Moshier: Area hockey stars shine

Think the Utica-Rome area isn’t a hockey hotbed? Think again.

 

The same week New Hartford High School’s Spartans win a Division II state championship, Whitesboro’s Andy Starczewski leads the Pembroke Lumber Kings to the semifinals of Canada’s Central Junior Hockey League and Utica’s Dominick Dawes coaches the Neumann College Knights to the NCAA Division III “Frozen Four” in Lake Placid.

 

Starczewski, who has accepted a scholarship offer from Army, was the leading scorer and Most Valuable Player of his junior league. Dawes, only 28 years old, is in his first season as Neumann’s head coach, and his Knights have won their last seven games, their last five by a single goal, en route to their first-ever appearance in the Frozen Four.

 

Starczewski helped Whitesboro High School win its only state championship before moving on to prep school. Dawes, who played at Thomas R. Proctor High School and a Vermont prep school, helped Norwich University win an NCAA Division III national title when he was a junior.

 

Like so many hockey players and coaches from this area, they’re winning ways have continued.