Ice Hockey

Jim Worthington, owner of the Newtown Athletic Club, said he had set aside his plan for an outdoor swimming pool next to the club after realizing that ice hockey was becoming more popular and that there were not enough rinks in the area to support it. Worthington, who revealed his plans to build two ice-skating rinks on the site to township commissioners Tuesday night, said yesterday that since then his proposal had been drawing praise from people...

John Hargrove noticed that his grandson had been acting strangely for the last few months. Rodney Hargrove, the 11-year-old in question, actually can't wait to get to his homework these days. What's going on? Since Rodney signed on to the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation program, it seems that he can't get enough of the ice. "The program has taught him a sense of discipline that I hadn't seen from him before," said John Hargrove, of West Oak Lane. "Now he comes home from school and gets all of his homework done right away because he wants to get to hockey practice.

Philadelphia is known for the Liberty Bell, cheesesteaks and the Mummers. It is an area known for producing basketball, football and baseball giants. It is not, however, known for home-grown hockey stars. It has been two decades since the Philadelphia Flyers joined the National Hockey League. Although many Philadelphians have embraced the Flyers, the area has not turned out any star players. No Gretzkys or Lemieuxes have come out of the area. It is a major accomplishment for a high school player to get a hockey scholarship to a Division I college.

Most of his friends are earning spending money with summer jobs, or spending time at the Jersey shore. But for Jamie Brown, a significant portion of his summer vacation will be spent reading. And it won't be comic books at poolside either. Brown, who just finished his sophomore year at Monsignor Bonner, recently accepted a full scholarship to the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Conn., where he will play ice hockey. "You should see the reading list. I have to read 20 books this summer," Brown said.

St. Augustine ice hockey coach Ralph Triboletti believes that when the Hermits suffered their first loss of the season to rival Bishop Eustace last month, his players "put too much into the game mentally. " Yet, looking toward Friday's 4:30 p.m. rematch at the Flyers Skate Zone in Pennsauken, the coach didn't shy away from hyping the Southern Conference Red Division clash between two of the state's top 10 teams. "It's always a big game - there's no doubt it's a huge rivalry," Triboletti said.

The toughest decision that Monsignor Bonner coach Hugh MacDonald faced last year when fielding a lacrosse team for the first time in the school's history was finding someone to play goalie. "Goalie is the toughest position to fill because nobody likes to get hit," MacDonald said. "You have to find someone who doesn't mind getting bruises from March 1 (the first day of practice) that will stay there until May. "Because whether it's practice or a game, the goalie gets hit and bruised everywhere . . . thighs, shoulders, ribs and arms.

Forget the sequined costumes and the double axels. The 16 girls skating this week at Wissahickon Skating Club were more likely to have tacked up on their walls posters of Cammi Granato and her hockey skates than Michelle Kwan and her figure skates, and they had the equipment to prove it. "I'm here to play hockey," said Becky Dobson, 11, peering out from under her face mask and gripping a hockey stick as tall as she is. For Becky, who...

Dominic Morrone is humbled by the experience that he and his St. Augustine ice hockey teammates will have tonight at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morris Township. The Hermits of Richland are scheduled to play St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City at 8:15 p.m. in the NJSIAA Non-Public championship game. St. Peter's Prep (20-4-3) is seeded higher at No. 3 even though St. Augustine (22-0) has no blemish on its record. Strength of schedule, which is considered to be more competitive in North Jersey, is the reason.

Ticket sales for an ice hockey game between Michigan State and Michigan to be played outdoors already have eclipsed the world record for the sport, Michigan State officials said yesterday. In just eight business days, 56,100 tickets have been sold for the Oct. 6 game at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, a game that has been dubbed the "Cold War. " That eclipses the record of 55,000, set in 1957 in Moscow for the final of the world championships between the Soviet Union and Sweden.

Dave Smink of Berwyn stood outside the dressing room of the Ice A Rama hockey rink in Wilkes-Barre last Friday, casually talking about the incident that had left the lids of his right eye swollen and discolored and the bridge of his nose scarred. This was Smink's fifth year of playing ice hockey for the Southeast region in the Keystone Games and he certainly looked the part. Except that the blow that had come so close to permanently damaging his eye didn't occur from competition on the ice. It had happened the day before on the Wilkes-Barre Municipal golf course.

MATT MANDES is experiencing one of those go-figure springs. He played some shaky baseball when the weather was cold, then emerged as the ultimate hero on an early April day with outrageously warm temperatures. The 5-9, 175-pound Mandes, a junior and lefty swinger, serves Archbishop Wood High as the second baseman and leadoff hitter. His other sport - and he's the only diamond Viking who plays this - is ice hockey, and this past winter, skating at center, he finished second on the team in scoring.

