The Plain Dealer, Tuesday, February 11, 1992
"Building a Program: Recent victories signal progress for Kent hockey.
By Elton Alexander
Kent State hockey coach Bill Switaj stressed all season to his players
that they were getting better. He stressed how much his team had improved and
how much potential it had.
By Jan. 11, the Golden Flashes' record was 5-11-2. IT was proof of the
old saying: "Potential is a fancy way to say you haven't done it yet."
Tomorrow, Kent's hockey team plays host to Ohio State, a team it lost to
in Columbus, 6-3. This weekend, the Flashes play host to Notre Dame, a team
they split with on the road this season.
But the Flashes are a different team.
They have improved to 12-12-2 by putting together a six-game winning
streak, including consecutive upset road victories over Boston College (4-3)
and No. 11 Providence (7-6).
"What really made it satisfying was not so much that we beat BC, but that
we followed it up by beating Providence. That made it," said Switaj
(pronounced Swee-tye).
"For so long we've been telling the players we're close, we're playing
good hockey. To beat Boston College and Providence, to see the players after
both games was incredible. They were like little kids.
"In a couple of years, wins like that, hopefully, shouldn't mean that
much. But for now, that was definitely the best weekend in the history of our
program."
The current success, for a program that was just a club sport four years
ago, is fueled by the knowledge Kent will join the prestigious Central
Collegiate Hockey Association next season on equal footing based on those
consecutive victories. The Flashes, who have two seniors on the team, also
will have the NCAA limit of 20 scholarships available.
"A big weekend. A very big weekend and very exciting," said junior
forward Ross Antonini. "It finally showed. If you bang on the door hard
enough and long enough eventually it's going to open."
Antonini's story is entwined with the growth of Kent's hockey program.
He was recruited when the Flashes were a club team. That Antonini has
improved as the Flashes have improved is particularly gratifying to Switaj,
who compiled records of 14-16-3 and 10-22-3 his first two seasons.
"The junior class, when they played their first year here, was the first
to ever play a Division I hockey game," Switaj said.
"As a redshirt junior, you're talking about a kid who was brought in when
this was a club program. Very few of those guys can make that step up to a
good Division I player. But Ross Antonini is one of the top scorers on our
team. His work ethic is unbelievable. He has defied the odds as far as I'm
concerned."
Antonini is third on the team in scoring with 24 points behind freshman
Claude Morin (31 points) and sophomore Steve McLean (26 points). But Morin
and McLean, along with injured Sam Thornbury (who led the team in scoring as a
freshman last season) were scholarship recruits from the outset. Antonini
came to Kent for the love of the game.
"I was recruited by coach Tom Viggiano," Antonini said. "I came in on a
small amount of money. My out-of-state fees were paid, that was it."
Switaj, formerly an assistant coach at West Point and a native of
Lakewood, took over the program Antonini's freshman year. But before Switaj
coached with first game, or Antonini played in his first, the hockey team was
put on probation and the season suspended because of a hazing incident.
Hazing is a ritual common among hockey circles, but it got out of hand
Sept. 17, 1988, at Kent. Antonini and current Kent player Tim Evans were
among the hazed rookies who had their bodies shaved. Some also were led to
drink a devil's brew of alcohol and were hospitalized.
"It was a weird situation, a bunch of kids being stupid. It is something
we've learned from and all grown from," Antonini said. "But it is a learning
experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone else."
Then-KSU President Michael Schwartz suspended the hockey season after the
hazing. But he also promised to upgrade the program, adding money for
scholarships and recruiting.
Switaj now calls the lost season a blessing in disguise because the
players did not lose a year of eligibility.
"I don't have any doubt that it helped," Switaj said. "It gave us time
to get the ship in order, to spend time recruiting, to get guys on the weight
program, to find out what really wanted to be here.
"It was tough at the time, but that's well behind us. We all grew up
because of it. We learned a lot of lessons because of it."
Switaj said the hazing incident was forgotten quickly, and is not the
albatross over the program.
"After we got back to playing that pretty much disappeared. You think it
affects more people than it really does," Switaj said. "It never affected
anybody we recruited. That, right now, almost feels like it never happened."
However, the coach does not ignore the past, knowing to do so could pave
the way for a repeat incident.
"Once new players are here we do go over what did happen," Switaj said.
"The danger is you have new guys that may be used to going through different
hazings, got to realize the importance of what did happen
"So every year at the beginning of the year I go over with the team what
happened, just to make sure they realize the severity of what did happen, and
it just can't be tolerated.
"We've gone out of our way not even to let them do the smallest of
things. Because it starts small, but in a five- or 10-year period, it can be
a big deal. The extent of ours is the freshmen have to carry the sticks and
the baggage off the bus."
Judging by Kent's recent success, the sticks are pretty big, and the
baggage is getting lighter with every victory.
---------
Another note in the same edition (same page too)
"Bowling Green freshman center Brian Holzinger, who is from Parma and played
for Padua, has been named Central Collegiate Hockey Association player of the
week. Holzinger had a four-goal weekend and scored both game-winners as the
Falcons defeated Michigan twice.
--
[log in to unmask] (Eric Rickin)
Go: Penguins, Red Wings, Jr. Barons, Thunderbirds, and Cavs!
Hey Bush, are the American people better off now than they were 12 years
ago?
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