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WESTERN NEW YORK HOCKEY REPORT

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WESTERN NEW YORK HOCKEY REPORT

is an equal opportunity employer.

Contents 2012Western New York

Hockey Report.All rights reserved.

WESTERN NEW YORK HOCKEY REPORT is published monthly, except for May and

July, by Ian C. Woods of WNY Hockey Report, 245 Lawrence Woods, Orchard Park, NY

14127.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Western New York Hockey Report

P.O. Box 302East Aurora, N.Y. 14052

CONTENTS / 3

In This Issue:

Amerks ....................................................................................................................... 6Around the Associations ....................................................................................13Burkholder: Wins & Whistles ............................................................................... 5Buffalo Stars ...........................................................................................................25College Hockey: Men ..........................................................................................16College Hockey: Women ....................................................................................18Feature: Mark Metzger........................................................................................14Feature: Sabres Sled Hockey ............................................................................15Feature: Hockey As Therapy .............................................................................12Feature: Doug Hart, Golfer ................................................................................20High School Boys Hockey .................................................................................... 4Junior Sabres Report ...........................................................................................10Mental Toughness ...............................................................................................26PUCCS .......................................................................................................................23Puck Hog Volume 2 ..............................................................................................22Red Bull Results ....................................................................................................... 8Wheatfield Blades News ....................................................................................24

Happy Holidaysand

Wishing You aProsperous New Year!

From the Staff

ofWNY Hockey Report

SECTION V

HIGH SCHOOL

With the sea-son just three weeks old,

teams are just beginning their divisional schedules, but a few teams are already separating them-selves from the pack. TheGreeceThunder,underfirstyearheadcoachAndrewRice,wasofftoa3-0startincludingapairin-divisionwins.AustinBrignatihadfourgoalsandAnthonyCrawfordledwiththreeassistsastheyoutscoredtheiropponents10-3. Kyle Schieb was in net for all three victories. ConnorRotenbergandMichaelFinestonewereleadingBrighton/East/HFLtoa3-1startwiththeBaronsaveraging4.5goalspergame. Aquinas,backafteraone-yearhiatusfromleagueplay,alsowas3-0withIrondequoitandWebsterThomasrightontheirheels. TheLittleIrishwereledoffensivelybySpencerporttransferAnthonyDe-petres, who was atop the league points list with eight goals and eight assists in

justthreegames.LinemateJimmyDilbertohadrackedupaleaguehighnineassists over the same period. IrondequoitwasbeingpacedbyGrahamGoochandMatthewComanzo,whocombinedfor14pointsinfourgames,whiletheThomasTitans’JohnSoures was averaging a goal per game. InDivisionIII,BrockportandChurchville-Chiliwereundefeatedthroughtheearlystages.BlueDevilsBrandonHenshawandZachCoughlinwereatoptheteamleaderboardwithJustinAlvespacingtheSaintswithfivepointsintwo games. AsidefromSchiebfromtheThunder,threeothergoalieswereallowingfewerthantwogoalspergame:VinnyGuidafromIrondequoit,SteveSpeisofThomasandJustinNevingerfromAquinas.

HatTricks ShutoutsJacyKarpovage-Irondequoit BrianKick-McQuaidMichaelCapicotto-McQuaid(2) PatrickMassey-PenfieldConnorRussell-Penfield KyleSchieb-GreeceThunderConnorRotenberg-Brighton DougLiebe-BrockportBrandonHenshaw-Brockport JustinNevinger-AquinasAnthonyDepetres-Aquinas DoyleKinnear-Canandaigua AlexBerry-McQuaid VinnyGuida-Irondequoit JakeNewkirk-Fairport ChrisChilelli-Brighton

HighSchoolCoaches/Managers:Send your high school hockey news to

Warren@wnyhockeyreport.com(Rochester)Tom@wnyhockeyreport.com(Buffalo).

We would also appreciate photos and your logos.

Williamsville Stars To Hold Alumni Game

On December 23, the Williamsville Stars High School Club Hockey team will host their annual Alumni Hockey Game at the Northtown Center in Amherst with all proceeds from the event

going to Kids Escaping Drugs. All entrants and spectators for the event are asked to make a $5 donation. The team makes this effort and donation in memory of Eric Fischer, a 2008 graduate of Williamsville North, who played for the Williamsville Stars hockey team. “(Eric’s) dad John has served as the referee of our games in the past,” said Mark Palmisano, the Team Manager of the Williamsville Stars Club team. “The alumni game was started when Eric was a student. We always raised money at each event and made a donation to a charitable orga-nization,” continued Palmisano. “(The Williamsville Stars Club Hockey team) retired his number 18 that same year,” he added. Last year’s donation of $500 included a portion from the Williams-ville Stars club funds, with hopes of reaching a $1000 goal this year, from all donations. Any alumni not already participating in the game can contact Mark Palmisano at whschmanager@gmail, through the teams website www.williamsvillestars.com or on their Facebook page.

Date: December 23, 2012Game Start Time: 11:30 am on the Olympic Rink

Location: Northtown Center, Amherst, NY

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL / 4

Men’sHigh School

HockeyBy Warren Kozireski

ByWarrenKozireski

Opposing players, coaches and fans know it long before they get to the rink. One would thinkgraduatedPurpleEaglesplayerslook

for a board to jump over when they hear anyone do itintheirlife’stravels. It’sthatwhistle—loud,piercingandechoingthrough the arena. Niagaraplayersandfansknowitmeanstheheadcoachwantsalinechangeonthefly. Ifyouestimatethewhistlecomesminimally20timespergame,Niagara’sDaveBurkholderisclos-inginon4,500careerwhistlesduringgameactionoverhis11+seasonsasheadcoachofthePurpleEagles. Moreimportantly,theWelland,Ontariona-tiverecentlysurpassedthe200-careerwinmarkonNovember30thonhomeiceagainstSacredHeart.But,ifyoutalkwithhim,thatpalesincomparisontotheteamsundefeatedrecordinAtlanticHockeyAssociationplaythroughthefirstnineconferencegamesthisseasonandtop-20rankingintheUS-CHOpoll. “It’sanumber,butit’sallabouttheplayersandthe streak we are on and how well this team has beenplaying,”saidBurkholderafterthemilestonewin.“It’sanicenumber.” “ItsaysthatI’vehadsomeunbelievableas-sistant coaches and some great players that have comethroughtheprogram.I’mveryluckyinbothregards. “I was a little surprised at how much play it got, so that makes you sit back and think.”BurkholderhasbeenpartoftheNiagaraprogramsinceitslaunchforthe1996-97seasonfirstasas-sistantcoachwithformerRITteammateBlaise

McDonald.

HetookoverthetopspotwhenMcDonalddepartedforUMass-Lowellin2001. Sincetakingover,NiagarahaswontwoCol-legeHockeyAmericatournamenttitles,twoCHAregularseasontitles,twoCHACoachoftheYearhonors,hascoachedtwoHobeyBakerAwardfinal-istsinJoeTallariandPaulZanette,sixCHAPlayeroftheYearwinners(Tallari,BarretEhgoetz,JeffVanNynatten,SeanBentivoglio,JulianoPaglieroandZanette)andoneAHAPlayeroftheYear(Zanette). AddtwoCHATournamentMVP’sinVanNynattenandTedCookandfully138playersnamedtotheCHAandAHAAll-AcademicteammembersandBurkholder’slegacyisintact,butstillgrowing. “WepushourguysMondaythroughThursday,sowhentherefsshowupit’stimetojustletthemplay. They know the system we want, so we let them create and just sit back and watch.”WhilebehindtheNiagarabenchtheteamhasaver-aged17winsperseasoncappedbya22-wincam-paignin2007-08.Hehasa.540winningpercent-ageandnowjoins46otheractivecollegecoacheswhohavesurpassed200wins. Asanexampleofthecompanyheiskeepingonthatlist,MikeEavesofWisconsinenteredthesameweekendwith210careervictories,NorthDakota’sDaveHakstolhad219andMinnesota-Duluth’sScottSandelinsatat220.Hisnext(asofDecem-ber9th)and202ndwinwilltiehimwithlongtimeManhattanvilleprogramcreatorKeithLevinthal. HestillhassomeworktodobeforecatchingFrankSerratore,ofconferencefoeAirForce,whoissecondamongAHAcoacheswith307wins. Other college coaches with local ties who also

are

aheadonthelistareformerCanisiusheadmanBrianCavanaugh(342wins),Fredonia’sJeffMerideth(349)andMercyhurst’sRickGotkin(438).“Itmeansalottohim,”saidseniorforwardMarcZanette.“Justlikeaplayerreaching100pointscoachestakemilestonesprettyserious(ly),sohewasprettyexcitedtogetthepuckafterthegame.”

HistiestowesternNewYorkbeganintheearly1980’swhennewheadcoachBrianMasonenticed him to change his mind about attending Rensselaer(RPI)andinsteadfollowhimtobecomeafour-yearstarteringoalforRIT. Anationalchampionshipin1983withtheMostValuablePlayerawardandthree-timeECACFirstTeamAll-Starnods,hewasnamedanAll-Amer-icanin1984.HestillholdstheECACrecordforshutoutsinaseason(7)andcareer(12). NextwasastintasanassistantcoachwithanotherformerRITteammateChrisJohnstoneinNiagaraFallswiththeOntarioHockeyLeague’sThundermentoringsuchfutureNHLregularssuchasEthanMoreauandJayMcKeeplusformerEdmontonselectionandRochesternativeJasonBonsignorebeforejumpingwithMcDonaldtostartNiagara’sprogram. So,ofall200wins,whichishisfavorite? “Ican’treallyanswerthat,butprobablyoneofthechampionships.MaybebeatingBemidji(State)athomein2008towintheCHAtitletogotothetourney. They were nationally ranked that year and had MattRead. “Buttheyareall special. There is nothing like going into the locker room after a winwith28guys,including the ones whodidn’tdress;it’safunplacetobe with everyone smiling.” Andmaybewhistling?

BURKHOLDER / 5

NU’s DAVE BURKHOLDER--WHISTLES AND WINS

Photo in article: Janet Schultz; Historic Pho-tos Courtesy RIT and Coaching photo Courtesy NU

AMERKS / 6

After each period at Roch-ester home games the media are given three stat

sheets—the game summary with goals, assists, shots, plus/minus and individual shots plus two team sheets with multiple other categories including indi-vidual icetime. More often than not, the Amerks player seeing the most playing time is defenseman T.J. Brennan. Take an early December game as exhibit A. First period showed fairly even distribution rotating four lines and all three defensive pairs, but Brennan still plays 8:38; one of only two players to exceed the eight minute plateau. Second period things tighten up and Rochester goes shorthanded four times along with three power plays, Bren-nan’s time shoots up to almost half the period at 9:50—1:37 more than the next closest teammate in the stanza. Third period he again is the leader at 8:31—the only Amerk to exceed the eight minute mark.In total, the 23-year old former second round draft pick finishes with 26:59, four-plus minutes more than the next teammate. Being part of both the penalty kill and power play helps add seconds, but being dependable in your own end counts for even more faith from the coaching staff. “It’s an honor that they depend on me and put me in all of the situations; it’s greatly appreciated,” said Brennan. “It’s a lot of responsibility on my end so it’s making sure I’m on top of my game and helping the team as best I can.”

But it isn’t just a lot of playing time that is setting Bren-nan on a pace to set career marks in several offensive categories. He had nine goals through the first 20 games this season. His previous best mark is 16 goals set last season (17 if you include his first NHL goal on a Sabres call-up). Nine assists puts in jeopardy his career-best 24 in his second pro year in Portland. As of the first week in December he stood second in the AHL in goals and points and tied for first with four power play markers.

He netted two shorthanded goals in the same game against Albany November 23rd while setting a few personal milestones with his 200th professional game and 100th career point. Last season was the third and final year of the New Jersey natives three-year entry level deal and he could have signed elsewhere, but chose to return to the Buffalo organization. “This is a great organization and they’ve given me a lot of respect and a lot of appreciation so I want to show that back. I want to be a part of this team when we win a Stanley Cup eventually, so just trying to work my way up the ladder right now.” Brennan was expected to compete for a spot with the Sabres in training camp, but is trying to not let the lockout affect his mental preparation or the on-ice product.

