April 27, 2007

Erie, Pa - This past weekend several members of the club hockey alumni returned to campus to re-live some of their glory years. This year's club hockey alumni game featured a split squad of returning alumni and a few of the 2006-2007 team in order to balance out the lines.

Players returned to the Hurst from as far west as Chicago, Illinois and as far east as New York City. The game was a highly spirited affair in a game that saw Team Red come from behind to beat Team Blue 10-9 in what turned out to be a high scoring event.

Early in the game, Team Blue came out firing on all cylinders under the scoring prowess of Bobby Spitzer (of Erie, Pa) who had 3 goals and Player of the Game, Ronnie Yarosz who netted 4 goals for his blue squad.

Team Red stayed in the game off of goals from Chris Dana (of Buffalo, NY), Lee Penascino (a 2003 graduate who serves as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Allegheny County) and Ryan O'Connor (a 2006 graduate who played prep school hockey at the prestigious Bridgton Academy in Maine prior to his time at Mercyhurst).

With under a minute to play in the game, Ryan Durnan (a 2002 graduate who played Junior B hockey with the Toledo Cherokee prior to Mercyhurst) picked up a loose puck and streaked down the left side of the zone and fired a puck past goaltender Tom Kitchen (of Erie, Pa) to secure Team Red's come from behind victory. Durnan, who scored the game winning goal of this year's alumni game, currently serves as the Hockey Manager of Aviator Sports and Recreation in Brooklyn, NY.

All and all, it was a good weekend for the Men's Club Hockey Alumni who had a chance to return to the Hurst, visit with old friends and play once again on the Mercyhurst Ice Center surface.