I have been a member of the hockey team for two seasons, and have witnessed firsthand the growth of the young club under the guidance of the coach, the Rev. Jason Glover, and captains Michael Martin, Alex MacFarlane and Eddie Gerus.

Conrad Thibault, Glover and Martin worked tirelessly this summer to fix the financial woes and the relationship of the club to Gannon. The dedication and hard work of these three men are the reasons why the hockey team is still together and working toward a national championship.

The team was blessed with a talented freshman class to rejuvenate the roster after losing important team members to graduation. Zak Tomblin, Nick Jenkins and Josh Green are all freshman forwards who are members of the first two lines of the squad.

Jonathan Simmons, a senior forward, joined the team after the conclusion of his senior season on the men’s soccer team. Simmons has been a strong voice of leadership and wants to help the team win at the national tournament.

“I just really love hockey; it made up a big part of my childhood,” Simmons said. “Father Glover, and my soccer coach, Rob van Rheenen, were very supportive of me joining the team.”

Kyle Hartl, a freshman goaltender, has played well this season and often makes big saves that keep the team in the game. Scott Scholl, a junior defenseman and thoroughbred beauty, is an important member of the defensive unit and is always willing to put his body in front of pucks to help out Hartl.

“The National Tournament is going to be a great experience for the boys and for Father Glover,” Scholl said. “We just need to keep things simple, make smart plays and just keep generating offense that will hopefully help us bring Gannon a national title.”

I have been playing hockey since I was 3 years old and am grateful that I get to continue to play this amazing game with my friends. My family is thrilled that the national tournament will be played in my hometown, Buffalo, N.Y., March 15-17.

I will remember this collection of men for what happens on the ice, but more importantly for the adventures on road trips and the locker room talk. I will do everything that I can to bring a national championship back to Gannon, and I’ll have a great time in the process.

CONNOR SONDEL

sondel001@knights.gannon.edu

The Knights secured a first-place ranking in the seven-team Ohio River Valley Conference.

The tournament, which be held in Buffalo, N.Y., March 15-17, hosts teams from all over the country. Gannon is the automatic qualifier from the Ohio River Valley Conference.

Since the club team began competition in 2009, the Knights have never reached the NAIH tournament, the Rev. Jason Glover, Gannon’s coach, said.

Gannon split a two-game series with Marshall University during the past weekend, losing to the Thundering Herd 7-6 Saturday, before rebounding with a 13-5 win on Sunday.

The Knights will compete in the I-70-71 Tournament at Denison University this weekend.

Their final contest of the season will be at Allegheny College 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 22.

JOE CUNEO

cuneo001@knights.gannon.edu

Leading the way for Gannon was sophomore Cj Thibault, who contributed in three of the team’s scores with two goals and one assist. Also scoring one goal each for the Knights were senior Bobby Johns and sophomores Eddie Gerus and Ryan Severo.

Senior goalkeeper Jason Jovenall led the team’s defensive effort with 36 saves and a .947 save percentage.

Gerus said he was happy with the way the team remained on the attack for the entire match.

“We came out strong from the beginning,” he said. “We never gave them any room to try and regain the momentum. After we scored our first goal, we never looked back.”

Sophomore Scott Scholl said another key to the team’s hard-fought victory was its physical play, and the ability of the freshmen to fit in well with the team dynamic.

“Our freshmen really stepped up to the plate to help fill some of the roles of the guys that left last year,” he said. “Our goalie, Jason, was also able to play a real solid game.”

Gannon will look to add two more wins this weekend with home matches against Medaille College 2 p.m. Saturday and Wheeling Jesuit University 1 p.m. Sunday.

Scholl said that he believes the season is shaping up to be a good one, even with some tough games coming up.

“If we make a few adjustments and focus on our physical style of play, I think we’ll be able to continue the winning streak,” he said.

Johns said he also thinks the team had a solid performance against Behrend, but must remain focused in its upcoming matches.

“We played a hard game and got the right result,” Johns said. “But we need to work on our discipline for when Medaille comes to town on Saturday.”

This was the first match in which the Knights became the visiting team at the Ice Center of Erie since their 20-year program absence ended in 2009. The Knights will instead be playing their home matches for the 2011-12 season at Tullio Arena, which is part of the Erie Civic Center, located at Ninth and French streets.

Gannon will also be playing its first season as a part of the 10-team league, College Hockey Association.

CHRISTINE PEFFER

peffer002@gannon.edu

(Zack McDermott) Gannon University Club Hockey forward Eric Trapp chases down a loose puck against CCAC Saturday in the Knights' 5-3 come-from-behind victory. Trapp and the rest of the team will don purple jerseys as they raise awareness for cancer in Gannon's last home game of the season. The Knights will take on Case Western Reserve University 9:45 p.m. Saturday at the Ice Center of Erie.

Two weeks after the women’s basketball team celebrated its annual Pink Zone game, the club hockey team is taking its turn increasing awareness in the fight against cancer at 9:45 p.m. Saturday at the Ice Center of Erie.

The 10-12 Gannon team will don purple jerseys as they battle rival D’Youville College. All money donated in sales and raffles will benefit Gannon University’s Relay for Life club.