“At the end of the day the most important thing is winning and really learning about yourself and learning how to play the game the right way. The more chemistry you can build with different sets of guys, the better you look. “It (handling the lockout) comes down to maturity and trying to control the things you can. It’s the game within the game. I was looking to come in this year and try to make the Sabres. But now the only thing I can control is to come down here and play the best I can and hope for the best when the lockout ends. And if it doesn’t, then come back next year. If I stayed at a standstill I wouldn’t help anyone, but I think I’m off to a pretty good start.”

NEWS & NOTES:•Rookie Brian Flynn netted his first professional hat trick November 23rd against Albany. He was tied for fifth in the AHL in rookie scoring.

•Rookie Frederic Roy scored his first professional goal at home against San Antonio November 28th.•Going into their December 8th Toronto road game, this odd stat—since 2007-08 Toronto is 17-3-2 at the Blue Cross Arena while the Amerks are 11-4-1-2 over their last 17 games at Ricoh Coliseum.•Former Amerk Tim Kennedy was named the AHL Player of the Week for the period ending December 2nd. The Worcester forward scored

five goals and was +5 in three road contests.•Through the first ten home games Rochester was fifth in the AHL in average attendance at 6,745 per game.•David Leggio was tied for third in the league with nine wins while ranking first in minutes played and saves.

AMERKS REPORT

By Warren Kozireski

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RED BULL / 8

TheAmericanskatersintheRedBullCrashedIceWorldChampionshipsmadetheir biggest impact in tour history in picturesqueNiagaraFalls,withthefastest

timeinqualifyingandasecondplacefinishinthefinalraceofthenight.TheheroofthenightfortheUSA,wasSt.Paul,MNresidentCameronNaaszwho was the skater to earn both of those accolades. “(Thisfinish)givesmyselfandmyteammatesalotofconfidence,”asNaasztalkedaboutgoingtothenextstoponthetour,“myteammateshadgreatqualifyingtimestonighttoo,wejusthadacouplemishapsonthetrackintheraces.Ihavehighex-pectationsforusatSt.Paul.” Leadingthechargeagainstskatersfromin-ternationalcountriessuchasSwedenandAustria,as well as the large majority of skaters from cities acrossCanada,Naaszwasoneofthe11menand2womenrepresentingtheUnitedStates. TheUScontingentincludedNaasz,TighIsaac(SaltLakeCity,Utah)askaterontheU.S.NationalSpeedSkatingDevelopmentteam,AdamGreen(Cleveland,Ohio)thefastestBuffaloqualifierandamemberofthe2008SilverMedalwinning18UInlineWorldChampionshipteam,JayMcKeeaBuffaloSabresAlumnus,andTamaraStewartaNiagaraFalls,NYFirefighter.OtherAmerican’sinthefieldincludedbrothersAndrewandDanielBergeson,BrianSchack,AmandaTrunzo,andRyanWestonwhoqualifiedtocompetefromotherarea’softheUS.OtherBuffaloareaqualifier’sincludedDanielBuchanon,JohnCorda,andEddieSpiesz. “It’sblownupintheUSandwewanttoex-pand,there’salotofpeopleintheUSthatyouwalkuptoandespeciallylikeIgotoschoolinSt.Paulatacollege.I’llbelike,‘Hey,Ihavetomissthisdayandthisdayofclass’,”Naaszrecalled,“and(theteacher)willsay‘Why?’andI’llsay,‘I’mskat-ingatRedBullCrashedIceevent’andthey’llsay,‘Whattheheckisthat?’” “IwanttobeabletosayIskateRedBullCrashedIceandtheygoohmygodthat’sawe-

some,”Cameronsaidwithasmile,“Thepossibili-tiesareendless.IjusthopethattheUSrealizeswhatanamazingsportthisisandthepotentialithas.”

The Course

TheNiagaraFallsRedBullCrashedIcecoursehada70ft.dropwhenfirstbuiltthatwaslatermadeonly a 30ft. drop after it was deter-mined by skating professionals that the drop had skaters going too fast intothefirstturn.

“(Itwas)atoughtrack, but we all adapted, it was tough for everybody out there,”saidNaaszwhoqualifiedwiththe best time of 27.96seconds.“ This morning I was on the track and twisted my ankle prettygood.I’mdealingwiththatforthis race,” Green said as he talked abouthisfirstheatraceonSaturdayDecember1,“Andit’sallamentalthing, like it happened this morning andyoucanthink‘ok,howdoIneedtoprepare?’” “The day before I had a busted shoulder and a bruised hand, so you certainly take a beating on the course, because you can never tell exactlywhereyourgoingtobe,ifyour going to fall, your gonna take yourbumpsandbruises,”Adamadded, “but I guess that separates the

kids who just kinda wanna come and be here and the kids who want to come and be here and compete like me. I guessthere’stwokind of divisions or segments of skaters that we have here.” Tigh Isaac added his own thoughts about the track, “The course is dif-ferent, the atmo-sphere is completely different,there’snothing remotely even the same.” RedBullofficialssigned a three-year contract prior to this event,thereforeNi-agaraFallswillplayhost to this event for at least another two years.IftheNiagaraFallseventisableto attract the same amount of fans as

othercitiesRedBullofficialsmayhavetoconsiderextendingthecontract.St.Paul,MinnesotathenextstoponthetourcanbeseenasanexampleintheeyesofCameronNaasz. “It’sgonnabeahugecrowd.Wehad80,000peopletherelastyear,”exclaimedNaasz,“Iguar-

antee100,000therethisyear!”

Their Roots

SkatersattheRedBullCrashedIcehavea large array of back-grounds that propelled them to where they are today.Frominlineskat-ing, speed skating, ice hockey, skate ramps, and evenfirefighting. “I used to play roller hockey and the rink

I played at as a little kid used to have ramps on FridayandSaturdaynights,”saidGreen,“Beingakid, I was a rink rat, I was always around. I would get on the ramps when I could and go take a cruise around those jumps and so that kinda got me inter-estedintheextremesportsaspect.AndthenIsawRedBullCrashedIceandIwasinthatage,andIsaid that would be perfect.” Fastforwardseveralyears,“thenwhenIfirstgot to college I got an email just before winter breakandtherewasatryoutinMichigan,soIfig-uredIwouldgoandatleastattemptitandIhadn’tcompetitively trained really hard for a few months, afterIwasdonewiththeJuniorWorldcircuitwithinline,”Adamcontinued.

(Continued on Page 9)

Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships

Make History In Niagara Falls, Canada

Several From WNY Compete!

By Thomas Morris, Jr.

“The First time out I just went with it, it was fine.

The second time I said ‘Oh Boy’.”

--Former Buffalo Sabre Jay McKee

talking about the first hill that had a quick 30-degre drop.

Former Buffalo Sabre Jay McKee (Photo Courtesy of Red Bull Crashed Ice Niagara Falls)

RED BULL / 9

(Continued from Page 8)

“SoIwentandtriedoutandplacedfirst.Afewweeks later they sent me to (Red Bull Challenge con-tinued)

Munich(Germany).SothatkindofexperienceandeverythingprogressingquickandhowfluiditwasandRedBulltakingcareofeverything.Itjustmadeagoodexperienceformetowanttocontinuedoingit.” TighIsaacrecallshowhegotintotheRedBullCrashedIce,“It’safunnystory;I’maspeedskaterbackhome,inSaltlakeCity,IskateontheU.S.NationalDevelopmentteam,tryingtogototheOlympic trials and see how that goes,” he stated, “It would be really nice to be able to do that, but this (RedBullCrashedIce)isgoingonthebigburnerright now and speed skating is going on that back burner.” “EveryThanksgivingIhaveallthespeedskat-ersovertomyhouse,theyareallinUtahbecauseofskating.WefoundthisRedBullCrashedIceonYoutubeandIthoughtthat’scool,Icoulddothat,”Isaac emphatically said, “I grew up racing moun-tain bikes, motor cross, other motor sports with speed, snowboarding, hockey, and speed skating. I thought‘that’severysingleoneofthosesportsallcombinedintoone.’” “LikeIdon’tknowanyonethatwouldhaveanymoreexperienceinallthesesportscombinedthatwouldhelpwiththisonesport.Isaid,‘thissportismadeforme,I’mreadytogo,’”hesaid

with a big smile, “AndsoIlookedon their website and saw they had open tryouts. So I signed up for one ofthequalifier’s,IwenttoSt.Louisand skated in one oftheflat-icequalifier’s.Iwasin the top three.” “So out of allthequalifier’sintheUS,10or12,000skaters,(RedBull)take(s)thetop100totheNationalDaythatwasinSt.Paul,”Tighsaid,“Andbecausewedidn’thaveaWorldCupteamlastyear,becauselastyearwasthefirstyear of the reach out, they tookthetopthreefinishersoutofalltheUSathletesandpaidfor us to be on the team to travel to different spots. It has been a very rapid progression, from‘Iwanttodothis’,to‘Iamdoingthis’.”

What does it take to be on Red

Bull Crashed Ice?

Asineverysporteach athlete trains differently in ways they think will catapult them to the winners platform. Green, Isaac and Naaszalladdedtheirbits advice for the promisingRedBullCrashedIceskater. “Determination,”Cameronsimplybe-gan, “I mean I want it, I want to do well, I know I can do well. I hit the gym every singleday,I’montheicethree,four,fivetimesaweek.Youget out of it what you put in.” Tigh said he earnedasixthplacefinishinSwedenandhow he approached

that race started three weeks prior to the event. “I mean like last year between the break the racetheNetherlandsandtheraceinSweden,thethreeweeksbreakinbetweenthetwo,”Isaacsaid’“actuallystayedoverinEuropethewholetime.Iwas skiing in Sweden for a little while, just kinda like… to live it up.”Green had the most to say however, from working withUSRedBullCrashedIcecoaches,tohit-ting the gym and ideas of how to prepare for each course. “Itrainedalittlebitharder(in2011forSt.Paul),butcertainlynotashardasIhavebeentraining for this season here, been doing a lot of off ice training, in the gym a lot, a lot of leg stuff andIhavebeenhavinginfluencefromcoaches,”he continued, “they coach me in what I can do to setmyselfapartwiththosereallyuniquedrillsthatare gonna challenge the body for something such as CrashedIce.” “Youknowpeopleask‘whatIshouldworkon,whatIshouldfocuson’anditbreaksdowntothestrong leg skills and the strength of being able to continually skate and then adapt to different condi-tions,” Green instructed, “a lot of edge work and balance, knowing body position. I think it relates personally more on the ice than if someone is ski-ing.” (Continued on Page 11)

Khariton Vlasov, Russia, competes during elimination round. Buffalo Qualifier, Adam Green is behind Vlasov on the right.

(Photo Courtesy of Red Bull Crashed Ice Niagara Falls)

The only thing missing from the Buffalo Ju-nior Sabres’ news announcements in recent weeks was the voice of legendary disc jockey

(and “top 40” program host) Casey Kasem: “Climb-ing two spots in this week’s Top 20 is the Buffalo Junior Sabres…” Twice in the early stages of the Ontario Junior Hockey League season, the lone U.S.- based Junior “A” club in the league played well enough to twice earn an “honourable mention” by the Canadian Junior Hockey League as part of its weekly Top 20 ranking of more than 100 Canadian Junior “A” hockey teams in ten leagues from coast to coast, including the OJHL. On November 12, 2012, the Jr. Sabres actually made the CJHL’s Top 20, debuting at #11, falling one place to #12 the next week, and then climb-ing to #10 on November 26. The team remained tenth ranked the following week. The team then peaked at #8 in the Top 20 the week of December 10, 2012. Big wins against teams that once came to Buf-falo expecting – and usually getting – one-sided routs certainly went a long way toward raising the Jr. Sabres’ standing in the CJHL. Head coach and general manager Michael Peca says it’s a testament to the players and their collective efforts.“They have all committed to putting in the work,” Peca said when the team first cracked the CJHL Top 20. “When we put work ahead of skill, we become a tough team to play against.” Among those who have stood out among the first place Junior Sabres are goaltender Parker Gahagen and forward Tyler Gjurich. Both played well enough to earn recognitions by the OJHL as the Goaltender and Player of the Month for November, respectively. Gahagen, the former Williamsville North high school standout, recorded seven shutouts through the first week of December. From late October into early Novem-ber, Gahagen recorded shutouts in three con-secutive home starts, including two games in a row (October 30 vs. Missis-sauga, No-vember 6 vs. Oakville and

November 8 vs. Georgetown). Through the first week of De-cember, Gahagen won 20 of his 27 starts, with one of those seven losses coming in the shootout. He led all starting goalies who played in 25 games or more with a goals-against-average of 2.39 and a save percentage of .925 (although he ranked fourth in overall goaltend-ing stats through this same time, the three leading goaltenders played, at most, only two thirds of the games in which Gahagen played).

