maxcy Arena!

(Story and renderings submitted by Potsdam Sports Information Dept.)

Nearly 40 year’s after Maxcy Hall

Ice Arena’s open-ing, SUNY Pots-dam has begun major renovations to the facil-ity. This year-long, $8.7 million project will feature several new amenities and a brand new ice surface for the Bears, students and community members when it reopens in the fall of 2013. “We’re tremendously excit-ed as we witness the beginning phase of our ice rink renovation project,” said SUNY Potsdam Director of Athletics Jim Zalac-ca. “This will certainly serve as a huge boost to our own men’s and women’s intercollegiate programs, but additionally will mean extensive programming opportunities for our campus and extended Potsdam com-munities, certain to provide a

full and enriching ice skating experience. When this state of the art renovation is completed next fall, it will pro-vide our countless number of Bears hockey supporters the opportunity to enjoy an excit-ing night of college hockey in a comfortable, fan friendly atmosphere.” With the changes being made, Maxcy will continue to be one of the leading athletics venues in the North Country and the Northeast as it hosts recreational skating, youth hockey, and both Bears’ hockey teams. In early August, the con-tracting company Bette & Cring started work on Maxcy’s reno-vations. These major altera-

tions are the first to building since Maxcy Hall’s construction in 1972. The biggest changes to the arena include a new high efficiency refrigeration system, ice surface, boards and glass as well as expanded team benches. For the fans, the most important improvements in-clude a new climate control system and new seating. Per-manent individual seating will replace the lower section of bleachers, while new bleach-ers will be installed in the upper level. The bleachers will be retractable to allow for multi-purpose use. Balcony seating areas will help to expand the fan capacity to 1,124. In addition to the fan ac-

commodations, the Bears’ hock-ey teams and coaches will be able to enjoy new and modern team locker rooms, coaches’ offices and a center ice player entrance.


A locker room for referees will also be added. The new enlarged press box will be constructed above the team benches, putting score-keeping staff and media right on top the action. Bears men’s coach Chris Bernard and women’s coach Jay Green are understandably pleased to see the project underway. “I’m exceedingly excited about our rink renovation project and all that it can generate for the continued development of our program,” said Bernard. “It will give us an opportunity to provide all of our current players and future recruits a playing experience

second to none.” Green, who served as Potsdam’s facilities director before assuming the women’s head coaching duties, agreed with Bernard. “We look forward to the completion of renovations at Maxcy Hall, as well as a new beginning for both of our hockey programs,” Green said. “The new look is a long awaited upgrade for the arena and will compliment all of our athletic facilities here at Potsdam. In my opinion, we rank among the top universities in regards to overall facilities in the SUNYAC Conference.” Due to the renovation, the Bears hockey teams are preparing for a year away from home. The men will play their home games at Massena Arena in neighboring Massena, N.Y. The women will stay closer to home, moving just across town to Clarkson University’s Cheel Arena. The Bears men open up their 2012-13 campaign against Saint Michael’s College in Massena on Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. Potsdam’s women travel to Newport, R.I. the following day to battle Salve Regina in their season opener at 7 p.m.*

(This is one of several ice arena renova-tions taking place throughout New York State. We will have stories on Lakeshore, East Aurora, West Seneca coming. If you have a rink in your area undergoing major renovations, please let NY Hockey On-Line know. Email us at nyhockeyon-line@nyhockeyonline with your story, photos, renderings or contact person’s name, email and phone number.)

Hockey NY West

Development Camp for Girls A Success!

New Program to Benefit Kids Escaping Drugs!

NY Hockey OnLine West / Page 28

Western New York Hockey News and Notes......Congratulations to Eric Guzdek, general manager of Northtown Center, Amherst for being re-elected to the Board of Directors of Serving American Rinks (STAR).

