PRPC has hopes of winning title again

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, December 30, 2004

DON DELCO
ThisWeek Staff Writer

The club hockey team representing Pickerington-Reynoldsburg-Pataskala-Canal Winchester (PRPC) has placed itself in prime position for a third consecutive title in the Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League.

Entering the holiday break, the Prowlers were 10-3-0 with 20 points and tied with Westerville (9-1-2, 20) for first ahead of Athens (7-3-1, 15), Olentangy (6-6-0, 12), Hilliard/Southwest (4-7-2, 10), Northeast (3-8-1, 7) and Newark (0-11-2, 2).

"We're off to a decent start, pretty much as expected," coach Marty Laroche said. "Our league seems to be made up of two or three teams that battle for a top spot and then there's more of a bottom tier. As far as the standings, there's nothing unexpected."

Before an 8-2 win over Hilliard/Southwest on Dec. 19, PRPC had lost two of three games, including 8-3 to Westerville on Dec. 12. The Warcats also defeated the Prowlers 4-2 on Nov. 7.

The teams play for the third and final time of the regular season Jan. 21.

In order to find a way to beat Westerville and contend for another league title, PRPC must continue its balanced offensive attack.

The Prowlers have eight players in double figures in points -- Anthony Kantor (9 goals, 24 assists, 33 points), Nick Hess (16-14-30), Taylor Walcutt (17-10-27), Eric Willard (10-15-25), Eric Weinhold (6-16-22), Cody Berkebile (10-10-20), Mike Miller (6-6-12) and Brian Rossi (2-8-10).

"One of the good things is we're getting balanced offensive output," Laroche said. "Almost any given night you can look at the scoresheet and see someone different provided the offense.That makes it more difficult for other teams to key on one guy or one line, per se."

Defensively, Laroche has found another goalie to complement third-year starter Jesse Betts.

Freshman Miles McGrew has competed in 11 games and posted an 8-3 record. He has a 1.88 goals-against average and a save percentage of 88.9.

Betts has started eight games and gone 5-2 with a 3.27 GAA and a save percentage of 83.7.

"I've been splitting their time throughout the season and both have been involved quite a bit," Laroche said. "I've got two really good goalies."

McGrew also plays for the Columbus Capitals 16-U AA team, so he started his first season with the Prowlers with some experience.

"Miles works hard at practice and he came into this season with good credentials," Laroche said. "It's good for them to learn the basics early and get a feel for the game."

Starting Jan. 7, PRPC has 11 GCHSCHL games remaining.

Despite a first half in which the Prowlers lost two consecutive games just once and had unbeaten streaks of five and four games, Laroche wants more consistency.

"Night-in and night-out, our goal is to be more consistent," he said. "We have nights when we're very good and others where we're not very good. It's just a matter of getting that output night-in and night-out and make sure we're ready to go from the drop of the puck."

"We've yet to play a strong three periods of hockey. There are times we play two good periods then all of a sudden we lose focus whether is for 10 or 15 minutes. If we avoid that the remainder of the season, we'll be very successful."