{"id":10402,"date":"2024-02-11T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flyers-cup-history.org\/?p=10402"},"modified":"2025-06-25T06:14:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T10:14:35","slug":"2015-all-area-teams-delco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flyers-cup-history.org\/?p=10402","title":{"rendered":"2015 All-Area Teams (Delco)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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April 2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-Delco: Springfield\u2019s Riddle too tough for foes to solve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Player of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Springfield centerman raced to the net midway through the second period of a Flyers Cup A quarterfinal against Wissahickon. He calmly dragged the puck across the crease and deposited it in the back of the net even as a Warriors\u2019 defenseman, on the wrong side of a 14-0 shellacking, broke his stick over the attacker\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Tyler Riddle\u2019s fifth goal of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel it. I didn\u2019t see it,\u201d Riddle said of the vicious slash. \u201cI heard it was real bad-looking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one, by any means it appeared, could phase Riddle that night. Then again, few could all season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers Riddle amassed as a junior are simply staggering. He had 19 multi-point games and scored at least a point in 21 of Springfield\u2019s 22 contests. He bagged seven hat tricks, including the five-goal effort that left Wissahickon broken along with one defenseman\u2019s stick. His 42 regular season goals accounted for nearly a third of the Cougars\u2019 output. Riddle, who wears 87 in homage to Sidney Crosby (although he insists he\u2019s a Flyers fan), added six more in Flyers Cup competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tyler Riddle<\/a>, Springfield Cougars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He accomplished all of this with the burden of expectations, physical abuse (two separated shoulders, nagging groin issues, and bruises from constant stick-work from opponents), a hockey-heavy schedule, and the mental wear and tear that comes with being a high school athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year was the hardest. I never experienced something like this,\u201d Riddle admitted. \u201cPractice Monday for High School. Tuesday was club practice with the (Valley Forge) Minutemen, with a workout after. Wednesday was power skating for the Minutemen. Thursday was practice, workout. Friday, I had a game for Springfield. Saturday and Sunday I always had a game on each day (for the Minutemen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were probably two or three weekends that whole season where I didn\u2019t have a game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year was the hardest. I never experienced something like this,\u201d Riddle admitted. \u201cPractice Monday for High School. Tuesday was club practice with the (Valley Forge) Minutemen, with a workout after. Wednesday was power skating for the Minutemen. Thursday was practice, workout. Friday, I had a game for Springfield. Saturday and Sunday I always had a game on each day (for the Minutemen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were probably two or three weekends that whole season where I didn\u2019t have a game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if it was all worth it, Riddle didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah. I love it.\u201dRiddle is the 2015 Daily Times Hockey Player of the Year<\/em><\/strong>, the third consecutive Springfield Cougar to win the award. He is joined on the All-Delco team by five seniors: Haverford High\u2019s Joey Harant and Joe Moran<\/a>, and Garnet Valley\u2019s Michael Lassik and Josh Vershinski, Ridley\u2019s Sean Dolan and Cardinal O\u2019Hara\u2019s Andrew Beck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vershinski, Dolan and Beck make sure defensemen are well-represented on the squad. Harant, the goalie, is the only two-time selection of the bunch. The All-Delco team is selected by the Daily Times staff in consultation with area coaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

?What is it about Springfield that makes it a perennial hockey power? In a word, tradition. Success is shared from one graduating class to the next like an heirloom. All the while, the members of the varsity interact with impressionable youngsters, educating them on what it means to be a Cougar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have these skates where we\u2019re always telling the middle school kids about the tradition,\u201d Riddle explained. \u201cThe middle school team plays the same way as the high school-same practices, same game plan. We always have a strong three lines, and strong six defensemen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passion instilled in the little ones spills onto the black top, where roller and street hockey are popular pastimes in the community. The Riddles, Tyler and older brother Kyle, hosted games on the basketball courts behind their house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always out there. Probably like eight or nine guys,\u201d Riddle said. \u201c(Teammates) Tom Coll, Bryan (Biehl), Steve (Cavaliere), (Andrew) Astrino-all of them come out. All of the younger kids too. We\u2019ve been doing that since middle school. It\u2019s a tight group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hockey players are welcomed not only into the neighborhood, but also the classroom. Ms. Mroz, a Language Arts teacher whom Riddle calls \u201cThe Team Mom,\u201d accepts the freshmen on their first day of class and remains a fixture throughout their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just always the biggest fan,\u201d Riddle said of his favorite teacher. \u201cWe\u2019re always in her classroom early on game days with our shirts and ties with the jersey over taking pictures. She was the same way the first day when I walked into high school. She\u2019s always there to help me with stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Mroz has become an extension of the family that drives Riddle\u2019s burgeoning career. His father Tom had him on the ice as soon as he could walk. His mother Denise offers a comforting voice after tough losses, such as the triple-overtime defeat to Ridley that dashed Springfield\u2019s Central League hopes. Younger sister Allison, a sophomore, sits in the stands in her brother\u2019s jersey, correcting erring reporters when they mistake Tyler for Kyle and vice versa. His grandparents Linda Riddle and Ray Mulligan travel two hours from Cape May, New Jersey, to all his games. \u201cThey support everything I do,\u201d Riddle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But without Kyle, a two-time All-Delco, Tyler would not be the player he is today. The brothers turned years of bickering into instant chemistry on the ice. They mastered the cycle as linemates, using quick passes to create scoring chances as the Cougars reached the Flyers Cup A final two seasons in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like we knew where we were at all times,\u201d Tyler explained. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even have to put our heads up. I passed it and I knew he was going to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His brother graduated in 2014, but Tyler Riddle<\/a> has retained the puck skills that made the siblings such a formidable duo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey say I have better hands,\u201d he said. \u201cI might have better hands but he\u2019s the one who taught me all those drills. I give the credit to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now inching towards 6-feet-tall, Riddle continues to improve. His performance for the Cougars as well as the Minutemen, which he also led in scoring, caught the attention of the vaunted Jr. Flyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019ll play for their 18-and-under team next season, a decision that nearly ended his Springfield career a year early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a time where I wasn\u2019t sure I was going to play both. All that time, my work, my school work and everything \u2013 I\u2019m going to need my school work if I start getting college looks,\u201d Riddle revealed. \u201cThe scout at the Jr. Flyers, though, wants me to play high school. He said, \u2018It\u2019s the best time of your life.\u2019 I took that advice and I said yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars will be glad to have him back. The rest of the Central League? Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-Delco Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andew Beck – Cardinal O’Hara Lions
Joe Moran<\/a> – Haverford High Fords
Joey Harant – Haverford High Fords
Michael Lassik – Garnet Valley Jaguars
Sean Dolan – Ridley Raiders
Tyler Riddle<\/a> – Springfield Cougars<\/p>\n

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April 2015 All-Delco: Springfield\u2019s Riddle too tough for foes to solve Player of the Year The Springfield centerman raced to the net midway through the […]<\/p>\n

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