The Greater Philadelphia Region will be well-represented this weekend when the University of Vermont takes on Penn State University in the third-annual Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, January 31 at 1 p.m.
The game will include nine players from the Tri-State area, five of whom currently play for Penn State and four players who currently play for Vermont. All nine players grew up playing hockey in the area for various club organizations. As they got older, a few players left the area to play at some of the highest levels of junior hockey, and many started their high school years at some of the region’s top hockey powers. Three players, Penn State’s Connor Varley and Peter Sweetland along with Vermont’s Nick Luukko, participated in the Flyers Cup Scholastic Championships with their respective high school teams.
The game is the third of the College Hockey Faceoff series at Wells Fargo Center and comes a year after the venue hosted the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four men’s hockey championships, in which underdog Union College defeated the top-seeded University of Minnesota to claim the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey National Championship.
Following is a rundown of the players from the local region:
PENN STATE
Ricky DeRosa
So. – F – Aston, PA
Age 22 (2/9/92)
DeRosa attended Cardinal O’Hara High School and played his club hockey for the Port Huron Fighting Falcons of the NAHL. DeRosa tied for 14th among Big Ten freshmen in points (12) during his first season at Penn State.
Connor Varley
Jr. – D – Lansdale, PA
Age 22 (6/30/92)
Varley enters his third season with the Nittany Lions as a junior this year after spending the 2011-12 season in the USHL with the Des Moines Buccaneers. Varley played club hockey as a youth for both the Valley Forge Minutemen and the Philadelphia Junior Flyers. Varley attended La Salle College High School, where he was a member of the school’s 2008 Flyers Cup and Pennsylvania State AAA Champion team, and was named to the Flyers Cup All-Tournament Team on defense.
Peter Sweetland
Sr. – D – Newtown, PA
Age 23 (2/18/91)
Sweetland appeared in 28 games during his sophomore and junior seasons combined and was named a member of the Academic All-Big Ten in 2013-14. He previously played as a member of the ACHA team in 2011-12 and collected 13 points (2G, 11A) in 22 games. He attended Pennsbury High School and played club hockey for the Mercer Chiefs.
David Thompson
So. – D – Glen Mills, PA
Age 22 (5/19/92)
Thompson appeared in 34 games last season for PSU where he totaled five assists. He played locally for the Philadelphia Junior Flyers and attended Rustin High School where he helped lead Rustin to the 2009 State Championship.
Eamon McAdam
So. – G – Perkasie, PA
Age 20 (9/24/94)
McAdam made 10 starts in his freshman campaign and compiled a .882 save percentage. He was selected by the New York Islanders in the third round (70th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. McAdam was a three-year member of the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL.
VERMONT
Nick Luukko
Sr. – D – West Chester, PA
Age 23 (11/29/91)
Luukko enters his senior season at UVM. He previously played in the USHL with Dubuque, where he helped the Fighting Saints to the league championship. He played locally for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers and Team Comcast, and also attended Malvern Prep. Luukko was selected by the Flyers in the sixth round (179th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
Colin Markison
Sr. – F – Princeton, NJ
Age 22 (8/6/92)
Markison is in his fourth season with the Catamounts. He previously spent two seasons in the USHL with Omaha. Markison played club hockey for the Mercer Chiefs and the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers.
Brendan Bradley
So. – F – Warminster, PA
Age 22 (8/15/92)
Bradley skated in 36 of 38 games as a freshman and played on the top line for the second half of the season. He ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists). He came to the Catamounts after spending a season playing for the Jersey Hitmen of the EJHL. Locally, Bradley played for Holy Ghost Prep School.
Rob Darrar
Fr. – F – Monroe Township, NJ
Age 20 (7/30/94)
Darrar is in his first season with Vermont. Prior to joining the Catamounts, he played one season in the USHL for the Dubuque Fighting Saints. Darrar attended high school at Gunnery Prep in Connecticut where he registered 63 points in 59 career games.
Tickets for Saturday’s Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff between Penn State and Vermont are still available and can be purchased at the Wells Fargo Center box office or online via ComcastTIX.com. Family Value Packs featuring four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas starting at $60 are also available.
Wells Fargo Center social media accounts:
Twitter: @WellsFargoCtr Facebook: WellsFargoCenter Instagram: WellsFargoCenter
To receive advance notice and special offers to future events, join the free Wells Fargo Center CyberClub at wellsfargocenterphilly.com.
Comcast – Spectacor (comcast-spectacor.com), which operates in 48 of the 50 United States, is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company which owns the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the home arena for both the Flyers and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the Wells Fargo Center, and four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks. In addition, Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 125 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; FanOne, a digital fan marketing company; and Paciolan, the leading provider of venue enablement, ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Pope: Young Are 'Orphaned Of Values And Hopes'
Pope Francis, returning to the theme of the family, dedicated the catechesis of today's Wednesday general audience to the figure of the father: “a word dear to us as Christians, more than any other, as it is the name with which Jesus taught us to call God”, he said to the thousands of faithful gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.
“Father is a universal word, known to all. It indicates a fundamental relationship that is real and ancient as the history of mankind. Today, however, we have reached the point of affirming that ours would be a 'society without fathers'. In other words, in particular in western culture, the figure of the father would be symbolically absent, to have vanished. … At first, this was perceived as a form of liberation: freedom from the father-master, from the father as the representative of a law imposed from the outside, from the father as the censor of the happiness of his children and an obstacle to the emancipation of the autonomy of the young. Indeed, in the past in some cases authoritarianism, indeed even oppression reigned in some homes: parents who treated their children like servants, who did not respect the personal needs of their growth, fathers who did not help them to embark on their path in freedom, to assume their own responsibilities for building their future and that of society”.
