1978 Philadelphia Inquirer High School Hockey Athlete Of the Week

Sound the trumpets! A determined group of ice hockey players from Abington High has returned home after capturing the state Class AAA title in a dramatic playoff. Uh,… we said: Sound the trumpets.. Kazoos?… Noisemakers?… Whistle taffies?
The skaters from Abington will settle for almost anything after getting the kind of welcome home usually reserved for Lithuanian defectors handed back by the U.S. Coast Guard. “They announced it over the school P.A. system,” reported star center Jimmy Sutow, who scored one goal and set up three others to help upset Erie McDowell, 6-5, on total goals in last weekend’s two-game playoff. “It took maybe 15 seconds. They probably figure they did us a big favor.” Ah, but the team will be honored at a banquet organized and paid for by the players’ families. The players will receive new team jackets bought with their own money. And a yearbook financed by ads they solicited.
Support from the school amounts to “zero, zip, nothing,” snapped Roy Scott, the first-year coach whose father helped organize the team five years ago and still handles the business end. “The school doesn’t want to sponsor a sport that’s more expensive per player than football.” Except for that terse P.A. announcement, Abington’s administration has disavowed all knowledge of the team’s action. No varsity letters are awarded. No schedule is printed. Results are stricken from the athletic bulletin board. And the ultimate in rejection-they are forbidden to call themselves Ghosts. It’s Abington, period. Despite the lack of moral or financial support, the nameless wonders compiled a 24-2 record, won the Suburban League crown, and trooped up to State College for the PIAA Class AA playoffs. Two hours before game time, they learned of a slight change of plans. Class AAA contender Archbishop Carroll had pulled out because of injuries, giving Abington a shot at the big title. The added pressure didn’t seem to bother the team “It psyched us to do better than we expected,” recalled Sutow, a 17- year-old junior. “We hustled our butts off, even though we weren’t really ready physically. We had only one practice in a couple of weeks.” Their total for the season was just 10. That’s because ice time in private rinks costs the player’s

own money, naturally. And your cash flow tends to dry up when you shell out $130 for hockey skates, $60 for gloves, $40 for pads, and $10 for each stick. Sutow, the Suburban League’s leading scorer, loaded trucks and operated a forklift last summer to earn the money. Other top players, like defenseman Dennis Garvin, goalie Bob Brady, center Jon DuBois, and wingers Mark Leegare and Brian Henkels, have to pump gas and bus tables. As a 5-year-old squirt leaguer, Sutow practiced every Saturday. As a member of the state champions, he was lucky to practice twice a month. Even so, Scott feels the 5-foot 10-inch, 160-pounder “excels at everything a center does. He knows what to do with the puck when to shoot, when to pass, when to skate in.”
And when to skate off. Next fall he’ll attend Hill School, a private school in Pottstown boasting a full-scale hockey program. His aim in transferring is a better education (“I love hockey, but it’s an extra,” he says). But there are other benefits like full-time coaching. Better facilities. Even varsity letters.