Gjurich was brought to the Jr. Sabres with the thought he’d bring scoring punch. He has delivered and then some. On December 2, in the team’s 7-3 win on the road against the Milton Icehawks, Gjurich became the first player in the OJHL to surpass the 30-goal mark, and as of December 10 increased his goal total to 32 tallies. That was ten more goals than his near-est rivals, former Jr. Sabre turned Icehawk Shane Bennett (Grand Island, NY) and Oakville Blade Jonah Renouf. Six of Gjurich’s goals proved to be game winners. More telling is this statistic: of his 32 goals only seven were on the power play. Two came shorthanded in the same game (November 10 against Hamilton), while the rest have been scored in full strength situations. The Buffalo offense hasn’t all been about Tyler Gjurich. Several players have risen to the occa-sion. Veterans Ryan Schmelzer and Josh Kielich have contributed 25 and 24 assists, respectively, while first-year forward Pat Egan has chipped in with both goals and assists, with 16 of each through the first week of December. Max Mikowski, Nathan Pelligra and Nolan Sheeran have added points while playing the sort of lunch pail, blue collar styled hockey that West-ern New York hockey fans have always appreci-ated. Even the rookies have developed into key contributors. After spending some games early in the season as scratches, NHL legacy players Ryall Ledyard and Brian Ruff have earned their way into the lineup and been productive players. Led-yard had five goals and four assists through early December, while Ruff added three goals and five assists. Mid-season rookie call-ups have also served well. Ben Casale (Lewiston, NY) has recorded eight points (one goal, seven assists) since join-ing the team from the Jr. Sabres (Buffalo Regals) midget ranks in November. Jason Heerdt, Ryan Kuhn, Frank Hora and Nathan Sucese all recorded at least a point in sporadic stints with the club.

College Commitments By early December, two members of the Jr. Sabres confirmed their college plans, joining a veteran who has had his verbal commitment since his rookie season last year. On December 5, Nolan Sheeran (East Am-herst, NY) announced via Twitter that he has com-mitted to Canisius College beginning in 2014. He becomes the second current Junior Sabre to plan on skating for the Golden Griffins upon the con-clusion of his junior career. Second-year forward Josh Kielich verbally committed to Canisius last year. Jr. Sabres defenseman Darrin Trebes informed the team in November of his intention to enroll

at SUNY Fredonia next year. The Wil-liamsville, NY native missed a little over a month due to a leg injury but has settled in nicely at the blueline, scoring one goal and five assists in 21 games through early December. Several players were putting up the kind of numbers that have kept col-lege scouts visiting and talking, though it was still early in the process and not quite time to announce further com-mitments. Those are expected in the not-too-distant future.

Jr. Sabres in the Community The Jr. Sabres will host their sec-ond annual Teddy Bear Toss on Tuesday,

December 18 when they host the Toronto Lake-shore Patriots, beginning at 6:30pm. Fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped teddy bear or other stuffed animal to the game. When the Jr. Sabres score their first goal, fans will be invited to throw the toys on to the ice in celebration. All toys collected will be donated to the Buffalo Sa-bres Alumni, who in partnership with the Buffalo Police Department will distribute the toys to local families right before Christmas. The Jr. Sabres were also actively thinking of others in the community right before the Thanks-giving holiday. On November 15, the morning af-ter an exciting 5-4 overtime win at home against the North York Rangers, a half-dozen members of the team appeared at the truck where 97 Rock radio personality DJ Jickster was living for a week, raising food donations to support the Food Bank of Western New York. Players taking part in 97 Rock’s “Operation: Rock Out Hunger” included Parker Gahagen, Derek Patterson, Max Mikowski, Tyker Gjurich, Josh Kielich and David Seward. They helped collect items from passing motorists, while Coach Peca spent some time on the air talk-ing about the team.

Junior Sabres: Leading The OJHL In Stats, Standingsby Michael Mroziak

JUNIOR SABRES / 10

Buffalo Jr. Sabres Goalie Parker Gahagen.

(Photo courtesy OJHL Images)

Buffalo Jr. Sabre Forward Tyler Gjurich.(Photo courtesy Buffalo Jr. Sabres)

The Buffalo Jr. Sabres helped with 97 Rock’s “Operation: Rock Out Hunger.”

RED BULL / 11

(Red Bull Continued from Page 9 )

“Likethedownhillracerthatalsohelpsalotbecause the way courses are set up now you need moredownhillbackgroundbecausewe’vegotalotofverticaldropswithice,”Adamcontinued. “Withmeit’salittledifferentandIkindahavealittlemoredifficulttimewithit.Imeancertainlywith my background going up, rollerblading over rampsithelps.ButyouknowIamgettingonthemountainmoreskiingandthat’swhereInoticedithelps me a lot now.”

Race Recap: Tidbits about each race an American skated in

Round of 64 (askatersbibnumbercoincideswithhisplaceafterthetimetrials)

CameronNaasz–firstheatwearingbib#1:Naaszcruisesintosecondroundwithasmoothwin.Cam-eron advanced to the second round.

Adam Green (Buffalo Qualifier) – second heat wearing bib# 56: Adam’s ankle and shoulder in-juries slowed him to a distant fourth in his race ending his day.

ScottCroxall(CAN)–aregularontheRedBullCrashedIcetourinthesixthheat,wearingbib#14:Anyonecangodownorloseatanytime.Scottwasup ended by a hill halfway through the race and finishedthird,eliminatinghimfromfurthercompe-tition and hurting his world ranking.

AndrewBerge-son–eighthheat wearing bib#24:Andrewcame out to race today sporting redZubaspants.Hefinishedsecond and ran a smooth race, but it helped to have the last two competitors fall on a couple oc-casions.Andrewadvanced to the second round.

BrianSchack–eleventhheatwearingbib#42:Brianstartedouthisheatinthelead,butendedupgettingsecondbyaphotofinish.Brianadvancedtothe second round.

TighIsaac–twelfthheatwearingbib#27:Tighrana great heat but lost his balance in the second to last turn giving the third place skater a chance to take over. Tigh did not have enough time to recover and finishedthirdeliminatinghimfromtheevent.

DanielBergeson–thirteenthheatwearingbib#34:Danielhadaroughbattleforsecond,butlikeslid-ingintoabaseacrossthefinishline,Danielcameawaywithasecondplacefinishpushinghimaheadlikehisbrother.Danieladvancedtothesecondround.

Quarter-FinalsCameronNaasz–thisroundhehadtobattlemuchharder in the second round as he maintained second place by mere hundredths of a second throughout therun.AdamHorst(CAN)atourregularwontheheat.Cameronadvancestothethirdround.

AndrewBergeson–Andrewcameoutofthegatesquick,butafteranearlycollisionandabigfallfinishinginthetop2wasnotpossible.Andrewfinishedthirdandwaseliminated.

BrianSchack–Brianstumbledintothefirstdipandcorner,slottinghimselfintothird.Hewasneverable to recover and ended his day.

(Red Bull Continued on Page 17)

Coming out of the starting gate in the elimination round were Jacob Plant, Canada; Adam Green, Ohio (Buffalo Qualifier), Khariton Vlasov, Russia and Simon Schaerf, Austria.

(Photo Courtesy of Red Bull Crashed Ice Niagara Falls)

FEATURE / 12

Daniel Ohar is a Vietnam veteran. Three years ago Ohar was involved in an acci-dent that left him disabled and wheelchair-

bound. BackintheearlyspringitwasannouncedthattheBuffaloSabresFoundation,BuffaloSabresAlumniAssociationandNationalFueljoinedto-getherwiththeVeteransAffairsWesternNewYorkHealthcareSystem.Theplanwastoproviderecre-ational on-ice services to local veterans using sled hockey and traditional stand-up hockey as a driving force for physical and emotional rehabilitation. Two new teams evolved from this and were calledtheBuffaloSabresSledVetsandtheBuffaloSabres Warriors. Thethreeorganizationsinvolvedhavecom-mittedatotalof$90,000peryearforthenextthreeyears to support the program. The funding will pay forequipment,uniformsandicetime,aswellastournament and travel costs. The partnership is a culmination of a relation-shipthatstartedinthefallof2011.Thatiswhena free clinic, open to any disabled veterans in the WNYarea,washeldatRiversideIceRink. Thatfirstclinic,runbyNormPage,aUSAHockeySledDisabledrepresentative,drew15veteranswhoexperiencedsledhockeyforthefirsttime.Sincethenmorethan75veteranshavepar-ticipated in eight on-ice clinics. EnterOhar. “I broke my back about three years ago,” re-called Ohar. “I got involved with the Veterans, who were taking care of me. “I had heard about this sled hockey and tried outforit.It’sbeengreatsofar. “I had never played the game before my injury. I wish I had now.

“Itwasquiteabitformetolearn,especiallythebalancepart.Ireallydon’thaveanystomachmuscles, so it is hard for me to stay up sometimes. “I’vebeeninitnowforaboutayear.It’sthe

bestthingI’veeverdoneinmy life. “I enjoyed it right away. There was a learning curve for me, especially when it came time to try and control the puck and balance myself all at the same time. “With sled hockey everything is done with the hands and your arms.” Ohar admits that he has had his fair share of adjust-ments with life since his accident. “This has been a great outlet for me,” continued Ohar. “I also do hand cycling. “It’salsobeengreattobeonthisteam.I’vegotten to meet a lot of other veterans who have worse injuries than I do. “IthinkI’mdoingprettywell.Ihavehalfmybody working. “Therearealotofguysaroundwhoaren’tsofortunate.” Ohar has a very interesting thought on life. “I’maChristianandIbelievethatevery-

thing happens for a reason,” stated Ohar. “This was a real hiccup in my life. “Youjusttryandfindyourwayand see what works foryou.Youtrytostay strong. “The stronger I am, the less of a burden I am.” Ohar’swifeandbiggest supporter, Jenny,hasseenthedif-ference sled hockey has madeinherhusband’slife. “The veterans hospital had called and askedDanielifhewasinterested in playing hockey,” commented Jenny.“SolastJanuaryhecameoutforhisfirsttime on the ice. “Heimmediatelycame alive. In my esti-mation, this is the best thingthattheVAcouldhave ever done, collab-orating with the Sabres andNationalFuel. “Justbeingaroundthe guys has been great.

