Past News

(pictures courtesy of Debbie Priddy and Priddy Pictures……www.priddypictures.com)

Jacob Druga selected to play for TEAM US @ FIORS World Championships

West Allegheny hockey will have visibility on the world stage in July as Jacob Druga, an 11^th grader and member of both . West A’s Inline and Varsity Ice hockey programs, has been selected to play for TEAM US at the upcoming FIORS World Championship  Tournament.  Jake will participate as part of the US Junior Men’s Team, who will compete against 12 teams from Canada, Mexico,  South America, Australia, and European countries such as Great Britain, France and the Czech Republic.  

                The FIORS World Championship (Federation Internationale of Roller Sports) will be played in Roccaraso Italy.  Jake will be  Traveling with his grandparents, Robert and Barb Druga, in early July for the tournament which runs from July 4^th – July 9^th.  Jake has played ice hockey for amateur club teams in the Pittsburgh area since elementary school and has been a member of  West A’s Varsity Ice Hockey team for the past 2 years.  He began playing Inline Hockey for West Allegheny a few years ago              and was a member of the Varsity 2 Team that won a PIRHL championship during the fall/winter 2010-2011 season.  He is  again participating for West A Inline during the RMU Spring season as a member of the Varsity 1 Team.  

                He was invited recently to participate in a tryout for this team and was selected to represent the US shortly thereafter.  Jake’s selection is a tremendous honor for this very skilled hockey player and will allow him to demonstrate his abilities on the  World level.   

               Congratulates Jacob on his selection and best wishes and good luck in the tournament.

Former goaltender Capt. Mike Polidor earns 2011 Jabara Award for Airmanship

Folks – West Allegheny Hockey is mentioned in the Sunday Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/hockey/s_704749.html

Previewing the 2010-11 PIHL season

Class AA

• Favorites: Latrobe, West Allegheny, Peters Township, Bishop Canevin
• Players to watch: Zach Laduke, F, sr. (Latrobe); Frank Vance, F, sr. (Bishop Canevin); Daniel Brennan, D, sr. (Greensburg Central Catholic); Ryan Hanahan, D, sr. (Pine-Richland); Jason Kumpfmiller, G, jr. (West Allegheny)

• Outlook: Latrobe is going for a four-peat of Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania Cup championships, and the Wildcats are certainly capable of reaching those lofty heights. Despite the loss of the high-scoring Batis brothers — who moved to New York — Latrobe has a special talent in Zach Laduke (51 points last season) and always plays tight defense. West Allegheny, last year's Penguins Cup runner-up, will challenge the Wildcats again. But Latrobe is the clear No. 1 team until proven otherwise. Not far removed from a dominant stretch in Class AAA, Pine-Richland is new to AA this season.

West Allegheny Elementary Developmental Hockey Team, Open Practice Session Announced!  

Free to any 2^nd through 6^th gr. skaters, residing in the West Allegheny School District, interested in learning more about or registering for the elementary and developmental teams.   (Students who live within the school district by attend other schools are welcome.)

When:  Thursday, October 21, 2010

Where: Airport Ice Arena, Moon Twp

Time:     6:00 – 7:00 pm , Grades 2^nd – 3^rd

              7:00 – 8:00 pm , Grades 4^th – 6^th

  (Goalies may skate both hours if interested)

**   Session will be run by West Allegheny Varsity Coach Tim Veach and Freshman Coach Ryan Garofalo.

**  Players must have full hockey equipment: skates, helmet, knee pads, hockey shorts, shoulder pads, elbow pads, neck guard, mouth piece.

Free to all participants, refreshments will be served and parents will have an opportunity to meet coaches and organizers, as well as get more detailed information about our program.

No Commitment is necessary to attend this session however, those who wish to commit for the upcoming season will be able to register and select a jersey # with their commitment fee payment of $100 (which will be applied to the season fee of $250).

First official practice of the upcoming developmental session will be Thursday, October 28th from 7 - 8 pm. This is also the final date for registration and payment of commitment fee.  Additional practice session information will be distributed at the open session.

For more information, please visit WWW.WAHOCKEY.COM or email tiffany.ryniawec@wahockey.com

ImPACT testing is a very important tool in any sport, especially hockey. Impact testing is a computerized neurocognitive tool used by coaches, athletic trainers, doctors, and other health professionals to assist in determining an athlete’s fitness to return to play after suffering a concussion. West Allegheny hockey is now offering this service to all of our players.  With the help and the support of Matt Triebsch (West Allegheny School District Athletic Trainer) and the West Allegheny High school  this has become possible. Starting Thursday October 7th, 3:15pm, the Varsity players will participate in this test; the following Thursday, October 14th, 3:15pm, the Junior Varsity will participate and hopefully a week or two after will be the Freshman. The safety of our players is a priority and with this test it will enhance not only the organization but the safety and care of our players. This service is free to all our players, and is being conducted at the high school.  If you have any questions, please contact your Team Manager.

Read below for more information on ImPACT---

West Allegheny Hockey is currently implementing an innovative program for our student-athletes.  This program will assist our team physicians/athletic trainers in evaluating and treating head injuries (e.g., concussion).  In order to better manage concussions sustained by our student-athletes, we are working with the West Allegheny School District using a software tool called ImPACT (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing).  ImPACT is a computerized exam utilized in many professional, collegiate, and high school sports programs across the country to successfully diagnose and manage concussions.  If an athlete is believed to have suffered a head injury during competition, ImPACT is used to help determine the severity of head injury and when the injury has fully healed.   

