Sewickley Academy hockey fighting to get into win column

By: Shawn Annarelli
Friday, December 20, 2019 | 6:57 PM

Sewickley Academy’s hockey team should have been easy to pick apart in its most recent game against North Catholic.

They were teams heading in opposite directions — the Panthers winless through 11 games and the Trojans owning the second-best record in Class A.

Yet Sewickley Academy, a team that has not dressed more than 10 skaters in six weeks, kept North Catholic in striking distance for most of the game.

The Trojans pulled away for a 4-1 win late in the third period only after the Panthers tired from playing long shifts. Panthers goalie Thomas Sykes saved 37 of 41 shots to help them stay in the game.

“It’d be really easy to throw up your hands, lay down and let other teams run all over you or just quit and walk away all together with what we’ve been through,” Sewickley Academy coach Chris Chiusano said. “It’s a real testament to the character of our players and their belief in each other that they play so hard.”

The North Catholic game, senior Chris Martian said, boosted the team’s confidence after the low point of the season Dec. 3, when they lost 17-0 to Norwin. The Knights had 16 skaters. Sewickley Academy had eight.

“The guys didn’t let up no matter what the score indicates,” Chiusano said. “They played until the last whistle and did it in the spirit of the game. I was proud of them for what they faced that night. It’s important in life to keep working at it, and since then, we’ve played some of our best hockey.”

Sewickley Academy will try to earn its first win with seven games left in the season.

The Panthers have been led on offense by sophomore Jack Gordon, who has 10 goals and 13 points. They will have at least one reinforcement in freshman Adin Zorn, who will return in January. He scored six points in seven games before an injury sidelined him in November.

“The challenges are avoiding injuries and sickness to keep as many bodies on the ice as we can,” Chiusano said. “We also have younger players playing a lot of minutes in games they might not normally play. Normally, they’d have another year or two to grow into those roles.”

Martian is the only senior on the team, and he tries to keep younger players focused on the “small things” that might lead to a few wins to close the season.

“There are victories within each game even though we haven’t gotten the result we want yet,” Martian said. “We can all look at mistakes we made and improve, understand what we did well, stay positive and build each other up. I feel like we are positive despite having a tough season.”

As bitter as the Panthers’ winless season has been, Martian said it would be just as sweet to get in the win column.

“A win would be super nice,” Martian said. “As positive as we can be, it is in the back of our minds that we haven’t won. I definitely think it’d be a big confidence-booster, and we’d all enjoy it a lot.”

Tags: Sewickley Academy