They all encourage each other. “The minute he hits the ice, he is smiling from eartoear.Andhisskilllevelisstillgrowing. “Heisanamazinghumanbeing.Togetout

there and skate around the way he does, using his arms to move with and shoot the puck with. “Heismyhero.I’mamazedathowstrongandconfidentheisontheice. “In everyday life, things can be tough at times for him. Butputhimoutontheiceand he is an entirely different person. “It helps him get through thosetoughdays.Idon’tknowwhere he gets his strength from. “It’sajoytowatchhimcome alive on that ice. It makes it all worthwhile.” AccordingtoPage,theSabres vet hockey programs are growing faster than antici-

pated. “We knew there were a lot of vets out there, ones who could play stand-up hockey and oth-erswhocouldplaysled,”saidPage.“Butwehadenoughthatwecouldfieldtwoteams. “AndwithvetslikeDan,heisoneofthosesuc-cessstories.Hehasreallycaughtonwiththegameand really enjoys playing it and being around the team. “Iknowthatwiththesuccesswe’vehadin

Buffalo,wehavebecome a great exampleforothercities who want teams to follow. Andwe’reveryproud of that ac-complishment. “Forsomething that started a little over a year ago to grow

soquicklyisamazing.Andthentohave30athletestogoDallasTexasfourmonthsafterourprogramstartedandfieldtwoteams,I’veneverseenthatbefore. “Finally,tohavetheSabresandNationalFueljump in with their generosity, that pulled everything together for us. It was just what we needed.” ItwasPagewhocametotheVeteranAffairsOfficeinBuffaloandmetwithPamelaKaznowski. “Normcametomyofficeoneday,”remem-beredKaznowski.“Wemet,wediscussedandwetalked. “Those talks led to other meetings and before you knew it we have what you see here today. We’venowactuallyhadcloseto100comethroughour doors asking about hockey. “Alotofthishasbeendonebywordofmouth.One veteran knows another veteran and it just keeps growing. “I work with the vets as their recreation thera-pist. “ThishasprovenonceagainthatBuffaloisahockey town. It is just a wonderful opportunity for our vets to take part in.”

Hockey is Therapy! by Randy Schultz

Buffalo Sabres Alumni Rick Dudley welcomes Sabes Sled Team to the ice with Daniel Ohar

first in line, wearing Number 11. (Photo by Janet Schultz)

“This has proven once again that

Buffalo is a hockey town.” --

Norm Page

AROUND THE ASSOCIATIONS / 13

Around the AssociationsBy Michael Mroziak, Thomas Morris Jr., Janet Schultz

Dynamo Take Silver

byKathyGriffithsSpecialtoWNYHockeyReportSubmittedPhoto

TheDynamoHarrowHockeyTeamcappedoffanexcitingspringsea-sonbytakingthesilvermetalinSt.Catherines.Whatmakesthisteamsoextraordinary,besidestheirincredibleseasontheyhad,isthatthe

teamisthecombinationoftrulyelite2003playersfromOhio,NewYork,SouthernOntarioandToronto,Canada.CoachKennethM.Franasiakstated“These young men came together and truly bonded as a team. This was a great opportunity for young hockey players to play with their peers from throughoutNorthAmericainaverycompetitiveelitelevelplay.” This tournament is one of the most prestigious youth hockey tournaments inNorthAmericafeaturingthetopteamsacrosstheworld.Over100teamstraveledtoSouthernOntarioinAprilfor3daysofexcitinghockeycompeti-tion.TheDynamoTeamimpressivelyskatedtheirwayintothefinalswherethey secured a Silver medal with outstanding performances. What is even moreimpressiveisthattheydiditwithatotalof10players. TheHarrowSpringprogramwillallowplayerstoplaytogetherthrough-outNorthAmerica.Ourcoachingstaffdidatremendousjobfromourskillscoach(RickFerroni)totheGoalieandAssistantCoach. CoachKenFranasiaksaid“Wearevery,veryproudofourboys.Wehadafabulousseasonandtrulylookforwardtonextspring.Toseewhattheseremarkable eight and nine year old young men can do is a true testament to their hard work and dedication. Theentirecoachingstaffisextremelyproudaswellastheentireorga-nization.Theseboyshaveamazingskillsandheart.Theirhardworkanddrivemadeitarealpleasuretowatchandwe’reproudtobepartofsuchanexcitingseason.Wearealreadyintheprocessofactivelypreparingfornextseason.” TheprogramrunsfromApriltothebeginningofJune.Theywillplay3-4tournaments,allinsouthernOntarioandhomeicewillbeattheGalaCenterinNiagaraFalls,Ontario.However,practiceicewillbeinalocationthatisconvenientforall.Theprogramwillbesimilartolastyear’sandconsistofabroadspectrumofcoachesfromtheU.S.andCanadafocusingonskilldevelopment, team play and some good old-fashioned hockey fun. Theteamisholdingaskate/tryoutonWednesday,December12that4:45p.m.atHydeParkArena.Thecostis$10perplayer. Additionalinformationisavailableatwww.harrowspringhockey.com.

Buffalo Regals OnJanuary19,20and21theBuffaloRegals2003teamwillbehosting10teamsinaSuperSeriesTournament.TeamswillbevisitingfromDallas,Phoe-nix,London(Ont),Mississaugua,Pittsburgh,NewJerseyandPhiladelphia.LocalteamsplayingincludetheWestSenecaWings,RegalsandRochester.ThehighlightofthistournamentwillbeDallasandPhoenixplayingtheirtour-namentgameagainsteachotherattheoutdoorrinkinEastAurora.AllothergameswilltakeplaceatHolidayTwinRinks. TheRegalshostedaSuperSeriesearlierthismonthwithteamsrankedinthetop20inthenationfromtheUSandCanada.ThelocalteamswerecoachedbyMichaelPecaandtheColoradoteambyJoeSakic. TheBuffaloRegalsaretheonlyUSteaminhistorytobeallowedentryintotheOMHA. ThePepsiKids1/2iceleague,sponsoredbyPepsiColawillbeginsoonwith12to16teamsofbeginners.OneofthelargestspringleaguesintheU.S.,DippinDotshad100teamslastseason.

Canandaigua ThispastspringtheCanandaiguaSchoolBoardcutCAVarsityHockeyfrom the budget. It was reinstated for this season but the future is uncertain. In an attempt to ensure the program is there to stay, a group of concerned people formed“FriendsofCanandaiguaHockey”toprovidesupportfortheyearstocome. This group will hold two fundraisers annually. ThefirstistheFriendsofMarthaSvirchevGathering,aspecialeventthatwillbeheldattheNewYorkWineandCulinaryCenter,800SouthMainStreet,Canandaigua.Costis$40perpersonandincludesNYSproducedwine,beerandfoodwithseveralvendorssetupthroughoutthefirstfloortoservepatrons.Therewillbemusicandaraffle.Ticketsarelimitedto250andwillbesoldonafirstocme,firstservebasis.MarthawasahugesupporterofCAHockey,cheeringontheteamateverygame.Shepassedawayunexpectedlyin2006.Inhermemory,herfamilydonatedfundstobuildthevarsitylockerroom,oneofthenicestinthearea,accordingtotheCanandaiguaHockeyAssn. Thegroupwillalsoholda50/50MegaRaffleandaGiftBasketRaffle. CheckouttheCanandaiguaHockeyAssn.websitefordetails. CanandaiguaisalsoholdingaregistrationfortheCanadaiguaKnights’2012-13Girls10U/12Uprogram.Birthyears2000orlater.Itisopentogirlswithbasictoadvancedhockeyskills.FirstpracticeisJanuary5,Noonto1p.m.

Jamestown Lakers Hockey TheSportInternationalHockeyAcademywillbereturningtotheJames-townSavingsBankArenaDecember28and29fortheirWinterClinicTour.Thisisforyouthplayers,ages6to14years.SIHAwillofferatwo-day,three-hour clinic, with emphasis on forward stride, backwards skating, passing, shootingandone-on-onetechniques.Foradditionalinformationvisisthttp://siha.comorall1-800-724-6658.

Rochester Youth Hockey CongratulationstoDaveMaksymiuforbeingnamedCoachforthe2012EasternJuniorEliteProspectsAll-StarGame.DaveisalongtimeRYHcoach,winningaStateChampionshipwiththeRHYMidgetAAAin2006.HeisamastercertifiedcoachthroughUSAHockeyandservedasanevaluatorfortheUSAHockeySelectFestival.InadditiontocoachingtheAAAU!6thisseason,DavecoachesRYH’sMiteA2team. RochesterYouthHockeypartneredwithMaksymumHockeytofieldafullseason16UteamintheEasternJuniorEliteProspectsLeagueforthisseason.TheteamqualifiedfortheNYSChampionshipsindramaticformbybeatingacross-twonrival6-3inthestateplaydowns.Theycurrentlyholdthehighestwinning perentage in their respective leaague.

Like many teenagers his age who have ever playedhockeyatanylevel,MarkMetzgerdreamed of one day playing professional

hockeyintheNationalHockeyLeague.Unfortu-nately a major groin injury cut short those dreams. Now,at19,Metzgeriscombininghishockeyexperi-enceswithotherreallifeexpe-riences.Hehaschanneledtheminto a writing a book, “Winner orLoser,”andapublicspeak-ing career. “Mark’sinspirationforwriting his book came to him afterhavingexperiencedmanyofthedifficultiesandhardchoices a youth has to make duringhisschoolyears.Havingbeenavictimofbullying,Markwas motivated to start reach-ing out to other classmates who themselves were considered “losers” and less fortunate or picked on by others. “Hiscaringattitudeex-panded beyond school into his life where he contin-uestoapplytheBiblicalprincipleshelearnedandisstill learning with his relationships with his family, his friends and others.” Thatexplanationcanbefoundonthebackcoverofhisbook.ButMetzgerexplaineditevenmore while enjoying a cup of coffee in a local Tim Horton’s. “IbeganplayinghockeywhenIwasabout11,”recalledMetzger,anativeofBuffalowhogrewup in nearby Tonawanda and still resides there. “I playedfortheClarenceMustangs,theBuffaloBi-sons,theBuffaloStarsandfinallywiththeBuffaloJr.Sabres. “FollowingthatIgotatryoutwithateamupintheQuebecMajorJuniorHockeyLeague(QMJHL)andplayedthereforacoupleofexhibitiongames.Icame back from there and immediately got a tryout withaJuniorAprospectteaminSouthernOntario. “That’swhereIhurtmygroinprettybad.Igave up my hopes of playing pro hockey at that point.” Astheoldsayinggoes,“whenonedoorclosesanotheroneopens.”Whichisexactlywhathap-penedtoMetzger. “Ifirststartedsettingmysitesoncoaching,”saidMetzger,agraduateofTonawandaHighSchool.“Firstitwaswithskatinginstructionand

formedaschoolcalled“PrecisionSkatingandSkills.” “I’vealsoworkedwithacoupleofdifferentyouthhockeyorganizationsliketheNiagaraJr.PurpleEaglesandWheatfieldBlades.Plus,I’m

running some hock-ey camps for kids, especially during the summer.” Then came the book. “Beinginschool,Isaw kids get picked on a lot,” remem-beredMetzger.“It’ssad to say but it hap-pens in hockey too,

withhazingandthingslike that. “I should make it clear that the game of hockey is a physical one. What happens on the ice is part of the game. “It’swhathappensofftheiceiswherethereareproblems. I had it happen because I was usually one of the youngest as well as smallest players on most of my teams. “Iwouldhearthingslike,‘youshouldn’tbehere’asawaytodiscouragemefromcontinuing.ButIlearnedearlyonthatyoushouldbelieveinyourself and move on from there. “I wanted to reach out to people in a good or positiveway.That’swhenIbeganwritingthebook. “There are a lot of hockey and school stories in the book. I go with the theme of never giving up and trying a little harder in each chapter. “I actually dealt with bullying in the book before it became a major topic of discussion in the public. The book actually came out at about the same time that bullying became a major problem in schools. “So you might say timing was everything with my book.” Metzgeralsousedhisfamilyexperiencesasaninspiration in the book.

“MyfamilyhasalwaysbeenoneoffaithandthatisjustthewayIwasbroughtup,”continuedMetzger,thesonofGaryandNancyMetzger.“Myfamilyalways believed in the fact that you have to be good

to other people and give something back to them. “MyparentshavereallymoldedmeintothepersonIamtoday.ButI’veusedtheexperiencesofmygrandmother,Lillianandgrandfather,Clyde’sexperiencesofover90yearsof life to use as a reference for my-self.” Sowhereisitfromhere? “I’mheadedinahockeydirec-tion,”answeredMetzger,whohastwosisters,JulieandJenna.“Hockeyisapassion for me right now.

