Sewickley Academy athlete of the week: Andrew Beck

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 7:33 AM

Andrew Beck

School: Sewickley Academy

Sport: Hockey

Class: Senior

Claim to fame: Andrew Beck fed Matthew Haldukiewicz with an assist to score in the last minutes in a loss to Montour.

The Sewickley Academy senior said his team has played several of the best programs in Class A hockey early in the season. He believes that the Panthers will only get better as everyone learns what line combinations and strategies will work best.

How did you get the assist against Montour?

Matt and I have been friends and playing together for most of high school now and middle school, too. It was off the faceoff, and I got it to him and he was able to put the goal in. We were in the bottom circle on the right side.

That goal was scored when the game was out of reach. What does it say about your team that you kept fighting?

Montour is one of the harder teams we will play this season, and this year we have expectations for ourselves. The fact we were able to, even if the score didn’t say it, we felt like we all kept trying. We were trying different line combinations to know what could work. I think it says a lot about our character and perseverance that we didn’t throw in the towel, and that will help us throughout the year.

What’s it like playing with a teammate like Matthew Haldukiewicz who can score at any time?

I love playing with Matt. He’s one of my best friends in and out of school. He’ll always know where to be, and he’ll know where you’re going to be. He always has your back, too. He won’t just stand back if something happens to you. He’s great for our team and our captain and rightfully so.

The team has started off 2-3. What do you feel everyone needs to do to be more consistent?

We’ve played a couple hard teams, some of the hardest we will play all season like Montour, West Allegheny and North Hills. Also, with some people just getting back from fall sports, we haven’t had the team all together too much. We have the team together now, and we can start working on definite lines and strategies. With all of us together, I think we’ll head in the right direction.

What do you feel is this team’s greatest strength?

It’s the amount of seniors we have on this team. We have all played together since middle school. We know how each other plays, and we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We can pick each other up, too, and knowing how to play together is really important.

What is your favorite unit to play on?

I definitely like playing on the power play, but honestly, I love playing penalty kill. I think that’s really fun, trying to block and get the puck out of the zone. Even though that’s probably not the best thing to say, I love playing and being out there for penalty kills.

You haven’t scored goal yet this season. Do you think it’s coming soon?

I hope it’s coming soon. I’ve been in a drought this year, but I believe it’ll come with time. Playing alongside someone like Matthew, it’s gotta come at some point.

Shawn Annarelli is a freelance writer.

Tags: Sewickley Academy