January 29, 1978
“It was just kind of a shock,” said Rick Turnball of Radnor High School’s hockey team, referring to his performance against Upper Merion last Tuesday. Shocking, incredible, outstanding, it was all that and then some, as Turnbull, a junior defenseman, was deadly in that game, scoring 12 goals as Radnor bombed Upper Merion, 18-0. “They just kept on coming,” said Turnbull. “It got to be 10, then 11, then 12. I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t miss against them.” For his performance, which set an Inter-County Scholastic Hockey league record that should stand up for some time, Rick Turnbull has been selected as The Inquirer’s Athlete of the Week. For the record, Turnbull scored four goals in each period (“from everywhere”) while also adding two assists. The 14-point scoring night increased his season total to 50 points in 11 games.
Against Upper Merion, Turnbull has scored an incredible 28 points in two games, having had 7 goals and 7 assists in the first meeting.Turnbull, who has been skating since he was 2 years old, comes from a hockey family. His father, Ross Turnbull, played professional hockey for the old Philadelphia Ramblers, then went on to become vice president and general manager of the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League. The elder Turnbull now manages the Valley Forge Sports Garden, which allows the young Turnbull to get in all the ice time he wants. Besides playing for the Radnor team, Turnbull, 17, also plays for the Little Flyers, a traveling team comprising some of the most talented teenage players in the area. Not surprisingly, Turnbull wants to make the sport his life’s profession. “I love hockey. It’s helped me in so many ways,” he said. “I’ve been traveling with the Little Flyers. We go all over the country and I’ve been able to meet a lot of people. I get a real education from all the travel. I owe that to playing hockey.”
What will he do as an encore to that 12- goal game? “I don’t know,” Turnbull said. “I just try to be a better person. I try to be the best I can.”Twelve goals in one game. Fifty points in 11 games. Not a bad start at being the best you can.
The original