“I’vealsogoneoutandhavedonesomepublicspeaking in middle schools as well as high schools. “WherethattakesmetoI’mnotreallysureyet.I just want to help kids become better people and believe in themselves. MaybethebestquotethatsumsupMetzgerandhisbeliefscomesfromtheDr.Seussbook,“Oh,ThePlacesYou’llGo.” “So…beyournameBuxbaumorBixbyorBrayorMordecaiAliVanAllenO’Shea,you’reofftoGreatPlaces!Todayisyourday! “Yourmountainiswaiting.So…getonyourway!” Metzgerisonhisandheishopingtohelpoth-ers get on theirs.”

Visit Our Websitewww.wnyhockeyreport.com

FEATURE / 14

“I would hear things like, ‘you shouldn’t be here’ as a way to discourage me from continuing. But I learned early on that you should believe in yourself and move on from there.”

--Author Mark Metzger

Young Author Shares His Experiences with Bullying And Encourages Young

Players to Believe In Themselves!ByRandySchultz

FEATURE / 15

Buffalo Hosts USA Hockey Sled Classic By Randy Schultz Photos by Janet Schultz

The third annual USA Hockey Sled Classic, pre-sented by the National

Hockey League and hosed by the Buffalo Sabres, took place at Northtown Center at Amherst in Williamsville from November 9-11. The event was part of November’s “Come Play Hockey Month,” a joint effort of USA Hockey and the NHL. Each of the 14 com-peting teams were affiliated with NHL clubs including the Sabres, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hur-ricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. The weekend culminated with the Nov 11 championship games. In the ‘A’ Division, the Stars took home the title by defeating the host Sabres, 3-2. The ‘B’ Division crown went to the Capitals, who beat the Hurricanes, 6-0 in the title contest. Norm Page, a USA Sled Hockey rep, who also works with Hasek’s Heroes, coordinated this event. “Western New York has been a hotbed for sled hockey,” said Page. “This tournament was supposed to be held in Chicago. “But they had some problems with the ice. I got a call about eight weeks ago asking if I thought Buffalo could host the tournament instead of Chicago. “We just scrambled to make this happen because we didn’t want to lose this event. I went over the people at Northtown and asked them if they thought they could provide enough ice for us to play 35 games over a three-day period of time. “Thanks to Brad Waltz and Erik Guzdek, the duo coordinated everything for us. They talked to other people and soon things were coming together.” “Amherst Youth hockey helped us quite

a bit, especially moving time and other things around for us. And they made it happen. “Surprisingly, instead of having 10 teams like we originally thought we were going to have, we had 14. “We also had two teams this year that were made up entirely of military veterans. One was the Buffalo Sabres Warriors team and the other represented the Washington

Capitals. They faced each other in one of the games.” While it was a week-end of competitive hockey, it also had some interesting side stories going on. “It is always a great time just to be playing hockey,” com-mented Mason Newbold, who resides in Lock-port and played for the

Sabres ‘A’ Division sled hockey team. “But this year was a little different. “There was a team representing the New York Rangers. Most were from

the New York City area. “Many had been hit by Hur-ricane Sandy and had sus-tained damage to their homes. I found out from some of them that there were a couple of players who

didn’t make the trip because they lost their home. “For most of them, this was a chance just to get away from their situation for the weekend and

think about something else. While they didn’t win many games, I think just being here helped.” Kathleen Garvey played on the Buf-falo Sabres Veterans team. She found the weekend very entertaining. “You get to meet a lot of new friends,” remarked Garvey, a native of Buf-

falo. “You have people coming in from all parts of the country. “We talk to a lot of the players from other teams and find out things about them. We make a lot of new friends that way. “And we’re really here to have some fun and play hockey. That’s really what this is all about.”

Norm Page watches the Sled Hockey action at Bud Bakewell arena.

Buffalo Sabres Goalie Thomas Kintner makes a save.

Kathleen Garvey heads down the ice.

Time for a Rest!

Mason Newbold fights for the puck as the Sabres took on the NY Rangers.

Buffalo Sabres Jeff DeGlopper takes on one of the NY Rangers.

“We’re really here to have

some fun and play hockey. That’s really

what this is all about.” --

Kathleen Garvey

NIAGARA After his 27-save effort against Army on Nov. 9, Carsen Chubak became the first Niagara goalie to register three consecutive shutouts. Chubak is also now tied for third in NCAA history with three consecutive shut-outs, in the company of goalies such as Jimmy Howard and Ryan Miller. The following day, at the sixth minute mark of the second stanza against the Black Knights, Chubak found himself again making history, earning the record for most consecu-tive shutout minutes (258.32) by an NU goalie. Chubak took the top spot from Greg Gardner who held the record with 232.38 minutes. As a result, for the fourth time in five weeks this season junior Carsen Chubak was named Atlantic Hockey Association Goalie of the Week. He was also named Atlantic Hockey Association Goaltender of the Month for Octo-ber. Senior Giancarlo Iuorio recorded his first career hat trick against UConn November 2nd and was named AHA Player of the Week for the period ending November 4th. He had six points total over the two-game set. Freshman forward Matt Chartrain netted his first collegiate goal against UConn No-vember 3rd. Classmate Hugo Turcotte earned his first goal as a Purple Eagle November 17th versus Robert Morris. The Purple Eagles entered the next to last game of the first half on a nation-best 11 game unbeaten streak and ranked 18th in the nation.

CANISIUS Kyle Gibbons scored just 12 seconds into

the game against RIT Novem-ber 10th, the fastest goal for Canisius to start a contest in school history. The previous standard was 17 seconds, set by Rob Martin against Holy Cross on Nov. 3, 2001. In the same contest, junior Patrick Sullivan (Derby)

led the Griffs to their first victory at RIT since 2007 with a personal-best three point night, netting his first career multi-goal game–in-cluding the game-winning third-period tally–and adding an assist. Junior defenseman Dustin McKellar netted his first collegiate goal October 20th against Western Michigan in his 37th career game.Former Buffalo Sabres forward Adam Mair, a 12-year veteran of the NHL, has joined the Canisius coaching staff as Director of Player Development. Mair played with four NHL franchises–Toronto (1998-01), Los Angeles (2001-02), Buffalo (2002-10) and New Jersey (2010-11). He helped three teams advance to conference finals, while helping the Sabres win the Presidents’ Trophy in 2007. Robert DeGregorio, Atlantic Hockey Com-missioner, announced Canisius sophomore,

Matthew Grazen (East Amherst), received an additional 7-games suspension as part of the Atlantic Hockey Supplemental Discipline policy for his checking from behind major penalty on Air Force’s junior, George Michalke on Thursday, October 25. After sitting out the first five through mid-November, the final two games come in the February 15-16 rematch with Air Force.

RIT Dan Schuler (Webster) (pictured below) tallied the first goal of his collegiate career November 17th against Holy Cross. The two home loses November 9-10 to Mercyhurst and Canisius were historic for the program. RIT has now lost three straight home games overall for the first time since losing four straight during the 2005-06 season. The Tigers also failed to record a point during an Atlantic Hockey Association home weekend series for the first time and have lost three home games in league play for the first time since joining in 2006-07. Sophomore forward Brad Reid scored his first collegiate goal in RIT’s 2-2 tie at AIC No-vember 2nd. Goaltender Josh Watson made 19 saves to record his first collegiate shutout, 3-0 at Amer-ican International on November 3rd.Senior defenseman Chris Saracino played in his 100th collegiate game November 17th at Holy Cross. Former RIT forward Steve Pinizzotto net-ted his first two goals of the season November 6th with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. They

mark his first tallies since missing all of last sea-son with an injury. RIT is a combined minus-85 this season as of Decem-ber 6th (13 games). In comparison, RIT was a combined

plus-378 over the last three years, including plus 187 in 2009-10.

AREA NOTES:• Robert Morris freshman goaltender Terry Shafer (Pen-field) was named Atlantic Hockey Associa-tion Rookie of the Week for the period ending November 11th. He picked up his first career victory and shutout with the team’s 4-0 victory over Canisius with a 24-save performance to give the team their first victory in Buffalo since October 7, 2006.

GENESEO The Knights ended the first half of the conference schedule tied for second place with Plattsburgh and a 6-1-1 record. Jack Caradonna, Zachary Vit and Rich Manley were in double figures in scoring with 18 different players scoring at least one goal over the first 12 games. The team had al-lowed two goals or fewer in each of their last four games with Adam Rubeniuk and Bryan Haude in net.Sophomore Justin Scharfe (Webster) netted his first goal of the year and fifth career tally November 17th against Potsdam. David Ripple and Rubeniuk were named SUNYAC Rookie and Goaltender of the Week respectively for the week ending November 18th. Ripple totaled five points, including a career-high four points in a win over Potsdam. Rubeniuk stopped 43 of 45 shots (93.3 percent) in Geneseo’s two wins. Freshman Devon Rice made his first collegiate goal count—a game-win-ner in the final minute of regulation to beat nationally ranked and previously undefeated Plattsburgh November 16th.

FREDONIA The Jekyll & Hyde season for the Blue Devils continues. After winning their first three conference games while allowing just two goals, Fredonia dropped their next four allowing almost six goals per game. Senior Mat Hehr picked up where he left off last season offensively with a team-high four goals through 11 games with five underclass-men right behind him on the team point chart including freshmen Chad Bennett and Taylor Bourne. A 4-2 win on home ice against Elmira De-cember 7th ended the skid and marked head coach Jeff Merideth’s 360th career win.The team has a rescheduled home date with Division I transition Penn State on December 11th—a game postponed due to the east coast hurricane Halloween week.

WNY MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY--

by Warren Kozireski

MEN’S COLLEGIATE / 16

MEN’S COLLEGIATE / 17

BUFFALO STATE Losing three of their first six conference games had the Ben-gals looking for answers especially defensively after allowing an aver-age of over three goals per against SUNYAC opponents. Upperclassmen were pac-ing the offense below team leader and sophomore Nick Melligan (Sanborn)(pictured with goalie). Mike Zanella’s (Ithaca) 11 goals had tied for first in the country. Senior Kyle Whipple (Tonawanda) scored his first goal of the season

November 17th against Cortland.

BROCKPORT The Golden Eagles had three wins in-conference, but had been shutout four times in their five SUNYAC defeats.

Their freshmen were among their best players in goaltender Jared Lockhurst, who missed seven games with an ankle injury, which coincided with a five game winless skid. He sat second and fourth in the confer-ence in save percentage and goals against

respectively.First year players Jesse Facchini and Shane Cavalieri were tied for the team scoring lead with defense-man Mike Hayward. Defenseman Chris Luker (Buffalo Jr. Sabres) picked up his first collegiate point December 8th against Western New England.

MCC The Tribunes were piling up offense with 27 goals over the first five games in defense of the national title.Dan Going (Wilton) had two goals in a November 15th win over Broome CC, Dan Turgeon a hat trick November 11th against Hudson CC while Mike Boyd and John Papas (Irondequoit) each had three point games November 10th versus Hudson Valley.Boyd, Turgeon and Mark Woinicki were among the scoring leaders in the nation with goaltender Tom Dehr (Varysburg) third in goals against and save percentage.The Tribunes entered the break ranked first in the NJCCA poll and rid-ing a nine-game winning streak.

ECC The Kats were being paced offensively by Eric Mueller (Hamburg) and Mike Shumate (Niagara Falls), but stumbled into early December with a pair of losses to Hudson Valley dropping them to 6-5; though they were still ranked fifth in the NJCCA poll.

(Red Bull Continued from Page 11)DanielBergeson–stumbledearlyandlostallhismomentumhehadgained,with the other skaters having a smooth race, he could not recover and ended his day.

Semi-Finals CameronNaasz–AgainCameronandAdamHorstfinishone-twosend-ingbothskatersintotheFinals,againstLastyear’sRedBullCrashedIceChampionKyleCroxall(CAN)andKillianBraun(SUI).

Finals CameronNaasz–Cameronledforamajorityoftheraceandallthewayuptothesecondlastturnwhereothershadtheircompetition,KyleCroxallgottheinsidelineonNaasz.BothskatershitthewallandwithKyleinfrontheacceleratedfirst.Cameronwasathismercy,notbeingabletogainenoughspeedintothelastturnanddownjump,intothefinish.

