Teetor Returns to Lineup for Golden Bears
By Patrick Dolan
This Week Staff Writer Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Upper Arlington High School hockey team recently welcomed a familiar face back to the lineup.
Paul Teetor, a junior forward who had two goals and five assists last season, made his season debut with the Golden Bears on Jan. 19 in a 4-1 loss to the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Blades in the Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament in Strongsville.
Teetor had been living with relatives in Marion, where he attended Marion Harding, because his parents are out of the country on business. But he recently began living with a relative in UA, which allowed him to return to the Bears.
"It's a big pick-up for us," coach Jay Graham said. "He brings lots of energy and brings a good work ethic to the team. We're real excited to see what he can do the next couple weeks. He's just getting his legs back and we're working him back in gradually instead of throwing him right into the fire."
Teetor is elated to be back at UA and with the team.
"I love the guys on this team," he said. "I'm happy to be back here, playing hockey. It's exciting."
Teetor followed the Bears closely while he was living in Marion.
"I was calling players every weekend to try to find out what the scores were because I was just dying to come back and play," he said. "I've been playing this sport since I was 6. It's a passion of mine. It always has been and always will be."
Teetor's first game back came right after the Bears lost junior forward Nick Galantowicz, who left to go to Japan as a foreign exchange student. Galantowicz, who last played in a 6-2 win over Dublin Scioto on Jan. 13, had three goals and three assists in 26 games. Teetor had three goals in a 5-0 win over DeSales last Sunday and an assist in an 8-0 win over Scioto last Friday.
"(Teetor's return is) a huge plus for us, especially with losing Nick Galantowicz," Graham said.
Teetor and Galantowicz played on the same forward line last season.
"We played great together, and we were best friends off the ice, too," said Teetor, who is wearing the same jersey number (44) Galantowicz had been wearing. "It's a real bummer that I didn't get to play with him this year."
EYEING THE POSTSEASON -- With the CHC championship out of reach, UA's primary focus is the Blue Jackets Cup, which will be held Feb. 8-10 at the Dispatch Ice Haus, and the district tournament, which begins the week of Feb. 11-17.
The Bears are two-time defending district champions.
"We feel we can skate with just about anybody in our district," Graham said. "When we skate our best, we are a tough team to beat. We just need to put three full periods of hockey together to demonstrate how we can play. We're doing our best to get ready for the postseason."
Despite winning district championships each of the last two seasons and CHC championships in three of the last four seasons, UA has yet to win a Blue Jackets Cup title. The Bears lost to Dublin Jerome 3-2 in the championship game last year after losing to the Celtics 2-1 in overtime in the final in 2006.
The current format of the Blue Jackets Cup was adopted before the 2003-04 season. Dublin Coffman won the title in 2004 and 2005.
"We've always gone into the Blue Jackets Cup as the (No.) 1 seed, basically, since its inception," Graham said. "We've gotten to the final but just haven't been able to finish. But we've got bigger fish to fry this season. We still have our eyes on doing some damage in the district."
KEY INJURY -- Spence Linard, one of the Bears' top two defensemen and one of three team captains, sat out all three games last weekend because of a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
According to Graham, the injury occurred in an 8-1 loss to Lakewood St. Edward on Dec. 8 and was aggravated in a 3-all tie against Beavercreek on Jan. 21.
Linard's status for the Bears' CHC finale against St. Charles on Friday at the Ice Haus and a non-league game Saturday at Findlay was not immediately known, though Linard said he wants to play.
Graham wasn't as optimistic.
"We're taking some precautions right now to try to get ready for the final push," he said. "Right now we're just holding him out and giving him some rest. Will he be able to go (this) weekend? We don't know yet. We're hoping to get him back soon."
Through 26 games, Linard was leading the team in assists (10) and was second in goals (8) and points (18).
Nick Paraskos was leading the team in goals (14) and points (20) and forward Rudy Wesolek was second in assists (8), third in points (15) and tied for third in goals (7). Defenseman Zach Tulley was tied for third in goals (7) and fourth in points (11).
Below are the recent results and coming schedule for the Upper Arlington hockey team:
Jan. 19 -- Lost to Kalamazoo (Mich.) Blades 4-1 in Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament in Strongsville
Jan. 19 -- Tied Mentor at 2 in Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament
Jan. 20 -- Lost to Centerville 3-1 in Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament
Jan. 21 -- Tied Beavercreek at 3 in Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament
*Last Friday -- Defeated Dublin Scioto 8-0
*Last Saturday -- Lost to Dublin Coffman 6-2
*Last Sunday -- Played DeSales
*Friday -- At Dispatch Ice Haus vs. St. Charles
Saturday -- At Findlay
Of note: The Bears were 7-23-2 overall and 6-5 in the CHC before last Sunday.
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