The citizens of Youngstown, Ohio, should be ready for some heavy traffic this weekend as the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Ohio Showcase, one of the largest tournaments in the ACHA, descends upon the small town for the second consecutive year.
The No. 10 Arizona club hockey team plays three games in the tournament, against Mercyhurst today, Western Michigan tomorrow, and No. 14 Duquesne on Sunday.
“”We’re going up against teams that we know are inferior, and we will need to show the other teams that we can play at a higher level,”” senior defenseman Eric Kowalek said.
The Icecats’ biggest challenge will come in their last game of the weekend when they take on Duquesne.
Duquesne has two lethal forwards anchoring its first line, Mike Papciak and Luke Warwzeniack, who have a combined 12 goals and seven assists in five games, while the rest of Duquesne’s squad has scored 14 goals.
Starting in goal for Duquesne will be Brian Adamczak, who has logged 271 minutes with a 5.30 goal against average, allowing a total of 24 goals in five games.
On the Arizona side, the Icecats struggled with the rule change that does not allow shoving and grabbing in the neutral zone last weekend with 27 penalties against Las Vegas-Nevada.
Still the Icecat coaching staff expects the Wildcats to take advantage of this rule change this year because of the quickness of junior co-captain Scott Marshall, a right wing, sophomore center Robbie Nowinski, and sophomore left wing Matt Conover.
“”We really like pushing the puck up the ice,”” Arizona head coach Leo Golembiewski said, “”and this rule change should really play to the strengths of Icecats’ hockey.””
Golembiewski said the Icecats play a fast game and much of their play is based on speed, which should improve with the faster play this season.
“”This team plays with speed and intensity, and that’s going to help the neutral zone more,”” Marshall said. “”We’re going to get goals.””
Golembiewski said he has been impressed with his two junior co-captains Craig Irwin, who had two goals and three assists last weekend, and Marshall.
They helped lead a high-scoring Icecat offense last weekend, as they scored 10 goals in two games while only allowing five goals to the opposition.
Defensively, Golembiewski said he will look to Kowalek and fellow senior defenseman Max Sliwinski to help keep the puck out of the net.
Junior goalie Luke Edwall and sophomore goalie Nick Boddy will both play in tandem again this weekend. Edwall played well last weekend with 21 saves on 23 shot attempts.
Golembiewski will be making some changes to his lines this weekend by switching Nowinski into center and Conover to right wing, and moving freshman defenseman Zach Sampson into the left wing position.
“”You’ve got to build on the strengths and strengthen the weaknesses,”” Golembiewski said. “”You have to coach and know the players. Bottom line is leadership is important.””
