Ice Prowlers off to unbeaten start

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, November 20, 2003

FORREST CLARKE
ThisWeek Staff Writer

photo by Dave Yunker/ThisWeek Newark's Thomas Hickey (front) and the Ice Prowlers' Brian Rossi collide while going for the puck during their Nov. 9 game.

photo by Dave Yunker/ThisWeek Newark's David Atha works his way between Matt Schuh (left) and Eric Willard of Pickerington-Reynoldsburg-Pataskala-Canal Winchester on Nov. 9 during their GCHSCHL game at the Ice Haus in Columbus.

The Pickerington/Reynoldsburg/Pataskala/Canal Winchester high school club hockey team has picked up where it left off.

PRPC, which won the Blue Jackets Cup last season, opened 5-0 this season after beating Olentangy 3-1 last Friday and Westerville 5-2 last Sunday.

It will play Hilliard on Friday and the Northeast Storm on Sunday.

In the regular season a year ago, the Ice Prowlers finished second at 17-5-2 (36 points) behind defending champion Athens (18-4-2, 38). But they went 4-0 in the tournament going 4-0, including a 2-1 victory over Athens in the final, to finish 21-5-2 overall.

With Ryan Markell (34 goals, 37 assists, 71 points) and Jimmy Betts (20-18-38) leading the offensive surge, the Ice Prowlers scored 156 goals, averaging a league-best 6.78 a game.

But Betts and four other players graduated. Markell, a junior, is playing for the Columbus Stars in the Central States Hockey League. Betts also is playing for the Stars.

"(Markell) is a big loss, but that's a big stepping stone for him and a great recruiting tool for us as well," said second-year coach Marty Laroche, who was prepared for a slow start after the loss of players who accounted for 84 goals last year.

"(Opening 5-0) has been a little bit of a surprise. We lost a lot of experience from last year and it's still a learning process. I think our early games were closer than the score indicates."

Senior T.J. Hess was second (24-34-58) in points behind Markell last year.

Through four games, he had a team-best seven goals and was tied with Brian Kay, a move-in from Michigan, for the team lead with 11 points.

"Anytime you lose guys that big, it's going to hurt, but we have a lot of guys playing bigger than they are," Hess said. "It's made for an easier transfer."

Junior Eric Willard is second on the team with six goals ahead of classmate Anthony Kantor (five) and Kay (four). Juniors Mike Miller and Eric Weinhold and freshman Nick Hess have two goals each.

PRPC had six players score during a 7-0 win over Newark in the opener Nov. 2.

Additional scoring threats are senior Matt Macciomei and sophomores Nick Miller and Ben French.

The Ice Prowlers also have depth at goalie with sophomore Jesse Betts and senior Zach Ahern, a move-in from Cleveland.

Betts, who had 19 saves last Friday, finished last year's tournament with a league-leading 1.36 goals-against average after posting a 3.0 GAA during the regular season. Ahern got the shutout against Newark.

Assistant coach Jay C. Catherine is responsible for the goalies.

"I give him a lot of credit for the goal-tending situation," Laroche said.

PRPC was expected to be susceptible was on defense after losing four defensemen to graduation, but senior Josh Martyn and sophomore Mike Laird are filling the void.

Other defensemen are senior Mike Westling, junior Matt Schuh and freshmen Brian Rossi and Loren Chrisman.

Laroche expects Westerville, which defeated Athens 4-2 on Nov. 9, to be a league contender along with the Storm, which defeated Athens 2-1 on Nov. 2.

"You put a target on your back when you win a championship," he said. " I told the guys you can't take any nights off. We'll have to try and maintain this intensity."