Buffalo Stars Open

The Buffalo Stars Hockey Season opens Saturday, September 15 with games running from 2 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

First up, the Minor Bantam Team will take on the Bud Bakewell Bruins at 2 p.m. They will be followed by the Squirt Minors vs Hamburg Hawks at 3:15 p.m., Bantam Major vs East Aurora at 4:30 p.m., Midget 15 vs Wheat-field Blades at 5:45 p.m. Midget 16 vs Niagara Junior Purple Eagles at 7:15 p.m. and the puck drops on the final game of the day at 8:45 p.m. when the Midget 18 team faces the Bud Bakewell Bruins. All games will be televised live on the Stars Internet Television Channel, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/buf-falo-stars-junior-hockey. The Stars will also kick off their monthly internet show, The Press Box, with hosts Tom Mullen and Keith Amondis. Their premiere show will be at Noon on Sept. 15. Following each game the teams will be having a lunch with their opponents and enjoy a replay of their game. The Stars will also hold a Chinese Auction to benefit SABAH (Skating Athletes Bold At Heart) and WINGS Flights for Hope. For the Buffalo Stars schedule and additional informa-tion go to www.buffalostars.com.

Buffalo Bisons Host Tournament

The Buffalo Bisons U14 Girls wil host a four-game mini-tournament with the Pittsburgh Pens Elite, Ohio Flames and Buffalo Regals on Saturday and

Sunday, September 8 and 9 at the Nichols School and the North Buffalo Rink in Buffalo. The first game is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. with the Bisons facing the Ohio Flames at Nichols. The schedule continues: 3:00 p.m. Pittsburgh Elite vs Buffalo Regals at Nichols 3:15 p.m. Team/Player meal 6:30 p.m. Ohio vs Pittsburgh at North Buffalo

8:00 p.m. Regals vs Bisons at North Buffalo

Sunday, Sept. 9 8:00 a.m. Bisons vs Pittsburgh at North Buffalo 9:30 a.m. Regals vs Ohio at North Buffalo 12:30 p.m. Ohio vs Buffalo Bisons at Nichols.

The Bisons U14 will also travel to Union College on October 20 and 21 to play in a mini tournament that will include Syracuse, Assabet Valley, Mid Fairfield Stars, and the Bisons.

Hasek’s Heroes and Kids Escaping Drugs Announce Game for a Goal

The Sabres Foundation has teamed up with Hasek’s Heroes and Kids Escaping Drugs in an effort to strengthen awareness for healthy life choices. The

organizations are asking all youth hockey athletes to pledge this season to playing and living healthy. All participants will receive an incentive and be en-tered into an All Star drawing for unique hockey experi-ences. In addition, the top four fundraising teams that meet the program’s Rink Rat requirements will be eligible to win one of the following prizes: team’s season banquet in the party suite at a Sabres game with $350.00 of sponsored food for the Florida Panthers’ game on March 3rd, a pizza lunch during a Sabres practice at First Niagara Center and tour of the locker room, (30) 300-level tickets to a Sabres game along with a post-game meeting with a player or autographed mini-sticks for the entire roster delivered by a Sabres Alumni at a team practice. The teams participating are required to raise a mini-mum of $300.00. The proceeds will be split evenly be-tween Hasek’s Heroes and Kids Escaping Drugs. The contest period runs from October 15th to Decem-ber 21st, 2012. Check out http://ked.makeachangewny.org/ for regis-tration forms, full list of prizes and contest rules, as well as up to date information. The Domink Hasek Youth Hockey League, Inc. also known as Hasek’s Heroes, was founded by former Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek in 2001. Hasek provided $1 million in financial support with the intent to provide underprivileged children the opportunity to play hockey. Hasek’s Heroes touches the lives of over 500 kids annu-ally. For more information visit: www.haseksheroes.org . The Kids Escaping Drugs Campaign supports the

NY Hockey OnLine West/ Page 29

Renaissance Campus, a long term residential treatment facility in Western New York for adolescents suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. The Campus consists of five buildings with a total of 62 patient beds that treats boys and girls ages 12 to 20. For more information visit: http://ked.makeachangewny.org/ .

Buffalo Sabres Team with Perry’s Ice Cream for

United Way’s Day of Caring!

The Buffalo Sabres Foundation and Perry’s Ice Cream, in partnership with World Vision, pro-vided school supplies to over 4,000 disadvantaged

youth in the Buffalo City School District for the upcom-ing school year. The event is part of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County’s Day of Caring. Over 200 volunteers joined together at First Niagara Center to put together backpack filled with pencils, pens, paper, crayons, rulers and other necessities.

