1979 Scott Chamness, the best on ice

The greatest scorer in area hockey Bistory Scott Chamness of Arch- bishop Carroll High School heads the third annual Inquirer All-Area team.With shifty moves and a great shot, Chamness is one of the best scholastic players in the Middle Atlantic states. His scoring totals border on incredible and have earned him nationwide attention. The 5-foot, 11 inch, 170-pound junior scored 89 goals in just 17 games to shatter all local scoring records. He added 45 assists and 134 points to earn a unanimous selection to the team. Joining Chamness is linemate Greg Arnold, who skates effortlessly and is a dangerous scorer; deceptive forward Erik Ginkinger of Cheltenham; workhorse defenseman Eric Girardi of Germantown Academy; hard-hitting, power-shooting defenseman Rick Brosious of Lower Merion; and heady goaltender Dave Rominiecki of Archbishop Ryan.

“I developed my shot with a lot of practice shooting,” Chamness said. “I do a lot of shooting. But it doesn’t really matter how hard your shot is accuracy is better than strength. If you’re able to pinpoint where you shoot, 90 percent of the time you can score.” Chamness is almost unstoppable from the blue line in because of his overpowering combination of skating and shooting. Among his feats was scoring 12 goals in one game. Arnold, a 6-1, 165-pound junior, is an excellent skater. In combination with Chamness and sophomore Jim Bolger (a second-team selection), he was even more effective. Arnold scored 53 goals in 15 games, adding 54 assists for 107 points. “If you can skate, they can teach you the rest,” Arnold said. “But you’ve got to have stickhandling, knowledge, and the shot.” Ginkinger seems implausibly small for so dangerous a forward, at 5-8 and 140 pounds. But he has an uncanny sense of balance and is almost impossible to knock off his feet. When he goes into the corner he nearly always emerges with the puck. “I began skating when I was four,” Ginkinger recalled. “My greatest asset is quickness. I get to the net so quickly it doesn’t really matter if I can shoot or not.” But he is a fine shooter, totaling 35 goals in 21 games, with 11 assists adding up to 46 points. Girardi, a 5-7, 140-pound junior, belies his small stature by being an ironman. He usually plays 35 minutes a game. “My game is steadiness,” he said. “I try to play a solid defensive game and try not to get burned. I try to play defense as much as possible.” But Girardi’s puck-carrying skills helped fuel Germantown Academy’s offense to the point where the team was ranked second to Carroll for much of the season. He scored eight goals in 21 games, adding 16 assists for 24 points. Brosious, a 5-11, 150-pounder who is the fourth junior of the six first-team players, is a defenseman’s defenseman and a hitter. “The coach wants me to hit at the right time,” he said. “You don’t take a check you don’t need.” Brosious has, possibly, one of the hardest slap shots in the area.

All-Area Team

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

He scored 10 goals with five assists in just 15 games, after being sidelined last month with a mysterious blood clot in his left shoulder. Rominiecki, a 6-0, 140-pound senior, is a standup goaltender. “I like to say I use my head,” he said, “cutting down the angles, knowing when to make the challenge, waiting till the last second, and making them (the shooters) make the first move.” Rominiecki had a 1.44 goals-against average in 16 games, recording five shutouts. Ryan was undefeated when the selections were made, the only unbeaten team in the
area.

“I’m sorry that he’s not here. We lose a lot of scoring potential, but it’s coming along all right. We miss him, but we’re not dying without him.” Sounds like Joe Morgan giving Pete Rose the old see-if-l-care treatment, but it’s not. It’s Greg Arnold explaining why the Archbishop Carroll hockey team failed to don sackcloth and ashes the day star winger Scott Chamness separated his shoulder. Mainly, the reason is Arnold himself. The quick, strong all-area center helped put Carroll in post- position to wrap up the Inter-County League title with a victory last night over Radnor. In three previous playoff games without line-mate Chamness, he banged in nine goals, including five in one game. The 6-foot, 1-inch junior managed pretty well even when he was sharing the spotlight. The amazing Chamness led the league in scoring with 134 points in 19 games, an average of seven a game. But Arnold finished second with 107 points in just 14 games, an average of eight a game. Carroll also boasts the Nos. 3, 4, and 5 scorers in Jim Bolger, Kim Vasys, and Carmen D’Giandomenico. “Sometimes our games get a little out of hand,” laughed Arnold, recalling a 20-0 bombardment of Downingtown back in February. “We call them Point Nights.” As it is, he’d settle for a few more Off Nights. When you skate for two teams at once like Greg does,

you feel like you’re about to go through a meltdown.
Mondays and Thursdays he plays for Carroll, Saturdays and Sundays for the Little Flyers in Junior League competition. Tues- days he grunts through Little Flyers practice, and Wednesdays it’s Carroll practice. On Fridays, he lies back and wonders if a separated shoulder really hurts all that much.