Ice Hockey FLYERS CUP CLASS A West Chester East 3, Downingtown West 2 (OT) West Chester Rustin 5, Moorestown 1 FLYERS CUP CLASS AA Wilson 3, Souderton 1 Parkland 3, Abington 1 Ice Hockey FLYERS CUP CLASS A NONLEAGUE Garnet Valley vs. Upper Moreland at Warwick Ice Arena, 8:30 Unionville vs. Archbishop Wood at Bucks County Ice Rink, 8:30 FLYERS CUP CLASS AA Central Bucks East vs. Central Bucks South at...

Penn State, competing in men's ice hockey at a major-college level for the first time in 66 years, makes its debut at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night against Vermont in the inaugural Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff. Faceoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. The start time was pushed back one hour because of the Flyers' NHL season opener in the afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Nittany Lions (8-12-0), who last played Division I hockey in the 1946-47 season, are competing as an independent this season and will begin play in the Big Ten next season.

Three members of the Neumann men's ice hockey team received ECAC West weekly honors. Sophomore Chris Bournazos was the player of the week, junior Braely Torris was named goalie of the week, and freshman Brandon Gagne earned a spot on the honor roll. Bournazos had two goals in the Northfield Bank Tournament championship game and was named MVP as Neumann handed No. 1 Norwich its first loss of the season. Torris made 34 saves and picked up his first win against Norwich. Gagne had two assists as Neumann went 2-0 in the tournament.

The United States won the world junior ice hockey championship on Saturday after Rocco Grimaldi scored twice and Vince Trocheck added an empty-netter to clinch a 3-1 win over defending champion Sweden in the gold-medal final in Ufa, Russia. American goalie John Gibson made 26 saves for the victory and was the MVP of the tournament. Valeri Nichushkin scored an overtime winner to give Russia a 6-5 victory over Canada in the bronze-medal match. CYCLING: Countering a New York Times report on Friday, Lance Armstrong 's attorney said that the cyclist hasn't reached out to the USADA about admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

Heather Richardson dominated the U.S. Long Track Championships in Kearns, Utah, for the second day in a row Saturday, setting a national record in winning the 1,000 meters and wrapping up the speedskating sprint title. Her time of 1 minute, 13.52 seconds at the Utah Olympic Oval broke Olympian Chris Witty 's old mark of 1:13.83 set in 2002. Olympian Shani Davis won the men's 1,000. ICE HOCKEY: Boston College coach Jerry York became the NCAA hockey career victory leader, directing the top-ranked Eagles to a 5-3 win over Alabama-Huntsville in the Mariucci Classic.

John Hargrove noticed that his grandson had been acting strangely for the last few months. Rodney Hargrove, the 11-year-old in question, actually can't wait to get to his homework these days. What's going on? Since Rodney signed on to the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation program, it seems that he can't get enough of the ice. "The program has taught him a sense of discipline that I hadn't seen from him before," said John Hargrove, of West Oak Lane. "Now he comes home from school and gets all of his homework done right away because he wants to get to hockey practice.

Seventh-seeded La Salle gave No. 2 St. Louis a battle before falling, 3-1 to the Billikens in an Atlantic Ten Conference men's soccer quarterfinal Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. The Explorers tied the score at 1 in the 79th minute on Jason Plumhoff's team-leading seventh goal of the season, but two St. Louis goals with less than five minutes remaining gave the Billikens a berth in the semis. La Salle ended its season 10-7-3. St. Louis is 14-4. For the first 89 minutes, No. 5 Temple kept pace with No. 4 Virginia Commonwealth in another A-10 quarterfinal at Charlotte's Transamerica Field.

Fans will have the chance to get their first glimpse of Penn State's first NCAA Division I ice hockey team when it hosts a "Midnight Ice Breaker" practice the night of Penn State's annual homecoming parade on Oct. 5. The event, which will be held at Greenberg Ice Pavilion, will be open to the public and free of charge. Doors will open at 11 p.m. Practice will run from midnight until 1 a.m. Following practice, fans are welcome to join the team on the ice for a free public skate. Fans who have their own skates are encouraged to bring them.

Shane Rafter misses the hitting of ice hockey. But the Moorestown High School junior has found another outlet for his aggressive style of play as a tenacious, two-way lineman in football. Rafter has become the first recruit in the class of 2013 to commit to Temple on a football scholarship. "He plays with an edge, which is good," Moorestown coach Russ Horton said. The 6-foot-5, 288-pound Rafter, who made his commitment Tuesday, also had offers from Bowling Green and Old Dominion.