Moeller High School 1996-97 Hockey Articles

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The Moeller High School varsity ice hockey team traveled to the Chiller in Dublin, Ohio with 3 other area teams to 'take on non league opponents in a tournament hosted by Upper Arlington.

At the end of round robin play the Crusaders were tied¡with North Central, but had to settle for second place after losing the tie breaker for least penalty minutes.

Moeller beat a strong Mt. Lebanon team out of Pittsburgh in its first game, 5-3. Next up for the Crusaders was the eventual champion of the tournament, North Central from Indianapolis. The Crusaders were winning 5-3 with a few minutes remaining in the game, but North Central fought back and tied the game, 5-5.

The. Crusaders easily beat Maumee in their third game by scoring II goals and holding Maumee scoreless. In Moel~r's last game against Ottawa Hills, the Crusaders won convincingly, 11-1.

Moeller's record improved to 183-1 with a league record of 4-0.

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HIGH SCHOOLS

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

SuNDAY. JANUARY 5, 1997

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Strong l\:foeller hockey team.outscoring foes 120-56 HI hSch I Andy Pokupec, Moeller High's ers (22), Shawn Sadler (19), Brent irst-year ice hockey coach, has Berigan (18) and Jason Moore lisions of grandeur for his senior-' .

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Dave Schutte Throughout the years, Moeller aden Crusaders. / It's not hard to think big, when . has been known as a physical team, l!e team. is off to a best-ever-start coaching career. . . . often leading the league in penalty Pokupec .coached at Miami Urn- minutes. Things haven't changed - 15-3'-~ and outsco9ri~· oppoIents 120-56. . versity (club team t)vo years), Ta- with the Crusaders accruing 275 "From what I've/ seen, this Jawanda_ (assistant for two years), minutes through 18 games. .earn has the potential to win it Centervllle (one year) and now But Pokupec knows it's tough til," said Pokupec, who played pro- Moeller. playing a man short, and with more essional hockey. :·since 1976, lasv Although the Crusaders ~ave stringent rul.es against checking, rear's Centerville team was tjre scored 120 goals, the excep_tional he plans to:. take the necessary irst from Southwestern OhiG· to play by goaltender Greg Ziegler steps to curb penalty minutes. ·each the final 'four." //'· .-' has ,been instrumental in the "It's no longer legal checking a This optimistic asse<SsmEfot teams success. player who doesn't have the puck," vould have been premature two "Greg has been outstanding and Pokupec said. "This rule was put veeks ago but after the Crusaders he gets better every game," Poku- in to cut dowil,on injuries. Our von the prestigious Bowling Green pee, 30, said. "Our backup (Mark guys must adjust in order to make nvitational, Pokupec might be on McMahon) hasn't played before a run at the state title." he mark. ' this season and if Greg is injuried, Besides rutting down on penalties, the players• are working on The Crusaders defeated state we would be in trouble."

10wers Toledo St. John's, Sylvania Forward Mike Guenther is the . improving their[strength. Every ~orthview ;uid Glenbrook North in Crusaders leading scorer with 43 player will. start •lifting weights ~oledo fotfthe title. points (20 goals, 23 assists) fol- under the supervision of Tim ErdPoirugk played hockey at the lowed by Jon Riehle (38 points), mann, a 15-yeaHeacher at MoelJniver~ of Alaska-Fai~an!<s a0:d Chris Megois (33), Mark G~enther ler and an assistant to Pokupec .. ,rofes¥nally before begmrung his' (31), Joey Payne (26), Craig Pow~ "Terry does~atremendous JOb

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and handles most of the organizational work," Pokupec said. "Without him and the other assistants, I couldn't do it."

Funded partially by the school but predominantly by the Moeller Ice Hockey Association, the program is one of only three in the Cincinnati area. Sycamore and Talawanda also field teams.

Moeller has· been known as a football and baseball power, but Pokupec and the ·crusaders would like to add ice hockey to this winning tradition.

Call in statistics

Games, coaches wanted Boone County is looking for a football game Sept. 5. Contact Owen Hauck at 282-5655.

St. Bernard needs an assistant varsity soccer coach and an assistant softball coach. Contact Jim Arnold at 482-7102. .

Walnut Hills needs an assistant' girls track coach. Contact Karl Kaufmann at 752-5521 after 6p.m.

Moeller needs an assistant volleyball and track (shot put and discus) coach. Contact Dick Beerman at 792-3340.

Hamilton Badin is looking for an assistant varsity softball coach.

Contact Jim Arnold at 482-7102.

