Hockey

As with football, the hitting of opponents - both legally and otherwise - is seen as being part of the game in ice hockey. So it comes as no surprise that players suffer concussions, as Flyers Claude Giroux, Chris Pronger, and Brayden Schenn have this season. But head-injury experts suspect that the true number of concussions is far greater than what is reported, both in hockey and other sports, both in professional and youth leagues. And in some respects, hockey players may be at greater risk than athletes in other sports, said Douglas H. Smith, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Brain Injury and Repair.

With Youngblood, a new sport arrives on the American scene: Rocky hockey. It was inevitable, I suppose, that Hollywood would notice that hockey is the only major sport to slap its players on the wrist when they punch their opponents in the mouth. This condoned violence amounts to a free pass for the screenwriter. It's difficult, after all, to put a climactic punch-up in the finale when your movie is about pro bowlers, as was the case with Dreamer (1979). In 1977, George Roy Hill noticed hockey and gave us Slap Shot, a riotous comedy about life in the minor leagues starring Paul Newman as a foul-mouthed, aging jock.

Upper Darby's Matt Fabrizio wasn't five minutes old before he was holding a hockey stick. Really. Matt Fabrizio Sr. wanted to tell people the absolute truth whenever someone asked exactly when Matt Fabrizio Jr. started playing hockey. "It's a funny thing," the elder Fabrizio would say with a smile, "but Matt was born with a stick in his hands. " Yeah, right. "No, really," Fabrizio would continue. "I brought it with me into the delivery room, one of those little ones.

The hockey players' union representatives chewed things over at a meeting in Toronto last night. A few hours earlier, the NHL's executive board had gotten together on a telephone conference call. Trouble was, the two sides didn't get around to talking to each other. Although they gossiped among themselves, the NHL and the NHL Players Association did not hold collective-bargaining negotiations yesterday. Again. Instead, the players scheduled an all-members meeting for tonight, and the owners, well, they're in their waiting mode.

Now, it's just hockey for Sidney Crosby. After 3 months of spinning lottery balls, preordained status as the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft, endless comparisons to Wayne Gretzky and new housemate Mario Lemieux, million-dollar endorsement signings and more photo shoots than a supermodel, Crosby was on the ice yesterday. It was only an optional skate at the end of a training-camp day devoted mostly to physicals, team meetings, handshaking, equipment fitting and, yes, more interviews, but Sidney Crosby, hockey wunderkind, finally felt like a Pittsburgh Penguins player.

St. Augustine had something to prove last night in an NJSIAA Non-Public state ice hockey semifinal with nemesis Christian Brothers Academy at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown. The third-seeded Hermits wanted to show that the state title they won last year was no fluke, and there was no better test at this stage than CBA, seeded No. 2 and winner of two regular-season games against St. Augustine. The Hermits (17-6-3) rebounded from a 3-1 deficit and won, 6-4. They will meet Delbarton (26-1-1)

All-Southeastern Pa. Field Hockey Second Team Pos.   Player   School   Yr.    For.   Grace Boston   Cardinal O'Hara   Jr.    For.   Alana Dumas   Episcopal Academy   Sr.    For.   Heather Morris   Owen J. Roberts   Sr.    For.   Megan Parsons   Villa Maria Academy   Jr.    Mid.   Annabeth Donovan   Unionville   Jr.    Mid.   Blake Hamblett   Conestoga   Sr.   ...

Eric Desjardins, John LeClair, and Eric Lindros are not the only Philadelphia hockey players dishing out body checks on this, the NHL's all-star weekend. Thanks to Langhorne brothers Ed and Jim Kershbaumer, thousands of less-heralded players are leveling slap shots of their own in miniature arenas in bars and homes around the country. Sometimes, the little guys even steal the show from their big-time counterparts - part of the sports-bar bubble-hockey craze that has the Kershbaumers shipping hundreds of the $3,000 machines out of Bucks County each month.

The battle for North American supremacy will be held tonight on a patch of ice in Vancouver. Sadly, the Mexicans will have no say in the matter. A stadium full of hockey- mad - and possibly well-lubricated - patriots from both sides of the border will gather to watch the clash between the United States and Canada. It's a big deal for puck devotees and Olympics lovers alike, though the true gravity of the game is ultimately owed to the fact that casual fans have expressed an interest in the evening's affair.

Think of basketball and West Philadelphia High School comes to mind. Think of football and it's Ridley. But if hockey is mentioned, there's one school that stands alone. Between 1977 and 1982, no other Philadelphia-area school dominated in hockey as did Archbishop Carroll High School. Although the years have slipped by, the Patriots' hockey prowess has not been easily forgotten. "We made such an impact," recalled Scott Chamness, who is easily Carroll's most celebrated puck carrier.