Decroo leads Jr. Bruins over Hetland; Bay State

Former Hornet Nick Decroo scores game winning goal as the EJHL Jr. Bruins hold off a hard charging Bay State Breaker squad Friday evening. After Decroo gave the Jr. bruins a 4-1 lead Bay State scored twice, including a goal by former Hornet Dane Hetland, to cut the lead to 4-3.
Dane Hetland finished with 1 goal and 1 assist, Decroo 1 goal (game winner), and Captain and former Hornet, Chris Brown 1 assist.

Minella off to solid start in USHL season

Former Hornet Christiaan Minella has 2 goals and 1 assist through 3 games for the Sioux City of the USHL. Minella will be playing at Notre Dame next season, joining another former Hornet Christian Hanson. Minella, the Team Captian, had a solid season in 2004-2005 posting 7 goals and 15 assists in 58 games for the Musketeers.

Musketeers aim to move past pair of OT losses
Three games on Sioux City's weekend slate
By Steven Allspach - Sioux City Journal sports writer
Posted from 10/07/05:

After two stomach-churning losses, it was only natural for indigestion to upset Sioux City team captain Christiaan Minella and his short-handed gang of veterans.The agitated stomachs were caused by heart-breaking 5-4 overtime losses last weekend to Lincoln and Tri-City. Lincoln prevailed in its opening game at home Friday before a crowd of 4,610, getting a tying goal with just 8/10ths of second left in regulation, then winning 18 seconds into overtime.The following night in Sioux City, Tri-City put in the winning goal with only 5.7 seconds remaining in the extra session.

"The older guys took those losses harder than our new players," said Minella, a third-year Musketeer who will play collegiately at Notre Dame next season. "We've been around the longest and we take the responsibility for those games. In those situations it is on our shoulders.""It took a couple days for the disappointment to wear off, but we're eager to get back at it."It's going to a long weekend, but I think we're the best conditioned team in the league and fatigue shouldn't be a factor. We've got to play physical and keep a good mental frame of mind."We've left those games behind and we're moving on."Minella has two goals and an assist in the three games.

With the Musketeers' 5-3 opening win over Omaha at the Tyson Events Center, the Musketeers begin the weekend with four points in the West Division.Coach Dave Siciliano's skaters take on Omaha tonight in Council Bluffs, then host Sioux Falls Saturday and Cedar Rapids Sunday afternoon (4 o'clock faceoff).Sioux City's team, the youngest in the USHL, includes 14 players still in high school.

"This a critical weekend for us, but we can't think too far ahead," said Siciliano. "We've got to stay in the present as much as we can."The Sioux City coach, who guided the Musketeers to the USHL's Clark Cup finals last year with Cedar Rapids winning the fifth and deciding game, agrees with Minella."Our veterans took those overtime losses pretty hard," said Siciliano, "but our younger kids took it more in stride. They're full of energy and maybe the traditions of the league didn't bother them as much."The key thing this weekend will be for us to show the mental toughness to maintain focus in each game. The young kids are accustomed to three-game weekends in bantams and midgets. That's how they grew up playing hockey."Our effort has been there in three games, including the two overtime losses, and we got a point in each of those losses, but I emphasized we haven't gotten a 'W' for two games and that's not good," the Sioux City coach said.

Sunday, the Musketeers will face one of the USHL's premier goaltenders in Alex Stalock, who will play collegiately at Minnesota-Duluth. San Jose's fourth-round selection (112th pick) in the 2005 National Hockey League draft was named the outstanding player in the Clark Cup finals last year.He made 24 saves in the deciding game with the Musketeers.The main Cedar Rapids offensive threat is Maine recruit Ted Purcell."The Cedar Rapids game will have a lot of emotion because of last year, but we've got to take care of other business first," said Siciliano. "I think Ted Purcell, though, has the potential to lead the league in scoring."Musketeer assistant captains Phil DeSimone and Ryan Hohl, two of the few veterans on the club, each have two goals and two assists.Billy Blase will start in goal tonight against Omaha, but Siciliano said the team's other first-year goalie, former Hornet Phil Tetzlaff, will start either Saturday or Sunday.

Levendusky Scores for Texarkana (NAHL)

Former Hornet Defenseman Mike Levendusky scored his 1st goal of the young season in a 4-2 Texarkana defeat of Santa Fe. Texarkana is off to a 2-0-1 start in the South Division of the North American Hockey League.

Goalie Shaun Williams excels in USHL

Hornet alumni goaltender Shaun Williams is off to a great start with the Chicago Steel of the USHL with a .901 save % in his first 2 games. Chicago is traditionally a physical team and usually lights up the penalty minutes, so Shaun is certainly going to see a lot of action and odd-man situations. With his cat-like quickness, great athleticism and outstanding intellect for the game, we envision that Shaun will have no difficulty continuing his great play throughout the season. Congratulations Shaun, the Hornet association is proud of your accomplishments.

Alumni:Hetland, Wright, and Brown lead Baystate; face Decroo

Three former are Hornets off to a good start for the Baystate breakers of the EJHL. Through 6 games, Dane Hetland leads the team in scoring with 5 goals and 3 assists in 6 games. Chris Brown has been honored by being chosen captain for the 2005-2006 season.

Tonight Baystate faces the Jr. Bruins and former Hornet Nick Decroo who, despite missing most of training camp with mono, has 2 goals and 3 assists in 4 games.

Alumni Update-Garay off to hot start in OHL

Former Hornet, Justin Garay, in his second season with Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League has a .907 save percentage in 3 appearances with the Whalers. Presently, he is 7th overall in save percentage in the 20 team league.

