Published: 01/31/2008
Amesbury hockey team is worthy of school's support
Cignetti is balancing his responsibilities as chief motivator with his need to teach the fundamentals to his young team. With 10 freshmen - eight of whom get regular minutes - he is teaching hockey basics more than game strategy. A recent co-op with Whittier has only exacerbated the ratio between experienced and inexperienced players. Only Whittier freshmen were eligible to join the team this winter.
"We have 14-year-old kids skating six days a week for the first time in their lives," Cignetti said. "They're exhausted. They're tired. Their bodies are probably not ready for it. It's going to take time."
With 10 freshmen, time is a luxury Cignetti might have. Steve Pizzo is the father of one freshmen - defenseman Zachary Pizzo. He believes Cignetti has the perfect mentality to lead the rebuilding project.
"It's difficult for anybody when you're losing all the time," Steve Pizzo said. "Their coach is doing a great job. The coaches support the kids. I enjoy watching them even in the face of losing. They play hard, that's all you can ask. I'm proud of them."
So, it would appear, are several dozen Amesbury students who attended last night's game. Although the Amesbury student section dwindled down to about a dozen loyal fans at game's end, there still appeared to be a positive sentiment about the team's effort.
"They're still playing for the pride of the school," said Cody Trottier, who sat in the Amesbury student section. "In school, they're treated the same as anyone else who plays a sport. They go to school happy after games no matter what. They carry themselves like things are going well."
And maybe that's a quality they'll continue to possess long after the losses have been forgotten.
Dan Guttenplan is the sports editor of The Daily News. E-mail him at dguttenplan@ecnnews.com.