On to St. Paul WiththenextstoponthetourSt.Paul,MNyoucanlookforlivecover-ageofthateventandareviewoftheNiagaraFallseventonthenetworksofNBC.“Igavemyselfanicestarthere.Igettogobacktomyhometown,”saidNa-asz,“IgetreallystressedoutbeforetheracesandIfeellikegoinghomeandhavingallmyfriendsandfamilythereI’llbealittlemorerelaxedandmaybenexttimeIwon’tletKylepassmeinthesecondlastcorner.”“St.Paul’sgonnabebigthisyear.Ihaveseenwhatthetracklookslike,”Cameronstated,“biggesttroubleinSt.Paulforeveryonelastyearwasthedoublejumpatthebottomofthetrack.Thisyearthey’regonnahavefourbumpsthereinsteadoftwo,they’reraisingthestartinggatehigher,it’sgonnabe a faster track.”“Ihavethepotential(offinishingfirstinqualifying),Ijustneedtoputittogether. I just hope I need to repeat what I did here,” he concluded.AdamGreenaddedhisownnoteforSt.Paul,“IcertainlywouldneedtodowellinSt.Paul,that’scomingupnext,butrightnowisabonusforme,Iwasn’texpectingtobehereaboutthreemonthsago,getintunefortheseasonhere, get used to the downhill here and then I will go back home for two monthstoSt.MarkandSt.Paulwhereitwillbemoreofthatdiresituation.”ForthosewhocomeouttotheRedBullCrashediceevents,Adamhasanote,“EnjoyIt!Therearesomanypeoplethatcomeouthere,it’sanawesomeat-mosphere.That’swhatIamheretodoisenjoyeverything,takeitinandjustbehappy.It’sagreateventtobeinvolvedwith.”

Tim Horton Classic To Benefit Hasek’s Heroes

by Nick Penberthy, FounderTim Horton Backyard Classic

The Tim Horton Backyard Classic, a 3 on 3 charity ice hockey tourna-ment is gaining significant traction in the Western New York hockey community. The tournament , now in its 5th year, has raised over

$20,000 and featured players such as Justin Bailey (OHL Kitchener Rang-ers), Andrew Poturalski (University of New Hampshire), Parker Gahagen (Buffalo Jr. Sabres and NYS High School Hockey MVP), Matt Nuttle (USHL Youngstown Phantoms) and Pat Polino (USHL Chicago Steel), alongside many other Buffalo Jr. Sabres players. This year the proceeds will go to Hasek’s Heroes, an organization which allows children of low-income families to play hockey at no cost to the fam-ily as well as supporting them off the ice with their education. The money will be used to build an educational center in one of the ice rinks owned by Hasek’s Heroes to assist in not only the development of the kids from Hasek’s Heroes but those from South Buffalo as well. This year the tournament will be centralized at the Rose Garden (2753 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221) on January 12th and 13th from 9 a.m. to approximately 8 p.m. They are expecting 96 teams playing over a two-day period on four outdoor ice rinks. There are four divisions (Middle School, High School, College, and Adult) each having 24 teams. Through the help of major sponsors such as Tim Hortons, the Buffalo Sabres, City Fence, New Era, The Mac Groups, they are looking to raise an additional $15,000 this year. If you would like to register either go to our Facebook page www.face-book.com/backyardclassic or www.timhortonsbackyardclassic.com . There is a $125 registration fee for a team of 3 players and 1 goalie. All partici-pants are guaranteed three 20-minute games and an official Tim Hortons Backyard Classic T-shirt.

Buffalo State

The Bengals are off to a 4-6-1 record as they move into the

holidays. Leading scorers are Courtney Carnes with 4 goals/6 assists; Kara Goodwin, 3 goals/5 assists; Lauren Mallo 1 goal/6 assists and Buffalo’s Nikki Kirchberger with 4 goals and 2 assists, including two goals in a 3-2 victory over Cortland. Kara Goodwin scored with 50 seconds left in the third period to take the opening game against the Red Dragons into overtime. The Bengal outshot Cortland 25-21 with Goalie Jordan Lee making 20 saves. In game two Buf-falo outshot Cortland 23-19 with Lee having 17 saves. It was Pink the Rink on December 7 and 8 with Jean Galbo taking the ceremonial puck drop on Friday night. Galbo is an 8-year cancer survivor. The Bengals also held a bake sale and sold tee shirts with proceeds going to breast cancer research. The Bengals lost two games to Plattsburgh prior to the Cortland doubleheader. Carnes was named ECAC Player of the Week for November 13 after leading the team to a pair of conference wins over Chatham. She had a goal and an assist in the 4-1 victory and a goal and assist in a 5-0 shutout. Freshman Nikki Kirchberger was named ECAC West Rookie of the Week for Dec. 9 after her performance in two games against Cort-land. Buffalo returns to the ice January 5 hosting Adrian College (Michigan) at 8 p.m.

RIT

In their first year as a D1 pro-gram, the Tigers are 6-9-2 after

dropping the last five games, including two on their trip to North Dakota.

They have had many highlights in this history-making season. The team headed west to take on North Da-kota at Ralph Engelstad Arena on November 30 and December 1. North Dakota is ranked eighth in the USCHO.com Division 1 poll and come to face the Tigers with a 5-game winning streak. The Tigers put forth a valiant effort but lost both contests with 3-2 scores. Sophomore Goaltender Ali Binnington was named the CHA Co-Goaltender of the Week for November 19 after stopping all 18 shots she faced against Brown in a 2-0 victory. She made a great skate save early in the second, then stopped a partial breakaway late in the frame. She is 4-1-1 on the season with a 1.88 goals against average and a .914 save percent-age. This is her first weekly honor this season and in her career. Leading the score board for the Tigers are Captain Kim Schlattman with 8 goals and 2 as-sists; Ariane Yokoyama with 3 goals/7 assists; and Kourtney Kunichika, 3 goals/6 assists.

Before breaking for the holidays, RIT takes on Lindenwood. The Tigers return to the ice January 4 and 5 against to face CHA rival Rob-ert Morris.

Cortland

The Red Dragons leave December with a 1-9-1 record and return to their home ice on January 8 against Hamilton College at 4 p.m. Cortland ended their season at Buffalo State with a 1-1 tie and a 3-2 loss. The Red Dragon’s freshman goalie, Deanna Meunier, was named ECAC West Women’s Ice Hockey Rookie of the Week for December 2. Meunier stopped 66 of 69 shots on goal and posted a 1.50 goals against average in two contests over Potsdam. She turned away 30 of 31 shots in a 6-1 victory over the Bears and the following day registered 36 saves in a 2-0 loss. On the season Meunier has registered a .927 save percentage and a 2.91 GAA.

Cornell

The Big Red don’t return to the ice until January 12 when

they go to face Northeastern. They are 10-3 on the season with Brianne Jenner leading the scor-ing with 9 goals and 10 assists. She is followed closely by Jillian

Saulnier with 5 goals and 13 assists and Lauri-ane Rougeau with one goal and 11 assists. Jenner racked up a career high six points in a game against Colgate earning her ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors for Novem-ber 20. This was Jenner’s third honor, earning it twice last season and Rookie of the Week three times during her freshman year. Freshman Taylor Woods, who had five points in two games against Colgate, was named the league’s Rookie of the Week. Cornell rebounded after losing to St. Law-rence on a Friday night and then with blocked shots and excellent penalty killing beat St. Lawrence 4-2 the next day. Jessica Campbell had the game-winner after the Big Red killed off nine penalties and blocked 18 shots. University of Buffalo The Lady Ice Bulls, who play in the Ameri-can Collegiate Hockey Association D1, ACAH program were 4-8-1 as they moved into De-

cember. The team is off until Janu-ary 18 when they will take on Niagara University’s club team--featuring a number of their former D1 players. They will then be on-the-road to Vermont to play in the Vermont Catamont. Leading the score board is Chrissy Wolcott with 14 goals and 4 assists; Katelyn Botewell, 10 goals and 2 assists. In Goal Melinda Reek as a 1-3-1 record with a 4.5 GAA and .86 save per-centage and Goalie Chelsea Petrs has played in 7 games recording a .855 save percentage and 4.17 GAA. On January 18 they will face the Niagara University Women’s Club team at Dwyer Arena, NU, at 8 p.m.Their next home appearance will be February 1 at 9 p.m. when the University of Massachu-setts faces off at Northtowns Arena at 9 p.m.

Niagara University Women’s Club Ice Hockey

The Niagara University Women are 9-0-1 on the season after a 9-4 win and 4-4 tie with

Ohio State’s team. They return to the ice at home on January 18 against cross-town rivals the University of Buffalo Lady Ice Bulls. Lauren Fontaine has logged 28 goals and six assists on the season, followed by Natash Fryer with 24 goals and 4 assists. In goal is Danene Stevens who after 10 games has a 2.50 GAA.

WNY Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation

Well the season opened with all seven inaugural teams returning to the ice. The League is still asking high

schools to take a look at fielding a team or join-ing with another school district to bring more girl’s varsity ice hockey to WNY. After 13 games (12/7/12) it’s Monsignor Martin in the lead with 3 wins, no losses and 6 points. They are followed by Williamsville (3-1-0), Orchard Park/Frontier (2-2-0), West Seneca (1-1-0), Kenmore (1-2-0), Amherst/Sweet Home (1-2-0) and Lancaster (0-0-0). These girls are playing with a lot of heart, some with little experience and mostly with passion for the game. Lancaster and West Seneca are carrying short benches and several teams are carrying only one goalie. So what do you do when you have one goalie and she goes down? Well in the case of Amherst/Sweet Home in a game against West Seneca, another player goes in while another player goes to the dressing room to suit up to serve as goalie for the rest of

Women’s Hockey Report

by Janet SchultzPhotos by Janet Schultz

WOMEN’S HOCKEY / 18

WOMEN’S HOCKEY / 19

Buffalo Bisons Report TheBuffaloBisonscontinuetoholdontothetopspotasfarasTierIorganizationsareconcernedinNewYorkState.TheBuffaloBisonsfieldgirlsteamsatallfiveagelevels-U10,U12,U14,U16andU19.Allteamsmaintainaminimumofatop20rankintheNationattheTierIlevel. TheU10BisonsareaobviouslyyoungteamwithabrightfutureundertheleadershipofDavidCarlon.TheteamparticipatesintheLowerLakesFemaleHockeyLeaguethatplaysinSouthernOn-tario. The team has played in a number of tourna-mentsthisyearincludingtheBauerInvitationalinDetroitlastmonth.Daveisalsoassociatedwithaspring/summerprogramthataddsadditionalskill development for those kids that are looking foralittleextraintheoff-season.TheBisonslookforwardtohavingthisnextgroupofgirlscomethrough the ranks of top hockey in the region. Our U12teamcontinuestothrivewiththecoachingofMattRobinsonwhoisinhisthirdyearwiththeBisons.TheU12teamisasolidparticipantattheTierIlevelandalsoplaysintheLLFHLinSouth-ernOntarioandplayedintheBauerevent.Theteamiscurrentlyranked16thintheNation.

