Lace up your skates, because Beaver Bobcat Hockey is back on the ice!
The roster includes three seniors this year, Captain defenseman Connor Hartman, Assistant Captain defenseman Hayden Vongray, and center Khaliel Laracuente.
“It’s an honor being captain of this team; our goal this year is to make playoffs and grow together as a team. We are still a pretty young team with lots of freshmen and sophomores, but I see improvement, and every game and practice we gets better,” exclaimed Hartman.
Bobcat hockey graduated four seniors last season losing Jeremy Jenkins, Nick Emmi, Brandon Scheffler, and Garret McElwain. With that being said, the team has gained four promising freshmen for this season: right wing Michael Del Signore, defenseman Anthony Dawson, wing Sean Flaugh, and goaltender Dominic Amthor. Amthor is the only goalie on the varsity team!
September 30 the guys went up against Norwin High School losing 7-2—but even though they didn’t come out on top they tried their hardest. Goals were scored by Laracuente and sophomore left wing Andreas Portugallo.
“Even though we lost our first game, I wasn’t disappointed. We all tried our hardest, and Norwin is a tough team; there’s still lots of time left in the season,” said sophomore center John Dioguardi, “We will have a tough game next week against Thomas Jefferson, but I know we will do our best!”
A tough game indeed.
October 10 the Bobcats had their home opener at Brady’s Run Ice Arena losing 8-1. During the first period Thomas Jefferson got two goals while the Bobcats were on a penalty kill and then another goal with just minutes left in the period making it 3-0 by the end of the first period.
At the beginning of the second period Portugallo took a 10-minute major for boarding. He is one of the team’s key players, but the Bobcats stayed strong only letting in two goals throughout the period making it 5-0 at the end of the second.
Between the second and third periods there is an “ice cut” so the teams return to their locker rooms to re-evaluate, and in the locker room they talked about keeping their heads up and to not give up!
Sadly, quickly after the third period started Thomas Jefferson netted three goals making it 8-0. But with only three minutes left in the game Hartman got an unassisted goal making the final score 8-1. Amthor faced a total of 42 shots that game.
“I told the younger guys going into this game that it would be tough, and it was. I think Dominic played a great game in net considering it’s only his second varsity game ever! I see a lot of potential to come as the season goes on. As a team I think our main focus is to work together and try to make playoffs,” stated Vongray.
The Bobcats went up against Sewickley Academy October 17 earning their first win of the season! Portugallo scored all three goals getting a hat trick! The final score of the game was 3-2.
The Bobcats’ next home game will be at Brady’s Run Ice Arena October 31 against South Park; the start time is at 6:45 p.m.