This week’s notebook features Pennsbury, Central Bucks West & Hatboro-Horsham.
By Craig Ostroff
National Conference
Pennsbury’s offense a team effort - With 24 goals in its first four games coming into this week, Pennsbury is showing off an offense that the Falcons are hoping propel the team to great heights this season.
And averaging six goals per game is great … but coach Ryan Daley is more impressed with just how the Falcons are scoring.
“Our scoring definitely is spread out so far this year,” Daley said. “It seems like we’ve had a player step up and have a huge game every game so far. In our game against Neshaminy, we had a freshman, Jake McCaw, score his first varsity goal and followed it up with two more for a hat trick. I know he’s a good player, but to see a freshman do something like that against a big rival like Neshaminy is awesome. The game before, we had a sophomore, Andrew Falkenstein, score a hat trick. This is a kind of production we haven’t seen in the past couple years. Everyone is pulling the rope and getting an opportunity.”
For Daley, who is in his fourth year as coach, this season feels like the culmination of everything the coaching staff has been putting in place over the years.
“This year, we’ve obviously gotten off to a pretty good start in our first four games,” said Daley, whose squad came into the week at 3-0-0-1. “It feels like everything we’ve been preaching and working on over the years has finally come together. We’re also a team that’s been together for a long time. We’ve only graduated maybe 10 players since I took over, plus the kids coming up, our freshmen this year and last year were playing together in middle school. We really have that team cohesiveness, and I think it’s really showing. Our offense is probably the best it’s been since I’ve been coaching, and that’s been huge for us this year.”
Sophomore Brendan MacAinsh is among the league leaders with a team-high 10 points (4G, 6A) in the Falcons’ first four contests. Juniors Colin Michalak (3G, 4A) and captain Shane Siegmund (3G, 4A) are right behind. Reece Millman has five goals, and Reese Picker and Erik Eisler are both averaging a point a game. In all, 14 players have contributed to the team’s scoring this year.
Of course, in order to perform as well as the Falcons’ offense has been, you need contributions up and down the ice, players understanding their respective roles, and leadership from the top.
“You look at a guy like Erik Eisler,” Daley said of the senior forward. “He’s been a big goal scorer for us in the past, but this year he’s taking more of a playmaker role, he’s got a good amount of assists. He’s a guy who accepts that this is a team game and it’s not about just putting up points, which is great to see.
“We have a four-year defenseman in Jack Boyle. He’s an assistant captain this year. There’s nothing fancy in his game, he’s just a really solid defenseman—blocking shots, making plays, doing all the fundamental things you have to be good at. And our captain, Shane Siegmund, is only a junior, but I feel like he’s been a senior every year I’ve had him. He’s a leader by example, he’s vocal on bench, he had two pretty exceptional years as a freshman and a sophomore, and he’s improved his game since last year, and to see him continue to improve is awesome.”
The leadership displayed by the upperclassmen will be beneficial to the younger players as they develop and step into leadership positions themselves in the years to come.
“It’s funny, when I was in high school, you didn’t sniff varsity until you were a junior, but the way things are now, it gives younger guys an opportunity to see these older guys and learn from them, and it accelerates them into filling the same roles,” Daley said. “We have three very good freshmen in Evan Eisler, McCaw, and Logan Doyle, they would have made varsity even if we had two JV teams. And being on the team as a freshman forces them to be more mature and it will allow them to set examples for those behind them next year and beyond.”
Pennsbury returns to action at 7:20 pm Feb. 11 at Grundy Ice Arena, where the Falcons will host nonleague foe Central Bucks East.
Continental Conference
Morris provides leadership to young Bucks’ squad - Central Bucks West senior Ben Morris knows all about being a leader. He applies himself to be a productive member of his hometown and a positive influence to those around him.
In addition to his responsibilities as a student and Bucks’ ice hockey player, Morris has served for two years as a volunteer with the Doylestown Fire Company and was recently installed as the junior member of the Doylestown Borough Council.
“Being involved in the fire company has been one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Morris said. “I’ve met so many great people there, and I enjoy doing it and being able to help other people out, I like to help out as much as I can.
“Borough council, it was something I had to apply for, I was interviewed, and they decided from all the people who had applied who they thought would be the best fit. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about the community I live in. The position is more of an observer, I go to meetings to learn how it all works, watch how everything unfolds.”
The experiences and skills he’s learning in those positions are the kind that will serve him well as a leader throughout his life, but those traits and abilities he displays are also crucial right now to a young Central Bucks West ice hockey team that in the midst of a rough season and is counting upon Morris and his fellow seniors to keep the team moving in the right direction.
“Starting out the year, we always have high expectations,” Morris said. “This year, things are a little different. We have a very young team, a lot of new players not used to the speed of high school hockey. This season is more about having them learn how high school hockey works so they can carry on after I’m no longer with the team.
“That’s what you do as a senior. We’re willing to step up and teach these younger kids so that when they get older, they can help to lead the team just how we are now.”
Longtime West coach Dave Baun has seen teams everywhere on the spectrum of success during his tenure. As such, he’s able to take a big-picture view of the team’s current situation, which has seen the Bucks decisively drop their first three games coming into this week.
“As you go through career, you realize one year your team is going to be like Ferraris on the ice, and two seasons later, you’re a grocery cart with a bad wheel. It’s a cycle, and we should all spend our time at the top and at the bottom,” Baun said. “This year, we’re at the bottom. And honestly, I’m OK with it as long as the system is working right. I’m disappointed for us that we’re taking our lumps, but we have a very young team. We have seven new kids on the team, six freshman, and the difference between a 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man can be night and day.
