E-town Ice Hockey preview

Head Coach: Steve Lokey, second year.

2006-2007 Record: 16-4-1 overall. Champions, South Division, Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks Tier II. Lost to Muhlenberg, 7-2 in Tier II semifinals.

Key Returners: Zach Lokey, senior, F (11 goals, 10 assists so far this season); Dillon Filepas, senior, F (5 goals, 4 assists); Derek Hallet, senior, F (4 goals, 4 assists); A.J. English, senior, D (2 goals, 1 assist); Hunter Peirce, senior (1 goal, 1 assist); Brian Milici, junior, F, (8 goals, 7 assists); Josh Carter, junior, F, (7 goals, 5 assists); Thomas Dombrosky, junior, F (4 goals, 10 assists); Tyler Miller, junior, F (1 assist); Alex Reinhold, junior, D (1 assist); Devin Shay, junior, F; Harry Rhodes, junior, G (3-0, .87 save percentage, 3.0 goals allowed average); Luke Fox, junior, F; Michael VanHorn, sophomore, D (1 goal, 4 assists).
The Bears return a plethora of talent all over the ice, from the forwards on back to the goalie. As good as this group was last year, winning 16 games and advancing to the Tier II semifinals, it should be even better this season.
Offensively, the Bears will be paced by Lokey, arguably the best player in the CPIHL. After tallying 40 goals and 23 assists a year ago, Lokey already has 11 goals and 10 assists in just four games. Milici and Dombrosky are also in the top 10 in the CPIHL and scoring and help take some of the burden off of Lokey. But the Bears have offensive firepower up and down the roster. Carter, Dombrosky and Miller are all excellent forwards who will see plenty of ice time and will help fuel E-town’s offensive fire.
On defense, English, Reinhold and VanHorn lead a young defense. E-town’s offensive capabilities (they’ve scored at least seven goals in each of their first five games) takes a lot of pressure off of the defense and allows them to make a few mistakes here and there, which is a good thing while the younger defenders learn. Behind the defense is Rhodes, an agile goalie who can move around and stop just about anything coming his way.

Key Newcomers: Lindsey Shuler, sophomore, D; Derrick Anderson, sophomore, D (1 goal, 3 assists); Brandon Lancaster, sophomore, D (2 goals); Steven Dombrosky, freshman, D/G (2-0, .94 save percentage, 1 goal allowed average).
According to Lokey, Anderson and Lancaster are playing defense for the first time this year and are working hard to learn their new position. They’ll get good leadership from English, Reinhold and VanHorn.
Dombrosky is an up-and-coming goalie who has been sensational so far as a freshman. He is 2-0 with a save percentage of 94 and is allowing just one goal per game.

Key Losses: Zach Zellman, Mitch Reinhold, Ryan Dolan.
The Bears will feel the sting of losing these three players (all of which were CPIHL all-stars last year) on the defensive end of the ice.
“They provided a very tough and gritty style of defense and goaltending, (and) that is still missing from this year’s team,” Steve Lokey said.

How they’ve fared so far this season: 5-0.
The Bears are off to an extremely strong start, winning their first five games in dominating fashion. They’ve outscored their opponents by a total score of 46-11. But the Bears will have their work cut out for them in the games ahead, as they will begin matching up with teams from the Mid Penn and York divisions. But they’ve proved so far to be heads and shoulders above the majority of the teams in the Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks Division.

What they do well: Score goals, stop pucks.
There are very few, if any, teams around that can score with the Bears. E-town is averaging more than nine goals per game so far, which is allowing its relatively inexperienced defense to learn on the go and play relaxed. The Bears boast three of the CPIHL’s top 10 scorers including its top scorer (Lokey).
As long as E-town can continue pressure opposing defenses and putting pucks in the net, they are going to be tough to beat.
Rhodes and Dombrosky have been a good 1-2 punch in goal for the Bears so far this year.
“They have done a tremendous job facing several strong scoring chances from our opponents,” Steve Lokey said.
Until the defense gets its feet wet, it’ll be up to these two to thwart opposing scoring chances.

What they need to work on: Defense, team chemistry.
The defense simply doesn’t have much experience. English, Reinhold and VanHorn are the only defenders with any experience and they only have one season each under their belts. Lancaster and Anderson are forwards learning to be defensemen, but Lokey is confident they will be fine.
“They are working very hard to understand how to play defense, especially in their positioning and physical play,” he said.
With so many forwards, it will take time for team chemistry to get where it needs to be for E-town.
“They are coming together with better puck movement, but they need to work on their defensive responsibilities,” said Lokey.

Outlook:
The Bears had a great season last year and return an equally strong, if not better, team this season. Some teams around the CPIHL have had to combine this season, making the competition stiffer.
But E-town is off to a fantastic start and is likely the favorite to repeat as division champs.
The team still hasn’t gotten over its playoff loss last season and is using that as motivation to get every farther this year.
“Losing in the semifinal round last year really leftj a bad taste in the mouth of the returning players,” Lokey said. “They are working hard to get a chance to redeem themselves.”
Watch for E-town to at least repeat last year’s success and be a major contender for the Tier II cup, especially once the defense comes together by mid to late season. As the old saying goes, offense makes highlight reels, defense wins championships.
“We must be more physical and overall play better team defense to get a chance to repeat last year’s team’s success,” said Lokey.