By Craig Ostroff
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The sky’s the limit for Rourke, seniors
Abington captain Tom Rourke has seen just about everything there is to see from the Abington ice hockey program.
The senior defender has been in the program since he was in fifth grade, the first year for middle school hockey. He’s played all over the ice before settling into his role as the Ghosts’ anchor on the blue line the last two years. He’s seen the team struggle his first two years of high school, and helped the team contend for the American Conference regular-season title and play for the SHSHL Class A championship.
Now there’s just one more thing Rourke and his senior teammates want to accomplish—to finish on top and see how far the team can go in the postseason.
“Abington hockey means a lot to me,” Rourke said. “This is where I learned to play hockey. Seeing it all come together my senior year shows all of our hard work, how we all came together, how the team progressed.
“This is exactly what we want. The whole team was disappointed last year in the championship game. We knew we had the same goal in mind for this year, to win a championship, and the whole team has been focused on that all season. We play together, we have great chemistry, and we want to win as a team.”
Still, success requires the veteran players leading the way, and Abington coach Ken Brzozowski is more than happy that Rourke is the player that his underclassmen can look to as an example.
“Tom is the one that takes the lead on and off the ice with the team,” Brzozowski said. “He’s the one who I can look to to be the pulse of the team. If I need to get a message sent, I can send it through Tom.
“I hold him accountable for his level of play and others see that. And Tom has been great in terms of responding to that. He’s always communicating with me and with the team, trying to correct areas where we need to improve our game. He’s supportive of other players, quick to praise other players, and pushing them in a positive way.”
A four-year varsity player, Rourke split his freshman year between offense and defense. He played forward as a sophomore, but after the Ghosts lost several defenders to graduation, Rourke was asked to slide back to the blue line as a junior. He’s never left.
“Shifting Tom back to D was one of the better moves we’ve made,” Brzozowski said. “He’s the foundation of our defense. Sometimes we have to shift people into different positions due to need, and their natural ability might give them better success in a different spot. Whatever is best for the team, Tom is on board, so he was happy to move to defense.”
“I love scoring, and it’s always great to contribute on offense, but I just want the team to win,” Rourke said. “It’s not about individual success. Team success means more to me. But I really love playing defense. Even as a forward, I would focus on the defensive aspects of my game.”
Rourke still finds his opportunities to get his name on the scoresheet. He’s racked up 3 goals and 4 assists on the season.
As the Ghosts head into the home stretch of the regular season, Rourke—along with goalkeeper Ben Panella and Joe Stelacio, both of whom have been Rourke’s teammates since fifth grade—is looking to make his last season with Abington hockey the most successful.
Abington is tied atop the American Conference at 7-0 for 14 points and will play Plymouth Whitemarsh and Wissahickon once more each this season. Run the table and the regular-season title goes to the Ghosts. Then it’s on to the Class A playoffs and Flyers Cup.
Abington has the experience, talent, and drive to make this a truly special season. But the Ghosts know that no one is going to hand them any victories.
“My message to the team is that they are going to get the best game from their opponents no matter who we play,” Brzozowski said. “We are going to get their best games, so we can’t be content, we have to go in with a little bit of an edge or a chip on our shoulder. We know we have unfinished business. We want to get to the championship and win the championship. That’s our goal. That’s where our sights are set.”
“It means a lot to me for the team to be successful, and I want to go out on a high note and share that experience with my teammates,” Rourke said. “But we need to focus on finishing the season strong and coming into playoffs healthy and stronger as a team.
“We keep it game by game—we want to go 1-0 each week, or if we have two games in one week, go 2-0 in that week. We really try to win the next game and then we turn our focus to the next game.”
Next up for Abington is Hatboro-Horsham on Feb. 10 at 8:30 pm at Hatfield Blue, then the Ghosts follow it up with back-to-back games against Wissahickon (Feb. 15) and PW (Feb 17).
After years of building to get to this point, the Ghosts control their own destiny down the stretch.
“I certainly recall being very excited when a number of these players—Tom, Joe, Ben—came up from the middle school team and joined our varsity team,” Brzozowski said. “I knew it was going to take a couple years to develop and grow, and their skill set has developed. Then we add Pat (Stelacio) and Griffin Carpenter into that mix as well, we were excited to have them join our varsity team, and they were integral to our success as well. All the pieces have fallen into place
“I’m super excited for them. I don’t know where this season ends, but I’m really proud to see the hard work these kids have put in come to fruition in the success we’re having.”
Depth keys success for Golden Hawks
There’s a lot to like about this season’s Council Rock South team. Outstanding goalkeeping, overpowering defense, top-line offensive snipers.
But while that first line draws opponents’ best defensive pairings and shut-down forwards, having offensive depth could be what helps put the Golden Hawks over the top as they head down the stretch run and into the postseason.
“You win championships with your second- and third-liners,” said South coach Joe Houk. “Julian Sarne has been putting a lot of goals in. Sam Cherkassky is putting goals in, Chase Tovsky and Blaize Pepe are contributing. Those guys are stepping up big time, I’m really happy with their play right now.
