This week marks the beginning of an expanded high school ice hockey experience for many players in the Central Pennsylvania region. Several schoolboys will represent northern Blair County on a team comprised of players from local high schools that are not sponsoring their own individual teams. The Central Pennsylvania team will include players who attend schools in Bellwood and Tyrone as well as Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, Huntingdon, Spring Cove, and State College. The team also includes one player who is home-schooled. The league includes three divisions-varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen.
Central PA Coach Ed Ehrlichman said the new league”opens the door up for (the kids) to play a fairly high level of scholastic hockey. It’s a great opportunity.”
Ehrlichman said hockey is a “fast-moving, intense game” that is “perfect” for young people.
“There’s something about hockey,” he said. “It involves the commitment the kids have to make–both financial and time-wise. On a Saturday morning in the summer, these kids are on the ice at 7 a.m. for practice. Most athletes who play hockey love it.”
Chris White, a senior at Bellwood, plays center. White started playing roller hockey seven years ago in Altoona. He then commuted to State College to play ice hockey, and later played on the Tracker team in Altoona after Galactic Ice was built. White said hockey is the “all-around sport. It combines skill, physicality, and teamwork. There’s no sport like it.”
Larry Hunter, a senior at Tyrone, plays wing. Hunter had played in Lancaster three years ago. When his family moved to this area, he played in an adult league in State College. Hunter said he “has never liked any other sport better. Even when I was bad at it, I had a passion to get better.”
Hunter said hockey has helped him to “respect the people around me” because of the physical aspect of hockey. “If you’re going to hit, you’re going to be hit.”
Fred Dorman, the team’s goalie, is a sophomore from Bellwood. Dorman said he’s been playing street hockey “all my life” and ice hockey for two and a half years. He said the “speed and competition” make hockey so much fun.
Ehrlichman said that the Central PA team members, coming from various schools and areas, and having often faced each other as opponents, have had to come together as a team. And that coming together has helped the kids mature faster.
“High school kids can have a myopic view of things, but these kids are forced to mature in this environment. They got thrown together for a tournament last year. They didn’t evenvknow each other’s names. We’re going to see the team gel. They’re starting to come together as a team. It’s kind of neat to see,” he said.
Hunter agrees.
“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of teams this year. We’ll be in contention,” he said.
With Bishop Guilfoyle fielding a team last year, enthusiasm has grown for expanding the high school program in the local area. Guilfoyle’s team features standout goalie Neil Caldwell of Bellwood. Caldwell also started out playing roller hockey at Sir Skate in Altoona.
Dave Weaver, whom Ehrlichman called an “ambassador for hockey in the area” is a talk show host on Altoona’s WRTA radio station and has been a mover and a shaker in the effort to promote high school hockey in the local area. Weaver coaches the Midget A Major Tracker Hockey Club team which includes 15 to 18 year olds. Weaver has coached most of the players from northern Blair who will play on the Central PA team and also coaches the Altoona Area High School Hockey team and the Penn State Altoona team. Several other players from northern Blair County play on Weaver’s Trackers team. Weaver said the emergence of this new opportunity for local players will help to increase popularity of the sport locally.
“It should be exciting for kids to play for their high schools.” Weaver said fans will see”a good level of hockey played by people who love the game.”
The puck drops for Central PA’s junior high team next Friday at 8 p.m. The high school team plays at 10 p.m. next Saturday. Both games will be played in Indiana.