The Enquirer will accept boys and girls basketball statistics, wrestling honor roll nominations and nominations for Performers of Clinic at Princeton the Week today from 11 a.m. to The 39th annual Southwestern 5 p.m. at 768-84#,'768-8445 or · Ohio Football Coaches Association 768-8452. ·clinic will be Friday and Saturday Swimming coaches are remind- .at Princeton High. ed to phone honor roll nominations · 'Ohio University coach jim to Val Lyons· at 791-2554 from 10 Grome will be the featured speaka.m. to noon today. er· with Lou Cynkar (Winton

Woods), Leonard Rush (Lima), Steve Nolan (Troy), Jay Niswonger (Valley View) and.Tom Grippa (Elder and Fairfield) also on the agenda. · Registration is 6 p.m. Friday at the door.

Hoffman signs with UC The University of Cincinnati's women's soccer program received. a defensive boost when Christy Hoffman, McAuley's record-setting goalie, signed a national letterof-intent.

In three years as a starter, Hoffman has 40 shutouts, a school record.

Umpire classes offered The Blue Chip High School Umpires Association will conduct a 10-week course beginning Feb. 3 at the Hamilton County Boord of Ed11ction. Contact Max McLeary at· 471-0031 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays.

Moeller iced in state hockey

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best ever for our Moeiler skaters, who

By Joe Minster Contributor were given a good chance of .winning the state title," Pokupec said. "We got It wasn't the way coach Andy an terrific game from our senior goalie, "Poke" Pokupec and his Moeller High Greg Ziegler, who had 30 saves, many School ice hockey team wanted to end the best season in school history. of them really outstanding."

Not after the Crusader skaters had After a scoreless first period against won 30 games while losing only four St. Francis, Moeller moved in front on and tying one during the regular cama goal by Mike Gunther, assisted by paign.

Chris Megois, at II :53 of the second '\Our kids played their hearts out period .. and the fi"rst-round loss in the state The Toledo team tied it at l-1 on a tournament at Toledo was hard to power-play goal later in the period, and accept," said first-year coach Pokupec. moved to a 3-l lead in the final 15 "We were missing two of our top playminutes. Pokupec pulled his goalie in ers in the 3-2 loss to Toledo St. Francis the final minute and got a score from and then we were hurt by penalties, senior John Payne with 37 seconds to with two power play goals scored play with Brent Berrigan and Mike against us." · · Gunther assisting. · The defeat. marked the first time all But it wasn't enough. season the Crusader skaters lost two in St. Francis was eliminated in the a row, coming on the heels of a 2-1 second round by Centerville, 2-1. setback at the hands of Centerville in Seniors who will be graduating this the Southwest Ohio High School spring are Riehle, Mike Gunther, Hockey League tourney.

Megois, Payne, Brent Berrigan, "I feel badly for our young men, Ziegler, Jason Moore, Shawn Sadler, who were·unbeaten at 10-0 in the Coach Andy Pokupec Bryan Shova, Mark McManon and SOHSHL," Pokupec said ...It's oeen a Craig Powers. Riehle was the top scor.long season .and they came together er with 43 goals and 46 assists for 89 and played _so very well all year, so points in 44 games, while Mike Gun. you hate to see It all end this way. ther tallied 44 goals and 44 assists for "We were missing our top scorer, 88 points in just 32 games. senior center John Riehle, serving the "We lose some standout seniors, but second game of a two-game suspenwe have some good players coming up sion for spearing an opponent, and from our junior varsity, which was 151 then we lost one ·of our best defensemen, sophomore 6-1 ," said Pokupec, who served as assistant coach at Mark Gunther, who hurt his knee in the first period Centerville and Oxford Talawanda before replacing against St. Francis." ' Steve McGrinder at Moeller: "Hopefully, we'll continue Moeller had six minor penalties and one 10-minute our fine caliber of play next season." misconduct penalty called ·against it in the loss to St. Assisting Pokupec have been Tim Erdmann, Buddy Francis, which had only three two-minute minors whis- Payne (with the goalies), Tom Sears and Mike Russo. A tled against it. highlight of the past campaign was a 17-game unbeaten "This d~finitely has been a great season, probably the streak, featuring 16 victories and one tie.

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"I feel badly for our young men. ... It's been a long season and they came together and played so very well ·all year so you hate to se¢ it all end this way."

Moeller's other accomplishments Moe hockey ). ~ 1;1- 1·7 The Moeller Crusader varsity ice- so far for the year include two tournahockey team finished its regular sea- ment championships and runner-up son league schedule Feb. 2. The Cru- honors in two other events.