TheU14teamunderthecoachingofScottWelch is off to another successful year and is cur-rentlyranked7thintheNation.AfteranovertimelossinthechampionshipgameattheStoneyCreekShowcaseandgettingtothequarterfinalsattheBauerInvitationaltheteamhasgoneintowhattheyconsideraquietperiodasmanyofthegirlsareparticipating in the local high school leagues. The team made the decision to cut back on the schedul-ing of practices and games so that the players can play on their high school teams and also tend to theirstudies.Forthoseplayersthatwantorneedadditionalice,theorganizationprovidestwoop-tionalweeklypracticesessions.TheU14teamwillkickbackupfortheConnecticutPolarBearTour-namentovertheDecemberholidaybeforepushingfortheStatetournamentinMarchthatSyracuseishosting. TheU16teamisbeingledbyDaveSmithwhen he is free from his duties of coaching the CanisuisCollegeMen’sVarsityHockeyTeam.TheU16teamisalsoofftoasolidstartthisyearandhasparticipatedintheClevelandIgniteandtheManonRheumeInvitationalamongothers.TheU16’swillalsobeatthePolarBearovertheholi-day.TheU19teamisalsocoachedbyScottWelch

and is currently ranked 11thintheNation.TheU19teamhasalsogoneinto a similar split season mode to allow the girls to play for their high school teams and will participateinthePolarBear.TheU16andU19teamsarehostingtheStateChampionshipsinMarch. Ingeneral,allBisonsteamshaveaskatingskills session each week throughout the season and this additional attention with professional instruc-torsprovestobeextremelyvaluableinaplayer’sdevelopment.TheBisonsequallyprovideagoalieskillssessioneachweekwithBobJanosztakingthelead.Bobrunsanumberoflocalcampsandalsoisa professional goalie coach. TheUSAHockeyTierINationalChampion-shipsfortheU14,U16,andU19thisyearisbeingheldisSanJose,CAthefirstweekinApril.WehopethatallthreeoftheBisonsteamswillbefor-tunateenoughtorepresentNYSatthisprestigiousevent.

(Submitted by the Buffalo Bisons)

the game. Katz (Amherst/Sweet Home)Goalie Kara Rea was injured during the first period and taken off the ice by her coach and trainer. After bench discussion Casey Adimay went to the net while Missy Mallon went to the dressing room to suit up. In the end it was 9-7 in West Seneca’s favor but it was a hard-fought, goal-scoring and high-energy game which no one could have predicted the outcome. Two games have had to be rescheduled. The season opener of West Seneca vs Kenmore was postponed and a new date will be announced. The Monday, Dec. 10 game with Monsignor Martin vs Amherst/Sweet Home has been re-scheduled to January 7 at 3:50 p.m. at Holiday Twin Rinks due to the injured goalie. Some noteworthy news items include five sets of sisters playing for Orchard Park/Frontier under Coach Jim McCarthy and two sets of sisters at West Seneca with Coach Pete Tonsoline. And for those who want the really hold fashioned hockey try an outdoor game at the rink in East Aurora. The East Aurora Rink is historically significant because it is the ice surface that the first-ever NHL outdoor game was played on at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo between the Buffalo Sabres and Pitts-burgh Penquins. The next game scheduled for that rink is January 10 when Williamsville faces Lancaster at 4 p.m. Bundle up and bring your hot chocolate! The entire league schedule and standings can be found at www.girls4varsityicehockey.com. In addition to regular season play there will be the Section 6 Championship on Febru-ary 6, the New York State Tournament on Feb-

ruary 8 and 9 in Canton and the Federation Championship on February 15. Games are open to the public at no cost. Many of the teams are doing various fund-raisers through their Booster clubs or par-ents/friends. This is an ideal place to bring your girl teams and support girl’s hockey! Breaking News: Williamsville’s Sarah Scolnicki was named Super 7 Athlete of the Week for December 9.

WNY Girls Hockey Action......Ithaca held their Shooting Stars Tour-nament this week-end; with the Ithaca U19 team keeping their championship trophy at home. At the 16U Division it was Lysander; 14U: Troy; 12U, Amherst and 10U, Cazenovia. The 10U Caz team went undefeated in the tournament. This year’s Shooting Stars Tournament coin-cides with the 40th Anniversary of Tomkins Girl’s Hockey Associa-tion. ...Scott Then has been named coach of the Empire West Girl’s Ice Hockey Team. Info will be on their Facebook page.

Injured Goalie (above left) is tended to, temporary replacement comes in (above)

and Acting Goalie Missy Mallon(left) makes a save. (Photos by Janet Schultz)

Scenes from action in the WNY GVIH Federation games.

(Janet Schultz Photos)

Women’s Column Continued

FEATURE / 20

ItisaThursdaymorninginlateAugustatCaze-noviaRinkinBuffalo.Outsidethetemperaturesarehoveringaround75.

Inside the rink the temp isaroundfreezing.Profes-sionalgolferDudleyHartisseated at a table watching two of his children skating around the rink. So what is one of the top professional golfers in the world doing in a hockey rink onabright,sunnyAugustday?Shouldn’thebeplay-inggolf? “I love the game of hockey and my kids are involved in it,” answered Dudley.“Theywereaskedto come down to partici-pateinsomeiceskatingactivitieswiththeBuffaloShamrocks. “So I decided to tag along.” WhiletheRochesternativemayknowalotabout hockey and has even played it, there is no doubt that golf is where his heart is. “I grew up playing hockey in the Western NewYorkarea,”recalledthe44year-oldHart.“IplayedintheBuffaloSouthtownsarearightupuntilIwouldhavegoneintothePee-Weelevelofthegame. “That’swhenmyfamilymovedtotheMiami,Floridaarea.Thatkindofendedmyhockeycareer. “Iwasagoalieupuntilthattime.Mypassionforthesportcamefrommydad.HehadseasonticketsfortheBuffaloSabres.

“I grew up playing hockey in the winter and golf in the summer. Of course once I got toFloridamyhockeycareerwasfinishedand

Iplayedgolf12months a year. “I think that turned out to me a good move on my part,” he continued with a big smile. “I don’tknowhowfarI would have gone with my goaltending career.” Which is an understatement.Hartturnedproin1990andjoinedthePGATourin1991.Harthaswontwo

tournamentsonthePGATour,thefirstcomingin1996attheBellCanadianOpen. Thesecondwasatthe2000HondaClassic. Healsofinishedinathree-waytieforfirstinthe2004EDSByronNelsonChampionship,whichheandRobertDamronlostinaplayofftoSergioGarcia. AlthoughHarthaswononlytwoPGAtourna-ments, he is considered one of the most consistent playersontheTour.Hehasmorethanfourdozentop-10finishes,includingseveralsecondandthirdplacefinishes. AresidentofClarence,whileHartspendsagreat deal of time on the golf course, he still re-serves some time for the ice rink. “What I love about this game of hockey, and

what I have learned about the sport since I began playing it as a kid, is the type of athlete that plays thegame,”whoismarriedtowifeSuzanneandhavetriplets,Ryan,RachelandAbigail.“I’vegottentoknowalotofNHLplayers,interestinglyenough through golf. “Hockeyplayerslovetoplaygolf.Theclassi-estgroupofathletesI’veevermetarehockeyplay-ers.Hockeyisatrueteamsport. “That’swhyIlikethefactthatmykids(RyanandRachel)areinvolvedinthegame.It’sateamsport and you can learn so much by being on a team. “It’sagreatsporttostayactivewithinthewinter time. They have a great group of friends that they hang around with. “Mysonanddaughterjustcan’tgetenoughofit.” SowhywasHartagoalie?

(Continued on Page 23)

Golfer Dudley Hart and His

Love of Hockeyby Randy Schultz

Randy@wnyhockeyreport.com

Yes, Buffalo, there IS a hockey season!

Buffalo’s top Junior Hockey Program since 1975!

A proud member of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

See tomorrow’s stars today and support Buffalo’s top Junior Hockey Program, The Buffalo Jr. Sabres.All home games played at the Lexus Feature Rink, Northtown Center in Amherst.

Follow the team @ www.buffalojuniorsabres.comFind us @ BuffaloJrSabres

Tickets just:$7 Adults

$3 Students & Seniors

Upcoming Home Games:Tuesday, Dec. 18 7:30pm vs. Toronto Lakeshore PatriotsWednesday, Dec. 19 7:30pm vs. Toronto Jr. CanadiensWednesday, Jan. 2 7:30pm vs. Milton IcehawksMonday, Jan. 7 7:30pm vs. Burlington CougarsMonday, Jan. 15 7:30pm vs. Orangeville Flyers

SPONSORS / 21

HOCKEY MOM PUBLISHES

SECOND BOOK!By Janet Schultz

Syracuse Hockey Mom Christie Casciano has published the second

“Puck Hog” book. This time the hockey action includes some mystery in the most recog-nized town for hockey--Lake Placid.

“Haunted Hockey in Lake Placid” is an action-packed adventure for the puck hog and his team-mates. Just when they see victory, things begin falling apart. Sophia meets a stranger who seems to make miracles happen. Will another ‘miracle on ice’ take place in Lake Placid? Parents will find “The Puck Hog” series to contain messages to them and their children about self es-teem and making decisions themselves. Casciano’s books can be found at Barnes and Noble stores and through Amazon.com.

Casciano also has a website where she interacts with hockey parents on a varsity of topics. Go to www.thepuckhog.blogspot.com and become a fan on Facebook!

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Amherst, NY716.564.2273

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www.wnyhockeyreport.com

Author Christie Casciano, as a Hockey

Mom, fixing her daugh-ter’s stick. (Casciano

photo)

PUCCS, which stands forProgramforUn-derstandingChildhood

ConcussionandStroke,hostedits second annual hockey char-ity tournament Thanksgiving weekend. “The second annual PUCCScharityhockeytournament raised even more funds than last year and it was a tremendous success,” said Dr.EladLevy,professorofNeurosurgeryandRadiologyfortheUniversityatBuffaloNeurosurgery,Inc.andfound-erandpresidentofPUCCS.PUCCSraisedmorethan$100,000thankstogenerousdonorsfromWNYandbeyond. PUCCSwillusethemoneyraisedtoeducateathletes,coaches,parentsandothersaboutconcussionsandfundresearchtoallowexpertstobetterunder-stand and, therefore, treat concussions. ThesuccessofthesecondannualPUCCShockeycharitytournamentwillallowtheorganizationto“continuetoraiseawarenessthroughdirectinterac-tionswithchildrenintheirschoolandsportsenvironment,”Dr.Levysaid. Throughout the weekend, youth teams competed amongst each other for achampionshiptrophyandadultteamsparticipatedinaUSAHockey-sanc-tionedtournamentatHolidayTwinRinksinCheektowaga,NY.LocalLaborers210,theadultteamthatraised$10,000(themostmoneyofanyteam),hadtheopportunitytoplayagainsttheBuffaloSabresAlumnionSunday.TheSabresAlumnidefeatedLocalLaborers210. InthemiddleoftheSabresAlumnigame,theplayerstookabreaktosignautographsforfans.AndrewPeters,MatthewBarnaby,JayMcKee,RobRayand others participated in the alumni game and autograph session.

FormerBuffaloSabre MikeRobitaillehandledMCdutiespriortothegameandBuffaloSabresAnouncerHarryNealeservedasplay-by-playannouncer.OntheicepenaltyshotswerescoredbyMatthewBarnabyandRichieDunn.Dunnusedthebuttendofhissticktocontrolthepuckanddida363deke.GoalieNickBadomadekeysavesandAndrewPetersplayedenforcer,protectinghisgoalieandteammates,leadingtheAlumnitovictory. FormoreinformationaboutPUCCS,visitPUCCS.org.

PUCCS / 23

PUCCS: The Outcome of the

Tournament!By Michael Mroziak

$102,500 check presented was to the PUCCS organization to continue its’ efforts in preventing and treating concussions. Taking part in the presenta-

tion were Mike Answeeney (left) and Dr. Levy (right). (Submitted photo)

(Dudley Hart Continued from Page 20)

“BecauseIgottoplayallthetime,”answeredHart.“IwouldalsowatchthemonTVandnobodyever messed with a goalie. “I think the goalie is the most important part of ahockeyteam.Idon’tcarehowgreatyourteamisscoring-wise,ifyouhaveabadgoalieyou’reprob-ably going to struggle. “ButIjustsimplywantedtoplaythewholegameandbeoutthereallthetime.Andbeingagoalie afforded me that opportunity. “I enjoyed being that important part of the team. The last line of defense, so to speak. “I also remember those early morning hours for practice as well as someofthegame.I’vegonethroughthat again now with my kids, al-thoughnowthey’regettingolderandpracticesdon’tcomeasearly. “ThankgoodnessI’vealwaysbeen a morning person, so those early mornings Ihadtogetupasakid,aroundfiveorsix,reallydidn’tbotherme.” AlthoughDudleylostcontactwithhockeyaftermovingtoFlorida,hedidhisbestattryingtoreconnect with it in later years. “WhentheNHLexpandedtoFloridawiththePanthers,Iwasoneofthefirst15or20peoplewhosignedupforseasontickets,”saidHart.“Hockeywasn’tonTVasmuchdownthereeither.“ButIdidmybestatkeeptrackofwhatwasgoingon, hockey-wise.”