“But these kids are among the nicest kids I’ve coached in a while. They work so hard and try so hard, they’re really good kids. They’re hard workers, good listeners and learners, but a lot of them lack hockey experience. And in this game, if you’re lacking experience, it can be tough to be competitive.”
As such, the Bucks are looking to their seniors to keep the younger players focused, to pass on the lessons they’ve learned, and to prepare them for the future.
Along with Morris are seniors Keith Orlando (the Bucks’ leading scorer with 2 goals), Erik Scaramuzzino, Geoff Diaz, and Cooper Guerin.
“One of the things you can see in high school hockey is a cultural social distance between the younger and the older kids,” Baun said. “Our seniors, the way they interact with the younger kids, they really do try to set a good example. The seniors leave an echo. That echo continues for what could be years after they leave. You count on those guys to set the tone. If you have really good leadership, you will have good leadership for the next couple years.”
“You can already see it,” Morris added. “There are a few kids in their first year, I can see in a couple years they will be up there like we are now, leading the team.”
As a team with a pair of young goalkeepers (Kyle Fasolak and Liam Rogers) and four of the top five defenders (Evan Hee, Grant Funseth, Reese Dalzell, Johnny Cherubini), there’s plenty of potential to turn things around in the upcoming years, provided the Bucks—to borrow a local sports phrase—trust the process.
“I’m optimistic,” Baun said. “If the kids work hard and they’re good listeners and they learn the fundamentals, they become good hockey players, and you can build a team where the whole is better than the sum of its part. You get hard work and communication, and suddenly your team is pretty good.”
For Morris and his fellow seniors, this season is about enjoying their final campaign on the ice for the Bucks—a season whose very existence was thrown into question a number of times in the fall. And if the examples they are providing to the younger players lay the foundation for future success, they’re OK with that.
“For the seniors, it was important that we could at least get some time on the ice, something we could remember for years after we’re out of high school,” Morris said. “I want to see the seniors have a good last year, even if that doesn’t mean all wins, I think that’s important for us to play that last season. And I want to see the younger kids learn the high school game so that they’re able to play at another level next year.
“If we’re able to help these younger kids so they can have better seasons to come, I consider that a victory for our class.”
West will next hit the ice at 7:20 pm on Feb. 10 when they visit Pennridge at Hatfield Gray.
American Conference
Hatters’ Elsabbagh the consummate team player - Following a season-opening loss, Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta had a talk with Hatter forward Alex Howieson. While he may be one of the most dynamic and skilled forwards in the league, Howieson couldn’t do it all alone.
“After the first game of the season, we had to do some soul searching,” Lafratta said of the Hatters’ 8-4 loss to Abington. “We asked Alex, ‘Who you need on your line? Who do you trust to get you the puck but also who you can trust to get the puck to?’ The first name out of his mouth was Tarek Elsabbagh. You can put Tarek with anyone and he can make that kid shine.”
And despite playing on a line with one of the top forwards in the league, Elsabbagh has no difficulty in making his presence known.
“Alex is one of the best players in the division,” Elsabbagh said. “My job is to hit Alex whenever he’s open. I feel like we have that chemistry, we played together last year and we’re improving this year. We know one of us is going to be open, we’re always talking on the ice. We know where we are, and we’re always looking for each other.
“Having Alex out there, with what he can do, if the other teams are focusing on him and that means I have those backdoor opportunities, I’m happy to take those.”
And though Elsabbagh may not light up the scoresheet like his linemate does, his contributions do not go unnoticed by his teammates.
“Tarek doesn’t always find his way on the scoresheet, but when he does, it’s almost always in a big game in a big moment,” Lafratta said. “Tarek is willing to go into the corners, willing to battle, he is consistent and plays well in all three zones, and there are very few kids who can beat him in a battle for the puck.
“When you talk about Tarek, the word ‘lucky’ doesn’t come to mind. This is a kid who is constantly working and hustling. Everything he gets, he earns. It’s not about luck for him, it’s about putting in the hard work. And everyone loves him on this team.”
For the junior winger, working hard is quite simply the only way he knows how to play.
“It’s something I learned from playing travel hockey,” he said. “You have to work hard out there and you’ve got to play in all three zones, especially as a winger. And the coaches emphasize it, Coach G puts a big emphasis on playing in all three zones. That’s part of my job. It’s more than to score and get assists, it’s to play defense, to get loose pucks at center ice.
“I think good things come to those who work hard. When I’m out there on the ice, I give 110 percent all the time. I just try to put myself into those positions where good things can happen as a result.”
Despite being a junior, Elsabbagh has more than established himself as a leader on the Hatter squad.
“Even beyond Tarek’s ability on the ice, the way he speaks to his teammates is always supportive and positive,” Lafratta said. “If someone makes a bad pass, he’s going to get in their ear, not to shut them down, but to support them, help them to do better the next time. That’s what he did for Alex, too, it was ‘How can I support you and make this better for us out there?’”
For Elsabbagh, that’s the bottom line. Hockey is not about individual glory, it’s about making the team as successful as it can be.
“I just go out there and do my job,” Elsabbagh said. “I don’t really care for stats as long as we get wins. I know who I am and my teammates know what I bring to the table.
“Right now, we’re a little up and down, so it’s tough to be happy with where we’re at, but as the season progresses and the more we play, we’re going to play better and better. As we get more games under our belts, it’s going to show up in the win column.”
Next up for the Hatters is an 8:30 pm Feb. 11 game as the designated visiting team against Quakertown at Hatfield Blue.
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