Buffalo Stars Hold Training Camp

The Buffalo Stars Junior Hockey Club began their 11th season with a training campu on August 1. The month-long camp included on-ice and off-ice

sessions as well as a rigorous conditioning regiment, team and system work. The Stars enter the season with 27 players, including veteran Forwards Brandon Boyle, Dakota John, Patrick Schmelzinger and Luke Swimline. On Defense are Mike Harris and Angelo Sarro. The Stars will play in the Empire Junior Hockey League American Conference with their youngest team

ever. The average age of the player is 16 years, 3 months, making the Stars one of the youngest teams in Junior Hockey. “Not only did we go with a youth movement,” said Owner/GM Peter Preteroti. “We recruited from outside the area.” Preteroti has stepped down as head coach of the team, turning that job over to long-time Stars/Hornets Coach Jerry Wheeler. “I really like the group of kids we selected this year,” said Wheeler. “They are young and hungry and eager to compete. That is the edge we are looking for.” The Stars camp ended with the Annual Greater Buf-falo Challenge Labor Day Tournament. Prior to that they spent three days of intense training at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. Their season officially opens on October 13 when they take on the Jersey Wildcats in the Buffalo Stars Annual Salute to the American Troops Weekend.

Buffalo Bisons at Beantown

The Buffalo Bison’s 19U team headed off for Boston in July to take part in the Beantown Classic College Showcase.

With 41 teams in the tournament, the Bison’s went 3-0-1 in the preliminary round. That pitted them against Assabet Valley, a rematch of last year’s National Champi-onship game. The Bison’s took an early lead off a face-off. They held the lead until 8 minutes were remaining when Assabet tied the game at 1. Assabet took the lead for good with four minutes left in the game on a scramble in the Bison’s crease. The Bison’s have scheduled to play in several college showcase tournaments this season including the North American Hockey Academy Tournament being played at press time. They will then play at the Stoney Creek College Showcase, the Can/Am Challenge and the presti-gious Connecticut Polar Bear Tournament. They will also barnstorm against top teams from North America. The Bison’s have two players committed to colleges as they enter their senior season with Maddie Elia verbally committed to Boston University and Kelly Seward to Penn State.


Penn State Coach Brandwene Instructs Camper on technique!

Camp Director Scott Welch works with player!

Below: Ohio State Assistant Coach MacKenzie holds team meeting

Scott Welch had an idea for a hockey camp; just for girls! Whatheendedwithwasafilledcamp,

with a waiting list; other hockey coaches coming to check it out and calls to see if he’ll do it againt next year. What more could you ask. For an entire week the girls worked out on- and off-ice with coaches from women’s colle-giate teams at Nichols School in Buffalo. The girls also had a chance to meet with each coach and ask whatever they wanted in a special “Ask the Coach” session. The questions the girls asked went from recruiting to coaching styles. There was also a special on-ice “Goalie Ses-sion” each day. “The goal was to have 60 players attend the camp,” said Welch. “The demand was so high, that the camp sold out very quickly. “We decided to add an ad-ditional group making a total of 3 groups and 94 participants. “Unfortunately it was sold out to many others who wanted to participate.” “We were excited to have coaches from Colgate, Penn State, Mercyhurst, RIT, and Ohio State to run the on ice sessions for three hours each day,followed by an off-ice lec-ture and Q and A session,” said Welch. The coaches included Josh Brandwene, Penn

State; Chris MacKenzie, Ohio State; Gregg Fargo, Colgate and Scott MacDonald, RIT. Mercyhurst Coach Mike Sisti was unable to attend at the last minute but sent his assistant coach. “Along with the coach-es each group had collegiate women ice hockey players who served as counselors from Mercyhurst, University of Connecticut, Union, RIT, Syracuse, Utica, and Cort-land.” Following the camp,

each player received an evaluation. Welch has scheduled the Second Annual Nichols Camp for August 12-16, 2013.*


First Nichols Camp A Huge

Success!by Janet Schultz

Off Ice activities and workouts were just as important as the on-ice skill building.