The Crusaders were recognized as saders posted an undefeated record of 10-0-0. one of the best teams in the state Moeller had the top seed in the when Moeller received the second league tourn~ment beginning Feb. 8 at seed in the west region of the state tournament. the Stick in Centerville.

Moeller will take on St. Francis in a As one of the best teams in the history of the Moeller ice-hockey pro- first round game Feb. 16 at Tam-0gram, the 1996-97 Crusaders skated Shanter in Sylvania. into the record book for most wins in a -Ed Paff adult sports correspondent season with~lg

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Moeller roster GOALTENDERS- Greg Ziegler, Sr.; Mark McMa-

non, Sr. Hood,' as in brotherhood," said senior goaltender DEFENSEMEN - Bryan Shova, Sr.; Jason Moore, Greg Ziegler. "He has created not only a sense of Sr.; Cam Walton, Jr.; Mike Walsh, So.; Mark Guenther, family on this team, but a dependence on each oth- .

So.; Shawn Sadler, Sr. cocaptain {also plays right er on and off the ice." . wing.) .

He conducts practices at Icelands in Evendale CENTERS - Mike Guenther, Sr.; Joey Payne, Sr. ; every Tuesday, Wednescllay and. Thursday from cocaptain; Jon Riehle, Sr. 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

RIGHTWINGS - John Clement. Jr.; Sadler, John O'Brien, Jr. "Most of us have to get up at 4 or 4:30 each LEFTWINGS - Chris Megois, Sr., Ed Paff, Jr., morning," said Ziegler, "but it's been worth it."

Brent Berigan, Sr. cocaptain.

Moeller players and their parents raise between $65,000 and $80,000 a year to fund the program. lProkupec, 30, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, • Limit opponents to 15 or fewer shots a game took over the program from former Cyclones dewhile outshooting them; fenseman Steve McGrinder. During a career of 300 • Establish a "Russian type" system of short, games at the youth, college and professional level, quick passes and movement as a unit. he scored 220 goals, and had 267 assists. Prokupec received his master's degree from Miami UniversiMoeller outscores foes by an average of 5-3 and ty. outshoots foes by an average of 35·15, and "every"Our focus has been in keeping the puck in our one is more conscious of defense," said Berigan. opponents' end of the ice and in controlling the Ziegler has a goals-against average of 2.59 overneutral zone (from blue line to blue line)," said all and 2.55 in league play. Senior center Jon Prokupec.

Riehle leads the Crusaders in scoring with 43 goals Prokupec also set goals for his team, including: and 89 points. He is followed by senior center Mike Guenther <42 goals, 83 points).

Score more than five goals a game;

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MO~!Cf?t

hockey adds team

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The Moeller High School ice hockey program will field four teams this year - varsity, reserve/midget and two bantam teams.

The varsity has just begun regular-season play in the Southwest Ohio High School League.

The new head coach for varsity isAndy Pokupec, who is anticipating a very successful season.

He is assisted by Ti\n. Erdman, Mark Russo, and Buddy Payne.

The reserve/midget team has been playing since early Novemoer' and is off to another good year with its first-year coach, Rob. Ganz and his assistant Mark.Redden.

Look for the JV/Midget team in the finals of the Greater.

Cincinnati Youth Hockey_ League end of season 'tournament.· Last y~ar was the first time for the bantam A team, and thi~ year a B team was added. Jim Smith is the new head coach for the.·A team with help from Mark Lemen, Jason Faessler and Doug Vogel. The coaches of the B teamt are Tim Fitz and Ray Manning.

Both Bantam teams play in the GCYHL and expect to do well in their respective divisions.

For more Information on Moeller Hockey contact J::d Paff at 576-3836 work, 677-5756 home, ()r ejp@iti-oh.com e-fuail.

Also;· Ieastvi~it rile' Mo~ ller we b.

Page at h.t~p:i/www.moelle~.org

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The Moeller Crusader varsity ice hockey team came up short in the finals of the Terry Wieland Tournament at Goggin Arena in· Oxford. · · .· ~ .

The Crusaders advancea to the finals after beating Talawanda, Canevin, and Columbus (Ind.).

Moeller dominated its opponents by a combined sc~re of 20-6 in the preliminary games. ·,. In the championship g_ame ag~inst Sylvania Nort~view, the Crusaders went down 2-0 in the first period but scored two goals in the second to pull within one.

Both· teams .. traded goals in the third period and Moeiler pulled. its goalie in the_last minute of play to try and tie the game. ·The Crusaders could not get the puck past the Northview. goali<'; and had to settle for tour-! ' nament runner~up~ · Moeller begins league play with games against Troy and Talawanda.

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outsc!lrinfifoes 120-56