Hockey players head to Poland

by Paul Shugar
Staff Writer

Four Ohio club hockey players will take off the green and white to suit up in the red, white and blue to represent the United States in the University Games in Zakopane, Poland.

Forwards Sean Kass and Mike Perino, along with defensemen Shane Print and Jack Pepper, have all been chosen from 80 to 100 players on 200 teams from the American Club Hockey Association to chase the gold for the United States in Poland.

Perino, along with the others, said it was a dream come true.

"I think every kid that has ever put on the pads has dreamed of playing for their country," he said. "Probably the neatest thing is that we get to wear the red, white and blue."

The University Games are an international event like the Olympics in which each country sends its college athletes to compete for medals in Olympic sports.

In the past the NCAA has sent Div. I players or whole college teams to the games, but this year they decided to go with club players from the ACHA to try to improve on poor finishes by the United States. The best the United States has finished in hockey is fifth.

The four players were first nominated by coach Craig McCarthy. Then a selection committee of ACHA coaches selected from the list of nominees to come up with a 21-man team.

The players will miss two games against No. 2 Penn State and the Central State Hockey League playoffs the weekend after while they are in Poland. McCarthy said he is happy for his players to get this chance despite losing them for some big games.

"I think it is an opportunity," he said. "They could go get beat up, but the experience and the chance to play at that level is fun, and I’m definitely a big supporter of it."

The Czech Republic, Ukraine, Croatia and Russia make up the pool in which the U.S. team will play. Perino said he thought it was probably one of the toughest pools at the games.

The U.S. team will play all four teams in its pool in a round-robin tournament, with the top two teams from all the pools moving on to a playoff to play for the gold medal.

Print said he knows they will be going up against some tougher and quicker competition on big international rinks instead of the small North American hockey rinks such as Bird Arena.

"It really is different playing at the international level," he said. "Europe plays on bigger rinks, and the focus is more on finesse and speed. Here we are taught to lift weights to help us bang in the corners, and in Europe the focus is to run and stretch. Seeing the two different styles clash should be interesting."

The players will do more than just play hockey while in Poland. All the players are required to go to classes about the history around the area and take trips to surrounding towns, museums and even concerts.

"They make sure we stay busy," Pepper said.

With all the players being seniors except Print, who is a sophomore, Kass said this would be a good way to end their hockey careers.

"It will be a culmination of years of hard work," he said. "It is definitely a good way to end a career."