NY Hockey OnLine West Men’s College / Page 32

CANISIUS GOLDEN GRIFFINS

“Being young last year, our players gained valuable

experience and playing time,” head coach Dave Smith said in an email. “It’s time for that knowledge to propel us to wins and a trip to Rochester for the league Final Four.” The Griffs were in the mix to at least host a first round playoff series one year ago, but dropped all but one of the final six regular season games before losing to UConn in the first round. It will be junior Tony Capobianco stepping into the number one spot in goal after his 3.09 goals against aver-age and .913 save percentage from one year ago. Juniors Kyle Gibbons, Taylor Law, Patrick Sullivan (Derby) and senior penalty keeper Torrey Lindsay anchor the now-veteran frontline. The defense also returns intact with se-niors Ben Parker, Chris Barrea (West Seneca) and junior Ben Danford are the elder statesman among four sophomores. Griffs top recruit Matthew Back-house will compete for playing time right away. He arrives from Humboldt Broncos of the SJHL where he dished out 28 assists in 57 games last season and added 12 more points in 22 post-season games. Orchard Park native Josh Kielich also arrives via the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and Shane Conacher from Burlington. Shane’s older brother, Cory, is the all-time leading scorer at Canisius and was just named the American Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable player with Norfolk on their way to the Calder Cup championship.Canisius begins the season with

two grueling road trips to Anchor-age, Alaska for the Kendall Hockey Classic and to NCAA playoff partici-

pant Western Michigan. Their home opener is October 25th before they again fly to play Minnesota. Bowling Green at home for two the weekend after New Year’s completes the non-conference portion of the schedule.

NIAGARA PURPLE EAGLES

A 10-2-2 finish to the regular season launched the Purple Eagles into second place just

one point out of the top spot. A sweep of rival Robert Morris resulted in Ni-agara’s first trip the Atlantic Hockey final four where they fell in overtime to RIT. The unit loses just three seniors, but the key question will again be who steps into the top spot in goal with Chris Noonan’s departure after setting several single season school marks. The C-squad of juniors Cody Campbell and Carsen Chubak with sophomore Colby Drost will all throw their hat in the ring to start. The Purps return their top 13 scorers from one year ago including three defenseman led by forwards Giancarlo Iuorio, Marc Zanette, Patrick Divjak, Isaac Kohls and Ryan Rashid who all surpassed the 20-point

mark. The defense also is virtually intact led by power play quarterback

C.J. Chartrain, Kevin Ryan (Eden), Dan Weiss, Matt Williams and Tyler Matthews (Buffalo). Competition for playing time arrives in the presence of seven newcomers in Dan Kolenda, Hugo Turcotte, Matt Dineen, TJ Sarcona, Matt Chiarantano, Mike Conderman and Nick Cecere. Up front, Kolenda scored 30 goals, 65 assists and 95 points in 111 games with the Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL). Turcotte spent last year with the Grande Prairie

Storm (AJHL) scoring a team-high 23 goals. T.J. Sarcona (West Islip) played with the Amarillo Bulls (NAHL) the past two years scoring 23 goals and 35 assists for 58 points in 56 games this past season. UMass-Lowell transfer and Roch-ester native Mike Conderman will seek playing time after sitting out a season. Prior to his stint with the Riv-er Hawks, Conderman suited up for 57 games with the Muskegon Lum-berjacks (USHL) where he scored 11 goals, 21 assists for 32 points. On defense, Matt Dineen spent the last four seasons with the New-market Hurricanes (OJHL). His 25 points in the 2011 season was tied for second best among defensemen on the club. Matt Chiarantano has scored 18 goals, 80 assists and 98 points in 182 games in the OJHL, split between the Orangeville Crushers, Aurora Tigers and the Georgetown Raiders. And transfer Nick Cecere played for the Michigan Tech Huskies last season.On the non-conference slate are road trips to Colgate, Michigan State, Clarkson and Bowling Green. Four of their final five regular season games also come away from the Dwyer Arena compound.