“We wanted to help the community,” said junior forward and president Bobby Johns. “A lot of people are connected to cancer, either personally or through their relatives.”

The game, which will be played in hopes of making strides against cancer, means something to different to each player.

Freshman defenseman C.J. Thibault and sophomore defenseman Eli Stephans will have their own motivation come the drop of the puck this weekend.

Thibault, whose 17-year-old brother has been in remission from Leukemia for two years, said he has seen the pain that the disease can cause first hand.

“Anything I can do to help make sure more people won’t suffer,” Thibault said. “I don’t want them to go through what my family did.”

While Thibault’s brother successfully defeated cancer, some patients, like Stephans’ mom haven’t been as lucky. Stephans’ mom, who died last summer of lung cancer, will be weighing heavily on the defenseman each time he takes the ice.

“This game will be more emotional than others,” he said. “It’ll be in the back of my mind the entire game. I’ll be playing for her.”

Even though some on the team haven’t had firsthand experience with the disease like Thibault or Stephans, the magnitude of the game isn’t lost on them.

“Leading up to the game there will definitely be butterflies,” said Johns, who hopes to raise upwards of $2,000 with the event. “Not only is this the biggest game of the season, but besides a select few, this will be the biggest game of our lives.”

Stephans said that although other games may have mattered more in a hockey sense, Saturday’s contest will end up being more meaningful than any other in his career.

“This is definitely the most important game of my career,” he said. “If my mom didn’t pass away it wouldn’t be as special, but now I’m going to play my heart out for her.”

Despite having all systems go for the team’s fourth meeting of the year with D’Youville, the road to get this far was an arduous one.

Conceiving the idea, setting the dates and making the contacts were the easy parts. Johns then had to accomplish the tall task of convincing everyone else – students and players alike – that it was a good idea.

“Some were gung-ho about the idea right away while others needed to hear more about it,” Johns said. “Publicizing it and selling people on it has been the hardest task. We’re trying to make it a game they want to be at.”

Johns and company have only ramped up their public relations effort as they are now working overtime to get student participation.

“We’d like to tell people that it’s a great cause,” Stephans said. “Whether you’ve dealt with it personally or not doesn’t matter. You may not know the extent it can hurt families. It’d mean a lot to a lot of people to come.”

Not only will the large crowd  have the satisfaction of knowing they helped battle cancer, they’ll also be treated to some quality hockey.

“It’s a fun time to be a Gannon hockey player,” Johns said. “We’re coming together at the right time and playing our best hockey of the year. We’ll be out there fighting for every goal.”

At least on Saturday, they’ll be fighting for more than just goals.

ZACK MCDERMOTT

mcdermot002@gannon.edu

(Alex Bieler) Freshman defenseman C.J. Thibault (left) protects the puck behind the net from a Gettysburg College forward Sunday. The Knights lost the game 4-3. Gannon started its season as an undefeated 2-0 after beating Penn State Behrend and Allegheny College to begin the weekend. The 2-1 Knights matched their win total from last season.

The regular season started Friday, the first of three home games in consecutive days.  The beginning of the new campaign officially ended the wait for the team’s second season, much to the approval of senior defenseman Matt Heil.

“We wanted to play so badly,” he said. “The whole team had a kind of nervous excitement for the first game.”

Gannon opened up the campaign with an 8-2 victory over Penn State Behrend’s second team at the Ice Center of Erie.  The Knights controlled play early.  Senior alternate captain Mike Foti scored four goals in the season debut, while senior Chris O’Brien added five assists after netting the opening goal.

Despite the success of the first game, Gannon often found itself on the penalty kill, much to the chagrin of coach Bud Woloszyn.

“Everyone played well and we have three balanced lines, but we have to watch our penalties,” he said.

Woloszyn said he attributes the problem to first-game inexperience, but that the team should be able to cut down on the infractions as the season progresses.

The team followed the first game success with a 7-3 victory over Allegheny College.  The win pushed the team to 2-0, already matching the win total from the squad’s inaugural season last year.

While the Knights showcased the ability to win in the first two games, the team took a 4-3 loss Sunday to show how far the squad has improved.

“Arguably, the game was the best Gannon hockey has ever played,” Heil said.

The team battled with Gettysburg College throughout the day.  Freshman Scott Scholl knotter the game up at three with under six minutes left in the third period while Kent State transfer Jason Jovenall worked his magic in net, stopping 29 shots in the first two periods. 

However, after avoiding the penalty kill throughout the day, the Gettysburg power play ended up being the Knights undoing.

With only a minute and 38 seconds left in regulation, forward Eric Trapp was called for hooking, giving Gettysburg a two-man power play.  The Bullets took advantage just seven seconds in to take the lead for good.

Although a loss never feels good, Heil said that given that Gannon only had a short time to practice before the start of the season, the Knights should be ecstatic.

“The team shouldn’t have meshed as well as they have this fast,” Heil said. “To have that many guys that have never skated together three weeks ago and hold their own with a team like Gettysburg, that’s impressive.”

The team will travel to Medaille College Saturday looking to improve its 2-1 record.  Heil said he likes his team’s chances for a victory.

“With the way we’re playing,” he said. “I feel bad for Medaille.”

ALEX BIELER

bieler001@gannon.edu