Ice Hockey

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

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...

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.

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.

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.

More than 80 parents, players and coaches, the supporters of the Strath Haven Ice Hockey Club, brought their request for recognition to the Wallingford-Swarthmore school board Monday. The five-year-old club team, which currently receives $1,100 per year from the school district, had initially asked for between $4,000 and $5,000 and to be recognized as a varsity squad. During Monday's board meeting, the request was simply for varsity letters and status. "We are the Rodney Dangerfield of the school.

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...

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.

Instead of thinking about the sand, sun and surf, Amy Zarych grew up at the Shore dreaming about the cold surface of an ice skating rink. Zarych, an Absecon resident who attended Peddie School, is one of a growing number of women playing college ice hockey. A senior, she plays forward for Colgate's first-year varsity program, which is 9-10-2. Zarych has appeared in all 21 games, contributing one goal and four assists. Zarych started figure skating in Ventnor when she was 5, but when she got to Peddie School, the only sport available on ice was hockey.

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.

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

When Steph Heresniak was little, her parents took her ice skating at Rockefeller Center. "When we got home, I said, 'Mom, I want to skate,' " Heresniak said. "She thought I meant figure skating. But I said, 'No, I want to play ice hockey.' " Such was the beginning of an ice hockey career that has taken the Paul VI junior to places as far as Canada. Power, she said, is an asset the sport provides her. It's a quality she has used at the plate as the Eagles' cleanup hitter in softball.

When Steph Heresniak was little, her parents took her ice skating at Rockefeller Center. "When we got home, I said, 'Mom, I want to skate,' " Heresniak said. "She thought I meant figure skating. But I said, 'No, I want to play ice hockey.' " Such was the beginning of an ice hockey career that has taken the Paul VI junior to places as far as Canada. Power, she said, is an asset the sport provides her. It's a quality she has used at the plate as the Eagles' cleanup hitter in softball.

In one sense, Johnny Gaudreau's freshman season at Boston College was nothing less than remarkable. In another, it was nothing more than typical. Gaudreau has been skating circles around conventional wisdom for years. He has been too short, too light, and too young at every level of ice hockey. He has dazzled and dominated them all. He did the same thing as an 8-year-old playing with the 10s, and as a 12-year-old playing with the 14s. He did the same thing at Gloucester Catholic, where he scored 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists)

In one sense, Johnny Gaudreau's freshman season at Boston College was nothing less than remarkable. In another, it was nothing more than typical. Gaudreau has been skating circles around conventional wisdom for years. He has been too short, too light, and too young at every level of ice hockey. He has dazzled and dominated them all. He did the same thing as an eight-year-old playing with the 10s, and as a 12-year-old playing with the 14s. He did the same thing at Gloucester Catholic, where he scored 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists)

MIKE CAVALLARO can be forgiven for not being able to remember every pertinent detail of his first noteworthy at-bat for Central High's baseball squad. After all, it was 10 years ago. Just kidding . . . We think. Fiiiinally, the 5-9, 160-pound Cavallaro, who goes mostly by "Cavs" and splits his time between centerfield and the mound, is a senior and his production shows no signs of decreasing. Yesterday, with strong winds swirling throughout, Cavallaro went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored as the Lancers, storming back from a 3-0 deficit, edged visiting Julia Masterman, 4-3, in a Public A goody.

If truth is the first casualty in an activity as frivolous as war, how can it stand a chance in a serious business like baseball or football or ice hockey? As a society, we may accept shamelessly distorted reporting about politics and government, but we expect - nay, demand - the full, unvarnished truth in such vital matters as knee cartilage, surgical sutures, and tight hamstrings. So it was no surprise when Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. felt compelled Monday to address reporters in Clearwater about the muddied waters surrounding Chase Utley's status.

Nineteen members of the Flyers Fan Club made the 10-hour trek to Toronto on a bus with no bathroom.   - The Inquirer, March 10, 2012   Now that's loyalty. And those hearty and patient fans, and their impressively voluminous bladders, were rewarded for their pluck and persistence with a 1-0 shootout victory over the Maple Leafs and another shutout by the suddenly impregnable Ilya Bryzgalov. That trip also gave rise, yet again, to that long-running, and unresolvable, debate about those sturdy creatures, the Flyers Frozen Faithful.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State's men's ice hockey program is still a year away from making the jump to Division I and two years away from starting play in the expected Big Ten hockey conference. The new state-of-the-art Pegula Ice Arena is not expected to break ground until early next year and won't be finished until September of 2013. But a key piece to Penn State hockey's highly anticipated future in college hockey is here a year early. "I thought it was really important to get as far ahead at setting the foundation as we could," men's ice hockey coach Guy Gadowsky said Monday.