Western New YorkMen’s College Hockey Report

by Warren Kozireski

Buffalo State College

The Bengals

open their season with an exhibi-

tion game against the Ni-agara Falls Midget AA team on October 22. That will be followed by back-to-back games against Stevenson on the Bengal’s home ice on October 26 and 27.

University of Buffalo

The Lady Ice Bulls schedule has been re-

leased. Their first opponent is Niagara University featur-ing players who had played with the DI team that was eliminated after last season. The game will be played at Niagara University’s Dwyer Areana on October 5 at 8:20 p.m. They will then face the University of Vermont a ACHA DI program on October 6 and 7.

RIT

Sophomore Goaltender Laura Chamberlain was named to the

2012 Capital One Academic All-American Divsion III Women’s At-Large Team. The honor was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Chamberlain, a second team selec-

tion, is the first RIT student-athlete to receive Capital One Academic All-American honors during the 2011-12 academic year. Chamberlain had a 3.78 grade point average as a business administration major and was named the NCAA Championship Tournament Most Out-

standing Player and earned CCM/Old Time Hockey Second Team All-American honors. She was also

named to the ECAC West Championship All-Tournament Team and garnered All-ECAC West second team honors. Chamberlain led all Divi-sion III goalies in lowest goals against average (1.09), high-est save percentage (.951) and winning percentage (.921). She finished 17-1-1 with four shutouts. In just two seasons at RIT, Chamberlain is the univer-sity’s all-time leader with a .890

career wining percentage (35-3-3) and .947 save percentage. Her 35 wins are the third most at RIT. RIT now moves to DI hockey in College Hockey America. They open their Inaugural Season as a DI school with a game against Oakville on September 23 and then take on their first conference opponent, Mercyhurst, on September 28 amd 29 at Ritter Arena on the RIT campus.

Among their CHA opponents this season will be the newly formed Penn State team. Other CHA opponents are Syracuse, Lindenwood and Robert Morris.

We are looking forward to sharing information from some Women’s Ice Hockey Club teams including Brockport, Niagara, Canisius and D’Youville!

NY Hockey OnLine West Women’s Hockey / Page 33

Western New YorkWomen’s College Hockey Report

by Janet Schultz



RIT TIGERS

A third place regular season finish and a shutout lose to Air Force left a bad taste in

the mouths of the Tigers and the team will need to find new leadership in all three areas of the ice to bounce back.Goaltender Shane Madolora signed a pro contact, forward Cameron Burt finished his eligibility as the Tigers all-time scoring leader and defense-men Chris Haltigan, Daniel Spivak and Trevor Eckenswiller all finished their four-year degrees. Junior Michael Colavecchia led the team in goals and points with sophomores Matt Grabovsky and Brad McGowan both looking for top-two line spots after impressive freshman campaigns. Greg Noyes, Chris Saracino, No-lan Descoteaux and Eliot Raibi form the nucleus of the defense that will need help from newcomers in front of either junior Josh Watson or sopho-more Jordan Ruby in net, who played in seven games combined last season.Eight newcomers, including the first Division I hometown recruit, will compete for open spots in forwards Dan Schuler (Rochester, NY/Powell River Kings), Andrew Miller (Chica-go Steel), Josh Mitchell (Alberni Val-ley) and Anthony Hamburg (Omaha Lancers). Schuler, from Penfield, returns home after playing for the Powell River Kings of the British Colum-bia Hockey League last season. He finished the year with 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points, leading his team to a first place finish in the Coastal Division. In 15 playoff games, he recorded 10 points on six goals and four assists, helping lead the River Kings to the Fred Page Cup Finals. He finished his two seasons in the BCHL with 68 points on 28 goals and 40 assists.

