The formula for building a championship-winning roster is simple for the Saint Vincent men’s hockey team.
Scout every team playing in Westmoreland County and a few neighboring districts, target a few players, find out who their hockey-playing friends are and recruit them, too.
That strategy has turned SVC into a College Hockey East dynasty.
The Bearcats have won three consecutive league titles and conference tournament championships, and they received a third straight bid to play in the Division 3 ACHA National Tournament in St. Louis. The No. 19 Bearcats (17-5-2) open pool play at 5 p.m. Wednesday against No. 2 Middle Tennessee State.
“There’s a lot that’s gone into building this.” Saint Vincent coach Brett Martz said. “The team was struggling to hang on when I first got the team. There were about nine or 10 guys on the roster, and we decided to commit to recruiting Westmoreland County. It’s worked out. I hardly ever have to travel outside the county.”
Other then when Saint Vincent plays at nationals, which is becoming a yearly occurrence.
“When you go to nationals, the first time is an eye-opening experience,” said Martz, a former SVC player who has been head coach for 12 years. “Last year when we got there, we didn’t know how to handle the level of competition.”
So this season, Saint Vincent made its schedule more difficult.
Saint Vincent played No. 7 Grand Valley State, which also is part of the Bearcats’ pool along with No. 10 Northwood. The Bearcats lost 3-1 but played the game without a couple of key members. There were a pair of games against No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast and an outdoors game against West Virginia’s Division 2 club team.
“We beat them 3-2, and after that game they were asking us how can a Division 3 team beat a Division 2 team,” general manager Mike Ziemianski said. “The answer is we have really good players.”
Ziemianski should know. He’s basically been around the club program since its inception in 1969 and played a key role in bringing it back in 1999 after a 16-year hiatus. He’s been a player, coach and a director of operations in addition to his current role.
“Each year that we’ve been at nationals, the scores have been tighter and the games have been closer,” he said. “As we try to position ourselves nationally, we are aiming at winning a game or two and maybe drawing another in pool play, which hopefully will advance us to the quarterfinals.”
Saint Vincent certainly has the goalie play to get that far.
Senior Vinny Amatucci (Latrobe) has played 16 games this season with four shutouts, a 1.81 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. He has 12 career shutouts.
“He’s broken every school record imaginable,” Martz said. “He’s a top-five goaltender in the nation. We have a chance to win with him.”
Amatucci is one of six Latrobe players on the roster, and backup goalie Owen Burmeister (1.54 GAA, .936 save percentage) is one of five players from Norwin.
Tyler Shigo (Norwin) is the team’s leading scorer with 37 points. Sam Treager (Latrobe) is tied with Shigo for the team lead with 16 goals. Alex Schall (Latrobe) and Chase Kushner (Greensburg Salem), who scored the winning goal in the CHE championship game, also are among the top offensive players.
All four have eligibility remaining after this season.
“We have a good core returning for next year,” Martz said. “You always figure on having about a 10 percent attrition rate, but we should have four or five high-end players and can keep this going for the next couple of years.”