Hockey team gears up for sectionals

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, February 24, 2007

The Lewiston-Porter varsity club hockey team has been on a roll since the first of the year, and Lancers head coach Ken Browning hopes that his team can stay hot for a few more weeks as the Section VI and state tournaments loom around the corner.

The Lancers are one of eight teams to qualify for the sectionals, which are next weekend at Jamestown. The top four from that tournament advance to states March 23 – which this year will be held in Cheektowaga.

Browning would love to take his team to states in front of a home crowd, and he likes their chances.

“I really think we have an excellent shot,” he said. “We’ve really picked up our play since Christmas. I think the kids now realize that they can play with anybody and beat anybody.”

The Lancers have lost just one game since Christmas, and they sit at 12-7-4 overall – including a big win last month at the Motown Cup Hockey Tournament in Detroit.

Competing in the competitive Western New York Small School Club Hockey League, the Lancers finished 7-7-3 in league play and fifth in their division, just missing their league playoffs. They finished one point out of fourth place and a playoff spot and just six points out of first place.

But overall for both divisions, the Lancers were sixth – and that was good enough to move them on to sectionals. Had Lew-Port been in the other division, the Lancers would have finished in second place.

So they move on to sectionals, where they will play at least three games – four, if they’re lucky. The top four teams move on to states, where they will face the top four teams from the eastern part of the state.

“We’re playing very well right now, but we’ll have our work cut out for us,” Browning said. “We’ve played some tough competition, but now the best teams in the state will be there.”

A big reason for the Lancers’ success has been team defense and strong play in net as junior Richie Brosius and sophomore Carmen Crapsi form a solid tandem in goal. The team has one shutout in league play, and that belongs to Crapsi.

Offensively, the team has scored 79 goals in league play – or 4.6 per contest.

Junior Marc DeGiulio, one of the team’s assistant captains, is the Lancers’ leading scorer and was voted a league First Team all-star. Lew-Port has good offensive balance as junior Tom Mooradian was second in scoring, followed by junior Colton Crossley, senior assistant captain Scott Beseth and senior defenseman and captain Hagop Otabachian.

While Browning is pleased that his team made sectionals, he is concerned about the two-week layoff leading up to the competition.

We’ve been playing very well and we don’t want to lose our momentum,” he said. “We didn’t want to schedule any scrimmages because we don’t want anybody getting hurt. We’re just trying to practice hard and stay sharp until it’s time.”