Miller finished second on the Chicago Steel last season with 43 points on a team-high 24 goals and 19 assists. Mitchell led the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Colum-bia Hockey League with 58 points on 13 goals and 45 assists last season. Hamburg, RIT’s first NHL draft pick, joins the Tigers for his sophomore season af-ter skating with the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League last season, where he finished with 13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points. The 6-1 forward, who was picked 194th overall by the Minnesota Wild in 2009, played seven games for Colgate University during the 2010-11 season, tallying three as-sists, before returning to the Lancers. On defense, Rajan Sidhu (Co-quitlam Express), Brad Shumway (Chicago Steel), and Zander Kuqali (Sioux City Muskateers) will look to fill the void.Sidhu split time last season with the Trail Smoke Eaters and the Coquitlam Express, finishing the year with 11 points on two goals and nine assists. The 6-3, defenseman skated in three full seasons in the British Columbia Hockey League, finishing with 46 as-sists and 52 points. Shumway appeared in 26 contests last season for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League, tal-lying one goal and four assists. The 6-1 defenseman led the Steel with a +22 rating last season. Kuqali finished last season with nine points on four goals and five assists in 30 games. The 6-2 defense-man began the season with Indiana, where he had 11 points on two goals and nine assists. In three seasons in the United States Hockey League, Kuqali had seven goals and 31 assists for 38 points in 142 games. Ken MacLean (Kalamazoo Wings) will provide depth in goal for

the Tigers, as he is expected to com-pete for playing time immediately. MacLean comes to RIT after playing last season in the North American Hockey League where he finished with a 20-9-2 record with two shut-outs, as well as a 2.76 goals against

average, and a .911 save percentage.“We are very excited about what this group brings to the proud history of our program as once again we hope to achieve our goal of winning the Atlantic Hockey Association Cham-

pionships and advancing to the 2013 NCAA Tournament,” said Wilson, now entering his 14th season behind the bench at RIT. The Tigers open the season at Michigan for two games before host-ing new Division I program Penn State at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena for Homecoming October 20th. Col-gate, Clarkson and St. Lawrence mark the rest of the non-conference sched-ule. The team opens Atlantic Hockey play October 25th home against Robert Morris.

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NY Hockey OnLine West/ Page 35


“I got several groups in the Canton area to each buy one of the sleds. Things turned out well. “We actually had 24 participants in the event, 22 males and two females.” A silent auction was also held with items like an autographed jersey from Potsdam native, Craig Conroy (who plays for the Calgary Flames), an autographed jersey from Erik Cole of Oswego (who plays for the Montreal Canadiens), an autographed photo of the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team signed by Mike Eruzione and a goalie stick signed by ’80 USA teammate, Jim Craig, among other items. “It was a great outpouring by everyone involved,” said McKenna. “We had so many volunteers as well as

people who donated so many items to be auctioned off. “The game in Canton drew over 600 people at SUNY Canton’s Roos House. We even had the Canton Minor Hockey Association helping out the players with their uniforms and sleds. “We did very well at the Watertown event on that Friday. We were at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds. “A clinic was conducted for the Wounded Warriors team by a sled hockey team, led by coach Chuck Gridley, who came up from Syracuse. A game followed.” Lunch that day was provided by Sboro’s Res-taurant and Fairgrounds Inn in Watertown. Josie’s and Sergi’s restaurants donated the wings and pizza and the VFW ladies auxiliary made chili for the Canton event. “In the end we raised enough money to buy 30 sleds (you do the math at $550 per sled),” concluded McKenna. “The final total came to almost $20,000. “And now I want to do more. I would like this to become an annual event. “We don’t do enough for the soldiers of our coun-try. I think we can do more and we will.” Our hats are off to McKenna and the people of Canton and Watertown for a job well done! *

Continued from Page 6 “NHL alumni Bryan Trottier and Kevin Weeks were there to help out,” commented Barnett. “The NHL put our kids through the paces. “It turned out to be an all day and into the evening affair. And after the on-ice events were over, the Shamrocks coaches went over the video to point out what they thought worked and what didn’t and what changes could be made. “The kids and coaches did a great job. The kids got hockey bags with all sorts of NHL fun things inside. “Of course the biggest reward the Shamrocks organi-zation got came in late January when we could watch the Junior Skills competition in Ottawa. It was nice to know that we had a part in making this event a huge success for the NHL.”*

Sgt. John Stanton and Wounded Warriors Founder Mark McKenna

The Buffalo Shamrocks who took part in the NHL video.


