Tag: St. Josepg’s Prep

Hawks’ Lynch Embraces Wearing the Captain’s ‘C’

The captain’s position in hockey, whatever the level, transcends that role in other team sports.

The captain is expected to provide leadership and support to his teammates, and perhaps at times serve as a bridge between the players and the coaching staff, while taking care not to let his own on-ice performance fall off.

John Lynch is wearing the ‘C’ at St. Joseph’s Prep this season. The senior defenseman was appointed by his coach, David Giacomin, with input from his teammates. Each player on the roster was permitted to submit three names to be considered for the captaincy.

It is a role that Lynch, a South Philadelphia resident, embraces.

John Lynch

“I was happy with it,” he said. “Because I’ve been a captain before. But I was never given the actual ‘C ‘I, was just named captain. 

“And to have the ‘C,’ it’s nice to have it; it just shows my dedication and my true leadership.

St. Joseph’s Prep is the first team Lynch has played for that has a designated captain but he says he’s assumed a leadership role on the club teams he’s played for (he’s currently skating for the Philadelphia Blazers 18 AA team).

“It’s good to be the guy that everyone looks up to,” he said. “This year with a lot of freshmen especially, it’s good to earn everyone’s respect and to just be positive. I have to make everyone accountable, which is the most important aspect.”

Lynch’s leadership style varies depending on he’s interacting with upperclassmen or his younger teammates.

“With the upperclassmen, I can talk to them in a different way,” he said. “And they can relate to my position. And they can help me out, see where I’m coming from. And there’s ways to address them, even though they’re in the same grade.

“It’s different with the freshmen because when you’re teaching them now, you’re setting up for the rest of their four years of high school and they can just continue to pass that on as they go.”

The lineup of 20 players the Hawks dressed in their APAC opener against La Salle included two freshmen and four sophomores. Two other freshmen didn’t dress.

Lynch points out that with a roster so young, it’s especially important that he and the other veterans set a positive tone.

“it’s important because there’s so many of them,” he said. “They all have to understand the commitment, and how we all just have to be together as one.

“You just have to show them more and earn their respect because if you don’t have their respect, it won’t work. But, if everyone just buys in, especially with the young kids, everyone just has to understand their role. If you teach them now, you’re setting them up for success later and they can eventually pass it on when they’re seniors.”

Lynch notes the importance of leading by example, of not letting his captain’s responsibilities negatively own on-ice performance.

“That’s definitely a factor,” he said. “If I’m having a bad game and I’m the captain there’s ways you can address the team, tell them we’ve got to step it up. Even if I’m not on my game, I can see through our mistakes and everything. 

“They can see that I’m doing something wrong too but I can also help the team in other ways if I’m not having the best game. Like, motivating everybody getting up if they can to block shots. 

“There’s other ways to address it especially if I’m not having that good a game, but it is hard to keep a positive mindset if I’m having a bad game If I am having a bad game, everyone just sees it.”

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St. Joseph’s Prep 3, Holy Ghost Prep 2

BRISTOL—St. Joseph’s Prep is making a habit of doing the little things right. The latest example was on display Friday night as the Hawks edged Holy Ghost Prep 3-2 in front of a large an energetic audience at Grundy Arena.

Austin Amato, Connor Burman, and Jimmy Craig all scored for the Hawks, who improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0-0-1 in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference. The only blemish on the Hawks’ record is a shootout loss to La Salle and they took a point on that occasion. It has been an impressive start for a young team.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to improve on,” said Prep coach David Giacomin, “but the one thing you can’t take away from them is the effort. When they start hustling and they get in your face, they create turnovers, they create anxiety for the opposition. That part of the game we’ve done really well.”

Amato and Burman scored off turnovers to give the Hawks a 2-0 first-period lead. Burman, a junior, credits his team’s work ethic for its fast start.

“It’s the hard work,” he said. “It’s the chemistry. “Everybody wants to be here. Everybody wants to win. We’ve just a really good group this year, it’s all coming together.”

Giacomin said Burman played a solid three periods Friday night. “When that kid is moving he sees the ice so well,” he said. “He’s low to the ground, he’s hard to push off the puck. When he puts together three periods like he did tonight, people notice him.”

Evan Mudrick scored a power-play goal for the Firebirds (2-2, 1-2 in the APAC) 3:48 into the second period to make it a one-goal game for a time but Craig answered with his own power-play goal at 14:57.

That goal proved to be the game winner because Michael Roman found the back of the net for the Firebirds 6:37 into the third frame when he beat Hawk netminder Andrew Custer.

Holy Ghost Prep couldn’t come up with the equalizer. But Gump Whiteside, the Firebirds’ coach took an abundance of positives out of the evening.

“I like how our boys responded in the third period,” he said. “It was unfortunate, we kind of had a slow start there, but I really liked how our guts responded. We’re a young team. We’re going to be good. We’re just working through a couple things right now but I really liked how we responded in the third.”

St. Joseph’s Prep sits atop the APAC standings with a 3-0-1 mark (10 points) but the balance among the four schools through the first weeks of the season has been striking to say the least.

“The league has so much parity,” Giacomin said.”Every game is going to be exciting I think this year.”

Whiteside sees things the same way. “It’s great competition every night,” he said. “Great sportsmanship every night. We battle, we compete hard, we want to get that ’W’ but it’s been great.”

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 1 0—3
Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 1—2
First-period goals: Austin Amato (HGP) from Paulo Colavita, 2:13; Connor Burman (SJP) from Jimmy Craig, 15:12
Second-period goals: Evan Mudrick (HGP) from Byron Hartley, 3:48 (pp); Craig (HGP) from MIchael Urbani, 14:03 (pp)
Third-period goal: Michael Roman (HGP) unassisted, 6:37
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 19, Holy Ghost Prep 22; Saves: Andrew Custer (SJP) 20, Sean Joyce (HGP) 15