Gateway hockey coach Gene Perhac was looking to shake things up during the holiday break. Instead of having just another practice, Perhac invited back Gateway's hockey alumni to not only show support for the struggling Gators but also for a light scrimmage.
It turned out to be one of his team's most relaxed and complete performances he has seen all season.
“It was just the way they were interacting with them and pushing themselves against the other players,” Perhac said. “They're coming on, slower than we want, but they're coming.”
The performance during that December practice came as a relief for Perhac. His team showed a side he had not seen as his Gators have had a tendency to tense up during games.
“It takes time, and we're making good progress,” said Perhac, who is in his sixth season as the Gateway coach and 14th season with the program.
For the Gators (0-13), progress won't be measured by wins. No coach wants to say it but not many coaches can deny it, moral victories are important for a program that is going through a rebuilding phase, even for a proud program such as Gateway that has been around since 1972.
“There's times when you're a developing a program when you have to take moral victories, and right now we're in a major rebuild with our program,” Perhac said. “You have to start small and bring out the old clichés, and a lot of them are true. We haven't backed down from any of the fights yet, and we won't all year. Our goal now is to go in and knock somebody off and mix up the standings a little bit by giving somebody a loss.”
The Gators are close.
Gateway outshot Serra Catholic (7-6-1), 34-31, but couldn't catch a break on the scoreboard in its 7-1 loss to the Eagles two weeks ago. The Gators have had a difficult time finding their bite early on in games. Indiana (three goals), Serra Catholic (4) and Franklin Regional (6) have jumped out to big first-period leads before Gateway could settle down.
“We can't be physical, and we have to learn to play as a team. We have to be a little grittier, tenacious and pesky,” Perhac said. “Before the break, we had some close games and scored some goals.”
Senior forward Matt Doman leads the Gators with six goals and 12 points through 13 games and was selected for the PIHL Class A All-Star game Jan. 26, at Alpha Ice Complex in Harmar. Senior Mason Beltz is second with five goals, and Jonathan Porter leads the team with seven assists.
“Unfortunately, our problem of not being able to score goals at a proficient rate is what's killed us,” Perhac said.
With just 15 players on the roster and no junior varsity team, the most glaring example of the lack of players in the program can be seen on the defensive end where Perhac has played just four defensemen all season. The Gators have been outscored by their opponents 103-17.
“The game starts in the net and when you have a solid game going, it's like pitching no-hitter and it lifts the whole team,” Perhac said.
Perhac praised his goalie Cam Balistrieri, particularly his performance against Class A power Kiski Area (10-4), in the Gators' 2-1 loss in early December.
“We hope that the boys see that if they can play Kiski (tough), they can handle Norwin,” Perhac said.
It's not all doom and gloom for the Gators. The flame may be a flicker now, but the future of the program looks bright. Perhac said there are 28 players in the youth program, which has grown since the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup last spring.
“Our numbers have fallen off the past couple of years and were seeing a resurgence of it in our younger players,” Perhac said. “Next year we're going to come down to eight or nine players so were putting out a call for anybody interested in playing (hockey).”
William Whalen is a freelance writer.