Phil Tetzlaff excels as USHL goaltender

Hornet Alumni goaltender Phil Tetzlaff almost pulls off a miracle comeback in a recent USHL contest between the Tri-City Storm and the Sioux City Musketeers on October 1, 2005. The Musketeers fell behind 4-0 to a veteran laced Tri-City team before they launched an incredible comeback scoring 4 goals in the 2nd period after Phillip Tetzlaff came into the game in relief of Billy Blaze and shut out the Storm for over 37 minutes. Tri City scored with 5 seconds left in the overtime to record their first victory of the season. Though a heartbreaking loss for the Musketeers, Phil Tetzlaff was the star of the game in rallying his team in this incredible comeback. Phil is the latest in a long line of Hornet Goaltenders to excel at all levels of junior hockey, including the USHL. For the last 10 years, the Hornets have consistently developed and sent goaltenders to the major junior leagues, Division 1 hockey programs and have even had a goalie drafted in the National Hockey League.

Guenin named pre-season All-CCHA

Former Hornet and current Ohio State Buckeye, Nate Guenin, has been named to CCHA Preseason All-Conference Second Team in voting by coaches, journalists, and media members.

Nate (whose nickname is Nasty) had this to say about his experiences playing for the Hornets:
The Pittsburgh Hornets provided me with every opportunity to move to the next level. Playing with the Pittsburgh Hornets gave me exposure to major Junior, major Junior-A and college scouts."

Guenin Voted Ohio State Men's Hockey Team Captain for 05-06

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Defenseman Mate Guenin has been voted the Ohio State men's hockey team captain for the upcoming 2005-06 season, head coach John Markell announced. Forward Rod Pelley and defenseman Sean Collins will serve as alternate captains for the squad. All three were chosen by a vote of their teammates.

"Anytime you're voted into a leadership position by your teammates it's a tremendous honor," Markell said. "It's a reflection of the actions of these three players both on and off the ice and the dedication they've shown to the program. Rod and Sean will be a great complement to Nate. The three will do a great job in leading our young squad."

Guenin, a rising senior from Aliquppa, Pa., served as an alternate captain for the Buckeyes the
last two seasons. He was a 2005 AII-CCHA Second Team selection and was a Top 3 finalist for
CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman honors. As a finance major, Guenin was the CCHA Scholar- team captain for the Athlete of the Year honoree for Ohio State, earned the Center Ice Club Scholar-Athlete award 2005-06 campaign and a three-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete.

Guenin played in 41 games last season, posting 2-12-14 totals and a team-high 136 penalty minutes. He has seen action in 112 career games, with a 6-36-42 line. Guenin was drafted by the New York Rangers in the fourth round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Guenin takes over the captaincy from two-time leader JB Bittner, who completed his eligibility this past season. The duo grew up playing hockey together in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Hornets hockey organization.

Bittner is presently attending the training camp of the Portland Pirates in the AHL, an affiliate of the NHL Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

HORNETS 5th in the USA NATIONAL AAA RANKINGS

October 3, 2005 USHN MIDGET AAA NATIONAL RANKINGS
1. Shattuck St. Mary's
2. Chicago Chill
3. GBL Bruins
4. Team Illinois
5. Pittsburgh Hornets

Out of approximately 120 Midget AAA teams in the United States.

Marquette wrap up

Ushockeynews.com names Pittsburgh Hornet, Patrick Gaul (1990), as one of 20 players on it's all prospect team. Congratulations Pat.

Ryan Malone Centers Top Line with Mario Lemieux

Hornet Alumni and NHL Player Ryan Malone is now centering the top line for the Pittsburgh Penguins! Malone is centering the top line between Mario Lemieux and Ziggy Palffy as the Penguins get set to open their season against the New Jersey Devils this Wednesday, October 5, 2005. According to the Pens website, Malone first centered this line last week in a preseason game against the Ottawa Senators. “I liked what I saw. It was an adjustment in the game to try to get us going, trying to create some offense” Pens coach Eddie Olczyk said. With Ziggy and Mario, I think we’re going to have someone who can get them the puck and be able to do a lot of the work down low “I did like the way Ryan fit in there” Olczyk said. Congratulations Ryan, the Hornets are very proud of your accomplishments as one of the top young players in the NHL.

Former Hornet enters the NHL!

Congratulations to Former Hornet R.J. Umberger (Ohio St.), who will begin his first season in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Umberger had this to say about the Hornet Program "Playing for the Hornets enabled me to play against the best kids in Michigan and Canada because we participated in the best tournaments in the country every year. The experience also helped me get scouted by the U.S. National Team."

R. J. , a Plum native, joins Pittsburgh Penguin Ryan Malone (22 goals in his rookie season) as former Hornets on 2005 opening day NHL rosters.

The results are now in for the Marquette Electricians Tournament this past weekend. After starting out with 3 consecutive wins over highly rated Victory Honda, followed by Colorado (OT), and St. Louis, the Hornets lost a heartbreaking 3-2 to CYA in a nailbiting game that went to OT in a game where a tie was all that was needed to move into the playoff round of the prestigious 20 team tournament. In the Semifinals, the Hornets struggled to regroup facing a strong Chicago Chill team and game away with a tournament ending loss. The Chicago Chill then lost a heartbreaking 3-2 to the Team Illinois after taking a one goal lead into the third period. In attendance were Scouts from many college and Jr. Teams, such as Ohio State, Cornell, Notre Dame, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State, Norther Michigan , Wayne State, and the US National Team Developmental Program. Waterloo, Des Moines, Green Bay, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City were in attendance from the USHL. NAHL teams included Traverse City, Mahoning Valley, and Texas. The Ontario Hockey League was also represented.