With the Ice Cats’ strong start to the 2023-24 season, the team was honored to send five representatives to the AA PIHL All-Star Game. Defenseman Louie Amatucci, forwards Jacob Hannah, Joey Crimboli, goalie Brock Plfugh, and head coach Adam Ferguson represented the Ice Cats. All the Cats played on the AA-Blue team coached by Ferguson. Coach Ferguson and the Cats finished in a 6-6 tie with the AA gold team. The Cats players were very excited about the experience of playing alongside the best of the best in the AA division.
The players all had very strong games. Senior Forward Jacob Hannah had an exceptional game posting 2 of the 6 goals for the team. “Being able to have a game like that against some of the best players in AA definitely gives me a confidence boost especially going into the playoffs,” Hannah said.
Hannah’s 2-goal game comes as no surprise to the players and coaches for the Ice Cats as he has been doing this all year. Jacob posted 25 points this season with 8 goals in 17 games played. These stats have him in 15th for points this season among all AA players. Hannah is on pace to have his best season in his 4-year high school career.
His excellent play in the month of December earned him the PIHL Player of the Month, helping him secure his spot on this All-Star roster. “It was an honor to be selected for a game like that in my senior season, it was an incredible experience,” Hannah said.
Freshman forward Joey Crimboli has been turning heads all season with incredible highlight reel goals. Crimboli has been a big surprise for the Ice Cats this season as he has posted 15 goals and 26 points in 17 games. Those stats put Joey in the top spot for points and goals on the Ice Cats this season, and the 14th most points among all AA players this season.
Earning a spot in the All-Star Game as a freshman is a very tough goal but Crimboli has done more than enough to play in that game this year. “It feels great to play in this game as a freshman. I owe the team everything they have always been on me about what we can do to get better and help us win a lot more games,” Said Crimboli.
Crimboli was very effective all game creating lots of scoring opportunities and ultimately posting an assist to finish out his game. Joey was very pleased to play in the game with his linemate Jacob Hannah. A weekend like this for Crimboli can build chemistry within the team. “That made the chemistry way better between the boys especially because we were all on the same team and were able to play together even in a game for fun,” Crimboli said.
Junior goalie Brock Pflugh has been a key piece of the Cat’s success this season. Pflugh is very calm in the net and is able to slow the game down for his team when it is needed. Pflugh, along with stopping the puck, is an excellent communicator. He is also not afraid to come out of his crease to move the puck for his teammates, as he has helped start many offensive rushes this season.
All of those great aspects gave him the chance to play in the All-Star game in his first year at the varsity level. An experience like this can build chemistry for Pflugh. “It definitely brings us closer together which will improve on the ice by allowing us to place more trust in each other,” he said.
Pflugh was able to post the best stats of the three goalies on his team, as he stopped 8 of the 9 shots he faced in his period. A game like this can help Pflugh build confidence. “It really helps my confidence especially with playoffs coming up. All the teams we are going to play will have great players so it was good to get a taste of that hockey now so I’ll be ready come playoff time,” said Pflugh. Brock was very humbled by the selection. “The all-star game was great. It’s an honor to be selected. It was a great experience and being a junior I’m going to push myself again to try to make it next year.” Pflugh said.
Senior captain Louie Amatucci has been an inspiring leader and great player for the Ice Cats all season long. Amatucci has helped the young guys on this team step into their roles. He has been able to bring this team together with his leadership and his play on the ice has been even better.
Amatucci posted 11 goals and 17 points this year in 17 games played. Being a point-per-game player is very tough in such a competitive division. This makes it no surprise that he was selected to play in his first All-Star Game this season.
The final piece to the Cats All-Star success was head coach Adam Ferguson. Ferguson has been an outstanding mentor and leader for this very young Cats team this season. Ferguson put together a great power play and penalty kill. As well as good special teams, coach Ferguson’s system of getting screens in front and taking shots from the point caught the eye of the PIHL, and he was selected as one of the top two coaches in AA to represent a team at the All-Star game. Coach Ferguson is able to use an experience like this to create better relationships with his players and learn more about star players on opposing teams. Ferguson can look to use this experience to take an edge over opposing coaches heading down the stretch of the season into the playoffs.
Led by Fergusons’s coaching and incredible play from these all-stars, the team has clinched a playoff spot to host a first-round game. The boys look to continue their great play to pick up some key road wins to finish the season and move into a better seed before the first round of the playoffs.