“Evan Mostoller is a sophomore, and he’s stepped up big time, he’s scored some big goals the last couple games. His confidence is getting there, he keeps getting better and better. We’re finding those perfect combinations right now. The guys are supporting each other well, and it’s paying off.”
Sarne is second on the team with 17 points and leads the Hawks with 13 goals. Cherkassky has 11 points (3G, 8A), Pepe has 9 (4G, 5A), Mostoller 8 (3G, 5A), and Tovsky 5 (1G, 4A). At least one of the five has contributed at least one goal in each of the Hawks’ last 6 games – all wins.
“We’ve been riding them pretty hard, trying to keep them on their A game,” Houk said. “They’re responding well, getting more comfortable with each other, they’re gelling at the right time, now we just have to keep it going.”
There are no easy games for the Hawks moving forward. They’ll host Souderton at 7:50 pm Friday at Revolution Ice Gardens, then host Central Bucks South on Feb. 9 before closing out the season with what’s sure to be a stellar battle against Pennridge on Feb. 16. It will likely be a clash of division leaders as well: South sits atop the National Conference at 7-0 (9-1-1 overall) for 14 points. Pennridge remains undefeated—and handed South its only setback of the season when the teams first met in early December—at 7-0 (11-0) in the Continental Conference.
While the Hawks no doubt have that regular-season finale circled on their calendars, Houk is making sure they’re not looking any further than the next game on the schedule.
“We’re prepping the kids, there’s that big game at end of the year, but we can not take our foot off the pedal,” Houk said. “Pennridge we know is going to be a physical game. We’re looking forward to it and we’re going to show up and give them a game. But before that, we need to take care of what’s directly ahead of us. We want to finish strong with Souderton, our first game against CB South was one of our first games of the year, and they’re coming on strong.”
Houk is convinced that his veteran team and strong leaders will keep the Hawks focused.
“We’re getting good leadership from guys like Kevin Koles, Matt Constantini,” Houk said. “Koles and Kyle Boss are our big guys on defense and they’re leading those guys. We don’t want to be overconfident and we don’t want to overlook anyone. Our ultimate goal is to take it one game at a time and finish strong.”
West seniors laying the foundation
This year has been something of a struggle at Central Bucks West. A small school with a small roster, the young Bucks team has had difficulties in finding wins during the season.
But coach Dave Baun isn’t measuring success solely by his squad’s record.
“The fact is we have 9 freshmen and sophomores out of 18 players … half our team is young kids,” Baun said. “That’s the tough news. The good news is, we have 9 freshmen and sophomores and they’re good players. And they’re going to get better, bigger, stronger, more confident. I’m really happy with the players we have.”
That future might not be so bright if not for the leadership provided by this year’s senior class—Reese Dalzell, Billy Loughnane, Grant Funseth, and Joey McFadden. The Class of 2022 helped lead the Bucks through last season’s winless year by ensuring that the team did everything the right way amidst the COVID uncertainty, and they’re stepping up again to ensure the Bucks will be in a good position moving forward.
“We have really, really good senior class,” Baun said. “I told the kids, I’ve been at West for 20 years, and this is one of my favorite classes. I really admire the way they conducted themselves last year. With all the COVID restrictions, we followed those requirements to a T and never got a complaint. Our kids did it the right way, practicing and playing in masks, always battling, I admire the way they persevered.
“I wish they had a couple more years to be around when the younger kids get better and reap the benefit. But they can take some credit for the successes to come. Good leadership echoes, you hear it in the kids who come later.”
In addition to leading the young West squad, the seniors and veterans have taken a realistic outlook at their final campaign in yellow and black. They’re enjoying the benefits of camaraderie and being part of a team.
“The seniors have a good attitude,” Baun said. “It’s great if your team wins a lot, but the seniors realize that playing for your high school is something special. You come away with great memories of being a part of something bigger from yourself, you get to experience the East-West game every year, we had Senior Night this week with North Penn (an 8-5 West win).
“They appreciate that. And we appreciate them. We rely on them to be leaders and set the tone of how things are done and how to act, and they’ve done a great job. And the younger kids carry the torch, pass it forward, every one has been a valuable asset.”
And while the seniors will take away memories that will last a lifetime, the Bucks are also hoping to send off the class with a couple more victories under their belts. The Bucks close out the season with what should be two very competitive games with Bensalem (Feb. 10) and Council Rock North (Feb. 17).
“I said to the kids recently in an email, we end the season with three games we feel we can win, and we’re going to try to win them,” Baun said. “We’re judging our progress, the things we need to do to be a good team. Two games ago, we lost to Neshaminy 4-1, but we didn’t play well and I let them know that. The next game, we played Pennsbury, which is a very good team, and we lost 10-3, but we played a very good game, the score just got away from us. But we improved, we played well and if we do those things in the final games of the season, we’re going to have success.”
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