Interestingly,HartmovedhisfamilybacktoWesternNewYorkjustbeforethetripletswereofschool age. “I remember my years in school here in West-ernNewYork,”rememberedHart.“Ididn’twantmykidsgettingtheirschooleducationinFlorida.“Sothat’swhywemovedbackheretoClarence.”Andimmediatelygotinvolvedwithhockeyasaparent. “Italkedtoafriendofmine,BillWippert,whohad his daughter involved in the Shamrocks hockey organization,”continuedHart.“TheShamrocks

becameagreatfitformykidsandour family.”AnotherclosefriendofHart’sisSabresheadcoach,LindyRuff. “IgottoknowLindybackinthemid-1990swhenhewasanassistantcoachwiththePanthers,”saidHart.“Hewastakingsomegolflessonsfrom my brother in-law. “We were introduced to each other

and have been friends ever since.”JusthowaddictedtohockeyisHarttoday? “I’maseasonticketholderwiththeSabres,”Hartresponded.“Itakemykidsonatleastoneroadtrip a year. “I’minvolvedasahockeyparent.Ilovewatch-ing my kids play. “I watch them have fun with it. “WhenI’montheroadplayinggolf,Idon’tmissgames.I’vegotitonmylaptopcomputer.“ UnfortunatelyforthelastthreeyearsHarthasbeenonthesidelineswithhisgolfgame.Hesuf-

fered a herniated disc in his backin2003. Followinghisreturn,Harthadtotakesixmoremonthsoffin2007tocarefor his wife who had a softball-sizedtumorremovedfrom her lungs. In2009Harthadspinalfusion surgery. “I got into coaching with mykidsteams,”statedHart.“It helped me keep my sanity and kept me busy. “It’sfuntoteachkids.Ihad a blast doing it. “AndInowhaveagreat-er respect for those coaches and the time and effort they have to put into coaching. “Intheenditwasfun.Andhavingfuniswhatis all about when you are playing youth hockey. “That’swhattheShamrocksareallabout.They’reorganizedandtheywanttheirplayerstohave fun. “Youwantthemtogetbetter.Learnateamsport. “Iwantmykidstoachievetheirdreams.I’vealready achieved mine. “Idon’tcarewhattheirdreamis.Buthaveoneand make the most of it. “Andhavefun.”

“It’s fun to teach kids. I had a blast

doing it.”--

Golfer Dudley Hart

WHEATFIELD BLADES PAGE / 24

First Row- Corey Westfall, 2nd row-Anthony Cianciosa, Addison Zack-er, Logan Macdonald, Blake Dewey, Hunter Hollock. 3rd Row- Jeremy McDonald, Hugo Berguman, Benny Shapiro, Noah Daniels, Andrew Mallone, Adam Franasiak. Back Ro- Team MGR Dave McDonald, Asst. Coach Ken Franasiak, Head Coach Fred Mallone

The Wheatfield Blades, playing up a division in the Detroit Motown Tournament, persevered to vic-tory after a devastating first game loss to Oshawa

Generals 7-3, Wheatfield then went undefeated in the tournament beating Bowling Green ice cats 4-3, West Mall lighting 7-1, and then Facing Bowling Green in the semi finals and beating them in a nail biter 1-0. Now with that behind them they faced the unde-feated generals for the championship. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy playing up a division and we were there to win it all and we had to win every battle and never give up,” said Head Coach Fred Mallone. “We had heart and determination! And every player left it all on the ice every shift I couldn’t ask for more out of my boys. “ I’m so very proud of them. “We needed to prove that we were a better team than in that first game and they did just that.” Oshawa scored first in the game but Wheatfield came back with a vengeance never giving up and win-ning every battle with penalties 6-0 for Oshawa the Wheatfield boys battled their way every shift to a 5-2 victory.

WWW.WHEATFIELDBLADES.COM

Wheatfield Blades Squirt Minor WinDetroit Motown

Tournament

Wheatfieldblades.com

BUFFALO STARS PAGE / 25

Buffalo Stars Junior

Chowder Cup Team

The Buffalo Stars will enter a team in the New England Pro Am Junior Chowder Cup in the

1997 Division. This division is open to elite players at the 1997 birth year who are able to compete at a very high level against similar aged players from all over North America.The Tournament will be held in the Metropolitan Boston area July 25th - 28th in Walpole, Foxboro, and Canton, MA.This team will also compete in one or two other tournaments and will engage in 2-3 practice sessions prior to each event.

Initial tryouts for this team will be held at Holiday Twin Rinks:

Thursday, December 273:00-4:15pm

Pre-Tryout Application is available on the Stars website.

SUCCESS IS A MARATHON: ONE SHIFT AT A TIME

Buffalo Stars Select Chowder Cup Tryouts

The Buffalo Stars will enter 3 teams in the New England Pro Am Chowder Cup Series this year in the 2000 division; 1997 division and Senior (96-93) division. This series is open to high-end, skilled players who are able to compete at a very high level against similar aged players from all over North America.The Tournaments will be held in the Metropolitan Boston area in Walpole, Foxboro, and Canton, MA as follows: (July 18-21 for Senior; July 25-28 for 1997’s; and August 2-4 for 2000’s)These teams will also compete in one or two other spring/summer tournaments and will engage in 2-3 practice sessions prior to each event.

Initial tryouts for these teams will be held at Holiday Twin Rinks:

Thursday, December 27th: 1:30-3:00pm for the Senior Division

Thursday, December 27th: 3:00-4:15pm for the 1997 Division

Thursday, December 27th: 4:15-5:30pm for the 2000 Division

Pre-Tryout Application is available on the Stars website.

Buffalo Stars Senior Chowder Cup Team

The Buffalo Stars will enter a team in the New England Pro Am Senior Chowder Cup in the College Prep Division. This division is open to elite players aged 16-19 who are able to compete at a very high level against Junior aged players from all over North America.The Tournament will be held in the Metropolitan Boston area July 18th - 21st in Walpole, Foxboro, and Canton, MA.This team may also participate in one other event in May or June. There will be 3-4 practices prior to each event.

Initial tryouts for this team will be held at Holiday Twin Rinks:

Thursday, December 271:30-3:00pm

Pre-Tryout Application is available on the Stars website.

Buffalo Stars 2000 Spring Team

The Buffalo Stars will enter a team in the New England Pro Am Mini

Chowder Cup in the 2000 division. This division is open to elite players at the 2000 birth year who are able to compete at a very high level against similar aged players from all over

North America.The Tournament will be held in the Metropolitan Boston area

August 2nd - 4th in Walpole, Foxboro, and Canton, MA.The Stars will also enter the Niagara Bauer Challenge April 19th - 21st in Niagara Falls as well as one other event yet to

be announced.The team will also engage in 2-3 practices prior to each tour-

nament.

Initial tryouts for this team will be held at Holiday Twin Rinks:

Thursday, December 274:15-5:30pm

Pre-Tryout Application is available on the Stars website.

Visit the Chowder Cup on line at: www.proamhockey.com

Visit the Stars on line at: www.buffalostars.com

MENTAL TOUGHNESS & TOURNAMENT RESULTS / 26

A Gift for Teens --That Will Change Their Life!

(Submitted by Wendy Lynne, Mental Toughness)

How many gifts do you give the teens in your life, that get used once or twice, thenitsitsontheirshelforinthebackoftheircloset?Orworseyet,youcan’tgetthemtoSTOPplayingthebrain-numbingvideogameyouboughtthem

under pressure. Introducingabrandnew,cuttingedgeMentalToughnessTrainingforYouthAth-letesthatbuildsconfidence,focus,determinationandresiliencyintheirsport. Theonlinetraininghas23fun-to-watchandinteractivevideosand8guidedvisualizationstheycanlistentobeforetheirbiggameorevent.Wemadesureyourteen would actually enjoy watching them and that it does not feel like another “school assignment.” The downfall of playing sports Mostparentsgettheirkidsinvolvedinsportstolearnimportantlifelessonsliketeamwork,determination,follow-through,andmotivation.Unfortunatelythough,there are times when athletes make mistakes or have a “bad” season and they can end uphavinganegativeexperience. OursMentalToughnessTrainingforYouthAthletesgiveskidsthetoolsandtech-niquestoovercomeanynegativethoughtorsituationandquicklybounceback.Itisalsoperfectforthoseathleteslookingtotaketheirgametothenextleveltobeeligiblefor a college scholarship or to go on to the pros. This training helps assure parents that their kids will walk away from playing their sport with a positive experience,whethertheyarewinnersor losers. Easytopurchaseanduse. TheMentalToughnessTraining

forYouthAthletesisano-hasslegift.Orderitonlineandyourkidswilluseiton-line. There is nothing to ship, wrap or wait for. It can be watched on their computers, ipads,cellphonesoripodsatanytimeandanyplace.“It’slikehavingacoachinyourpocket”,saysCraigSigl,theMentalToughnessTrainer. The training is good for the entire household, so if you have more than one kid, therearenoextracosts.Thekidsgetlifetimeaccess,sotheycangobackwheneverthey need a boost or a reminder. Go to hockeymentaltoughness.com to learn more. Who is the Mental Toughness Trainer? MentalToughnessAcademy

wascreatedbyCraigSigl,internationally-knownYouthSportsMentalCoach,whohas helped thousands of youth athletes to overcome performanceanxiety,stopchoking under pressure and bring their “best” practice game to competition.

Moreimportantly,hisworkteaches powerful skills that flowintoschoolwork,familylifeandfittingin.Buildingmental toughness ensures athletes have incredible everydaywinningconfidence

and helps to shape youth athletes into productive, competent adults. Send an email to us to receivemoreinformationand/orplaceanorder.BesuretoaskaboutourMentalTough-nessTrainingforCatholicAthletescomingoutsoon.

OnBehalfoftheNiagaraJr.PurpleEaglesIwouldliketoexpressoursincere appreciation to all the teams for participating in this seasons ThanksgivingInvitational.Justasyourteams,ourvolunteersworkhardtomaketheseeventsafunandenjoyableexperienceforeveryone!Itwasgreattoseemanychildrenplayingwithsomuchexcitementaswellashavingsomanyenthusiasticspectators.It’smemorableweekendslikethese that truly indicate what youth hockey has to offer and we hope to share more of them with you in the future.

Congratulation to all the Division Winners and Runner Ups!

MiteMarvelChampions–ErieLionsBlackErieLionsBlack5vsBuffaloBisonsBlack2

MiteAvengersChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEagles–BNiagaraJrPurpleEagles8vsAmherstKnightsBlack1

SquirtMinorChampions–BuffaloShamrocksBuffaloShamrocks2vsMentorCardinals1

SquirtMajorChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEaglesNiagaraJrPurpleEagles4vsFortErieMeteors3

PeeWeeMinorChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEaglesNiagaraJrPurpleEagles4vsBuffaloShamrocks2

PeeWeeMajorChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEaglesNiagaraJrPurpleEagles3vsWhitbyWildcats0

BantamMinorPurpleChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEaglesNiagaraJrPurpleEagles5vsCheektowagaWarriors2

BantamMinorEagleChampions–BuffaloShamrocksBuffaloShamrocks4vsCliftonParkEagles3

BantamMajorChampions–NiagaraJrPurpleEaglesNiagaraJrPurpleEagles4vsSyracuseBlazers1

Girls14UChampions–AncasterAvalancheAncasterAvalanche5vsWestSenecaWings0

NJPE will host their2013 Patroit’s Day Tournament

February 16 -18Dwyer Arena

Niagara University Campus

Mites(HalfIce),Squirts,PeeWeesandBantams

ApplicationformonNJPEwebsiteContactDanStinisatdstinis@jrpurpleeagles.comwithanyquestions)

2012 NJPE Thanksgiving Invitational Tournament Results

To Learn More Go To:www.hockeymentaltoughness.com