Growing Pains for Hockey Team

| Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, TRIB-LIVE

Gregg Kaminski took over coaching duties for the Fox Chapel hockey team in May after a tenure as an assistant coach at Hampton. He realized he would have quite a task ahead.

“We lost some key pieces to the team due to graduation,” he said.

“Patience will be a key for us this season. It is definitely going to be a rebuilding year. It’s a very young team, and you can pretty much say it’s a brand new team.”

The Foxes’ youth has shown so far as they have started the season with one-sided losses to North Hills, Moon and Hampton by a combined score of 30-1.

“It will be a slow, ongoing process,” Kaminski said. “It didn’t help matters that we lost three players to injury in the first game. We also have one goalie on our roster, Tyler Radigan, and he is a freshman. Our lack of depth is definitely a problem.

“There will be some growing pains, but we are committed to putting Fox Chapel hockey back on the map. We want the community to continue to support the program, and we want to get more kids trying out for the team. Right now, we don’t have a JV team, and our middle school team is it as far as a feeder program.”

The Foxes are led by returning players Ted Uminski, a senior defenseman, who also is a co-captain, junior forwards Shane and Seth Krhovsky, senior forward Eli Izenson, junior defenseman Sam Stites and senior forward Ryan Wunderly, also a co-captain.

Other members of the team are forwards Nathaniel Miske, Nathaniel Good, Paul Cullen, Alan Shtrahman, William Doyle, Justin Breen, Ronald Baird, Colby Zmenkowski and Martin Taxay. They are joined by defensemen Jacob Miske and Duncan Regan. Senior Andrew Friend, who just completed his season on the golf team, also is practicing with the team now.

“We have some strong senior leadership on this team,” Kaminski said. “Ted Uminski has set the tone, and Sam Stites, Shane and Seth Krhovsky and the other experienced players will have to lead the way. We are in a strong Class AA with very good teams like Moon, Hampton, Bishop Canevin and Mars. We have to continue to learn and grow in order to compete with them.”