Ice Ice Baby

As of 2016, the new head ice hockey coach of the Episcopal Academy is history teacher Steve Schuh. This is Coach Schuh’s first year as head hockey coach, and he has high hopes for this year’s team. “I think this year’s team is better than last year's team,” says Schuh. He also believes that they have more depth than last year and are skating better. Coach Schuh’s confidence in the team this year will hopefully rub off onto the players, allowing them to have a successful and productive first season under their new coach. This season the Churchmen have started with a 1-1 record. They beat Pennington 3-1 in their first game while losing their last game 3-2 giving up a goal in the last few minutes on a powerplay.

Coach Schuh has gained many new players to the squad this year and thinks they are just beginning to “gel” as a team. Coach Schuh claims “Our best hockey is still in front of us.” Coach Schuh is trying to bring a more aggressive and up tempo style of play to the team this year in his first season of his new job. He wants them to be able to play good, smart, positional hockey at all times to give them a better chance at winning games.

The team holds practices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Skatium in Havertown. The high school team also shares the ice with the middle school team at the same time. Coach Schuh finds it helpful to have more players to practice with. The team recently began league play, and they still have many games yet to be played. Coach Schuh says “There is nothing better than seeing what we practiced go right in games.”

The school has held an outdoor skating rink for the past two seasons. Whether the team can actually use this rink depends on the weather. Last season the team was not able to play on the outdoor rink because it never became cold enough to maintain the ice. This year, in the second season of the outdoor facility, the team has yet to practice on the outdoor ice. They are waiting for cold enough weather to begin using the outdoor ice. As the team begins to play more games it will be evident whether or not they can improve upon what they have done in years past.

The team members are eager to see how Mr. Schuh can improve the upcoming season’s record. Forward Will Kelley said, “We all get along pretty well and I’m looking forward to a successful season.”