The computerized exam is given to athletes before beginning contact sport practice or competition.  This non-invasive test is set up in “video-game” type format and takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.  It is simple, and actually many athletes enjoy the challenge of taking the test. Essentially, the ImPACT test is a preseason physical of the brain.  It tracks information such as memory, reaction time, speed, and concentration.  It, however, is not an IQ test.

If a concussion is suspected, the athlete will be required to re-take the test.  Both the preseason and post-injury test data is given to a local doctor, neuropsychologist or a neuropsychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to help evaluate the injury.  (The UPMC Sports Concussion Program is the founding group of the ImPACT software.)  The information gathered can also be shared with your family doctor.  The test data will enable these health professionals to determine when return-to-play is appropriate and safe for the injured athlete.  If an injury of this nature occurs to your child, you will be promptly contacted with all the details.

The information gathered from the ImPACT program may also be utilized in studies currently being conducted by both this school and UPMC.  In order to ensure and guarantee your child’s anonymity, we have set-up an anonymous data submission system.  This data may anonymously be submitted to UPMC for their research purposes.

I wish to stress that the ImPACT testing procedures are non-invasive, and they pose no risks to your student-athlete.  We are excited to implement this program given that it provides us the best available information for managing concussions and preventing potential brain damage that can occur with multiple concussions. The West Allegheny Hockey Association is striving to keep your child’s health and safety at the forefront of the student athletic experience. 

Varsity – Amy Ervin

Jr Varsity – Dave Kelsey

Freshmen – Keith Koval

Developmental and Elementary Hockey Program

West Allegheny Hockey is forming a Developmental and Elementary Hockey Program.  The purpose of this program is two-fold: 1) Teach the younger skaters in our school district the game of ice-hockey, and 2) prepare and acclimate experienced younger skaters for the Freshman Hockey team and the West Allegheny Hockey program.

This program will be open for West Allegheny School district students in the second through 6^th grade, and will be operated in a joint program between the Airport Ice Arena and West Allegheny Hockey. 

Anyone interested in playing should complete a REGISTRATION form on the West Allegheny Hockey website (http://www.wahockey.com).  The registration will be used only to determine the number of interested players and the number and skill levels of the team or teams that will be formed.  Completing a registration form does NOT commit the player to the program.

A general meeting for this program will be held on 7:00 PM, Sunday September 26 at the Airport Ice Arena.  This meeting will allow everyone to meet the coaches and introduce you to the West Allegheny Hockey Association.  We will also be discussing the teams, program and commitment at that time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Youth Hockey Coordinator - Tiffany Ryniawec at tiffany.ryniawec@wahockey.com.

2010-2011 COACHING STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT!

As everyone knows, even though our season has yet to begin, this is a year of change for West Allegheny Hockey.  The first significant change was expanding from two to three teams.  The second significant change is the model that will be used for our coaching staff.  We are building a staff that is not only equipped to prepare our teams for play, but also providing the additional resources to work on individual skills and development.  This year we are increasing the number of coaches per team, investing in positional coaching (the goalies will love this), and developing a model whereby each of our teams and players will be working from a single development program.  I am very proud to say that we are almost complete with fully staffing our teams with a complement of coaches that is motivated and determined to elevate West Allegheny Hockey into one of the elite PIHL programs.  We still have a couple more moves to make – but I am sure that when you see the amazing pool of talent that is now WEST A HOCKEY – you will be as excited and motivated as I am. 

Please visit our COACHING STAFF page to read about each of our coaches.

• Sue Behme will be assuming the role of Registrar for the 2010-2011 season.  Sue has extensive experience in a variety of roles for both West Allegheny, as well as other hockey organizations.  Sue will be responsible for registering and insuring compliance for our association, our teams and our players with both the PIHL and USAHockey.

• Debbie Carnahan has been appointed the Apparel Chairperson for this upcoming season.  Debbie chaired our jersey committee last year and has assisted other hockey organizations in procuring, designing and marketing of their fan gear operations.  She will be working with several vendors to provide our team, our parents, and our fans with West Allegheny gear.  If you are ordering new game jerseys for this year, please expect some communications from Debbie in the coming days.

• Tony Franzetta has been appointed as our Media Chairperson.  This newly created position will assist in the marketing efforts of West Allegheny Hockey by managing the flow of current content and information through our website, our emails, and the press.  Tony will also begin leveraging some of the newer social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  Tony is currently an officer with a Pittsburgh based marketing company that provides strategic brand enhancement to their clients.

Thanks to each of you for your acceptance of your appointments.  We are looking for great things in our association this year, and know that each of you will play a part in our success.

I would also like to thank everyone who applied for these various positions.  We appreciate the excitement and enthusiasm that brought us so many qualified volunteers eager to help.    We are still searching for a Chairperson to head Fundraising and the School District Liaison.  Also keep in mind that we will be needing three team managers for this season (one for each team), who will be selected by the parents of each respective team.

Respectfully,

David