*Pay $2 million for the Webster Block *Seek city residents for post-construction jobs *Agreed to use local workforce for construction and meet 25% minority and 5% female hiring goals *Agreed to 25% minority business and 5% women business enterprise participation goals *Pay Living Wage for employees of ice rink and parking ramp *Attain the highest reasonable environmental standards for building *Expand parking in the building to make atten-dance at Canalside events more convenient for the public

*Construct a facility that attracts new hockey-themed events/tournaments, and creates new opportunities for other special events *Committed to public, community and youth hockey use *Receive additional community input through the charette process HARBORcenter Development also committed to the start of construction in March 2013, with the projected completion of the parking ramp, retail and ice rinks by the beginning of the 2014 Buffalo Sabres Hockey Season. The hotel is projected to be completed by spring of 2015. The Mayor’s Administration will inform the Buffalo Common Council today about the preferred developer and provide them with the term sheet that better describes the process. Mayor Brown concluded. “I want to thank the Selec-tion Committee and community representatives for their input. I had confidence in the selection process from the start and knew that the committee would choose the project they felt was best for the city. We look forward to working with HARBORcenter Development and the Sabres Organi-zation on this exciting shared initiative that will strengthen the city and region, and continue the remarkable progress in downtown Buffalo by reinventing this prime piece of city owned land.”*(Press release from Buffalo Sabres)

NY Hockey OnLine Continuing Stories / Page 36

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NY Hockey OnLine Kids Page / Page 37


MITE DIVISIONMITE EAST DIVISIONGold Medals were awarded to East 1 – Connor Catanzarite, Kyle DeBejian Jayne DeBejian, Gianpaolo Giamartino, Michael Giamartino, John Wallace, James Welch. Coached by Duane DeBejian Silver Medals were awarded to East 2 – Jack Caraccioli, Logan Crannell, Daniel Donahue, Keegan Lynch, Brayden Miller, Nico-las Schremp, Trey White. Coached by Ben Miller Bronze Medals were awarded to East 3 – Matt Conzone, Jonathan Dingman, Isabella Koproski, Sutter Lewin, Kaeden Livesey, Connor Sugar, Carter VanBuren. Coached by Eric Ko-prosky and Jason Livesey MITE WEST DIVISIONGold Medals were awarded to West 2 – Matthew Carner, Tan-ner Douglass, Mia Fierro, Michael Fierro, Erica Greene, Jacob Greene, Riley Wallace. Coached by Bill Greene and Kevin Douglass Silver Medals were awarded to West 3 – Colin Beers, Cole Broadwell, Cameron Johnson, Mason Kurilovich, Lucas Nelson, Bradan Proud, Justin Thies. Coached by Ted Beers and Mark

Proud Bronze Medals were awarded to West 1 – Duncan Baker, Ian Cady, Connor Calabro, Ian Kohut, Louie Roman, Neil Roman, Chase Towers. Coached by Phil Cady

BANTAM//MIDGET DIVISIONGold Medals were awarded to Bantam/Midget 1 – Austin Forte, Kristopher Grow, Donald Husted, James Jaskula, Chad Leotta, Austin Vashaw, William Volkomer. Coached by Duane Debejian Silver Medals were awarded to Bantam/Midget 3 – Cameron Clarke, Anthony Donabella, Dominik Donabella, Trent Grim-shaw, Zackery Humez, David McNulty, Matthew Thomson. Coached by Ken Humez Bronze Medals were awarded to Bantam/Midget 2 – Aaric Celeste, Michael Chesare, Ryan Gunther, Jack Lee, John Rice III, Evan Burdick, Timothy Woodard. Coached by John Rice II Bronze Medals were also awarded to Bantam/Midget 4 – Whitney Daino, Taite Phillips, Devyn Hutcheson, Karisaa Favata Nessa McKie, Madisyn Whalen, Sarah Mancuso, Alaina Celeste. Coached by Tom Daino and Brian Daino*

Kids--Color these players waiting to go on the Ice. And if you are from Oswego, you may be one of these players. This coloring book page was developed from a photo taken at the Dream Big Tournament in August.

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September 2012 NY Hockey OnLine