“And, as often happens, we have passed from one extreme to the other. The problem of our times no longer seems to be the invasive presence of fathers, but rather their absence. … Fathers are so focused on themselves, on their work and at times their personal fulfilment, that they even forget their families, leaving children and the young to their own devices. … Now, on this shared path of reflection on the family, I would like to say to all Christian communities that we must be more careful: the absence of the paternal figure in the life of children and the young produces lacunae and wounds that can be very serious. And in effect the deviances of children and adolescents may to a considerable extent be due to this lack of examples and authoritative guidance in their everyday life, to this lack of closeness and love from their fathers”.
“The feeling of orphanhood experienced by many young people is more profound than we might think. They are orphans in their families because their fathers are often absent, also physically, from the home, but above all because when they are present, they do not act like fathers: they do not speak with their children, they do not give their children, by their example accompanied by words, those principles, those values, those rules for life that the young need in the same way as they need bread. … At times it seems as if fathers are not sure what position they should occupy in the family, or how to educate their children. And so, in doubt, they abstain, they withdraw and neglect their responsibilities, possibly seeking refuge in an improbable relationship of parity with their children”.
The civil community with its institutions too has “a certain responsibility towards the young, that might be described as paternal”, the Pope added: “a responsibility that at times it neglects or exercises poorly. This too leaves them as orphans, and does not offer them true prospects. The young are therefore orphaned of sure paths to follow, orphaned of teachers in whom they can trust, orphaned of ideals to warm their hearts, orphaned of values and hopes that support them day by day. They are filled with idols but robbed of their hearts; they are driven to dream of enjoyment and pleasure, but they are not given work; they are deluded by the god of money and denied true richness”.
“Therefore, it is good for all of us, fathers and children, to listen once again to the promise that Jesus made to His disciples: 'I will not leave you orphans'. Indeed, He is the path to follow, the master to listen to, the hope that the world can change, that love will conquer hate, that there can be a future of brotherhood and peace for all”, Francis concluded. He added that next Wednesday he will further pursue this theme, focusing on “the beauty of paternity”. “For this reason I have chosen to begin with the darkness in order to reach the light. May the Lord help us to understand these things well”.
“Father is a universal word, known to all. It indicates a fundamental relationship that is real and ancient as the history of mankind. Today, however, we have reached the point of affirming that ours would be a 'society without fathers'. In other words, in particular in western culture, the figure of the father would be symbolically absent, to have vanished. … At first, this was perceived as a form of liberation: freedom from the father-master, from the father as the representative of a law imposed from the outside, from the father as the censor of the happiness of his children and an obstacle to the emancipation of the autonomy of the young. Indeed, in the past in some cases authoritarianism, indeed even oppression reigned in some homes: parents who treated their children like servants, who did not respect the personal needs of their growth, fathers who did not help them to embark on their path in freedom, to assume their own responsibilities for building their future and that of society”.
“And, as often happens, we have passed from one extreme to the other. The problem of our times no longer seems to be the invasive presence of fathers, but rather their absence. … Fathers are so focused on themselves, on their work and at times their personal fulfilment, that they even forget their families, leaving children and the young to their own devices. … Now, on this shared path of reflection on the family, I would like to say to all Christian communities that we must be more careful: the absence of the paternal figure in the life of children and the young produces lacunae and wounds that can be very serious. And in effect the deviances of children and adolescents may to a considerable extent be due to this lack of examples and authoritative guidance in their everyday life, to this lack of closeness and love from their fathers”.
“The feeling of orphanhood experienced by many young people is more profound than we might think. They are orphans in their families because their fathers are often absent, also physically, from the home, but above all because when they are present, they do not act like fathers: they do not speak with their children, they do not give their children, by their example accompanied by words, those principles, those values, those rules for life that the young need in the same way as they need bread. … At times it seems as if fathers are not sure what position they should occupy in the family, or how to educate their children. And so, in doubt, they abstain, they withdraw and neglect their responsibilities, possibly seeking refuge in an improbable relationship of parity with their children”.
The civil community with its institutions too has “a certain responsibility towards the young, that might be described as paternal”, the Pope added: “a responsibility that at times it neglects or exercises poorly. This too leaves them as orphans, and does not offer them true prospects. The young are therefore orphaned of sure paths to follow, orphaned of teachers in whom they can trust, orphaned of ideals to warm their hearts, orphaned of values and hopes that support them day by day. They are filled with idols but robbed of their hearts; they are driven to dream of enjoyment and pleasure, but they are not given work; they are deluded by the god of money and denied true richness”.
“Therefore, it is good for all of us, fathers and children, to listen once again to the promise that Jesus made to His disciples: 'I will not leave you orphans'. Indeed, He is the path to follow, the master to listen to, the hope that the world can change, that love will conquer hate, that there can be a future of brotherhood and peace for all”, Francis concluded. He added that next Wednesday he will further pursue this theme, focusing on “the beauty of paternity”. “For this reason I have chosen to begin with the darkness in order to reach the light. May the Lord help us to understand these things well”.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
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