SPORTS
High
Scoring!
Andover High School's hockey team
achieved high marks this season.
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
et's face it, when
you think of high
scores at Bloomfield
Hills Andover High
School, you visual-
ize grade-point averages and
SATs, not sports teams. With
the notable exception of its
swim teams, Andover is not
accustomed to great athletic
success.
In the last five years,
however, coach John Farrell
has put together a winning
hockey program, with the
help of some of the area's best
Jewish players.
This year has been Farrell's
and Andover's best season.
With a 15-4 record — 12-2 in
the tough Suburban High
School Hockey League, good
for second place — Andover
was ranked 10th in Class B,
just prior to the state tourna-
ment. The Barons, who
feature seven Jewish skaters,
ended their season Saturday,
losing to defending state
champion University Liggett,
7-2, in a regional semi-final.
While Andover sits in an
upper-class neighborhood, the
Baron icers play a working-
class game. "This year I play
more of a grinding style," Far-
rell says, "dump-and-chase
and forecheck the other team.
We depend on good goalten-
ding (from junior Bryan
Palmer, who is not Jewish).
"We try to get teams, when
the puck is in our zone, to
take bad percentage shots.
And then we gather the puck,
get into the neutral zone,
dump it into their zone and
try to make something hap-
pen that way."
The Barons have succeeded
with their physical style even
though they are not a big
team. Junior Scott Marcus
weighs 140 pounds and says,
"I'm not the biggest guy in
the world. But it doesn't mat-
ter, on the team, whether
we're big or small. Everyone
just plays their heart out and
they go and hit.
"Most of the teams we play,
they're bigger than us, but
that's our game — it's just hit-
ting. And we seem to always
win like that. Even the littler
guys, littler than me, they're
still going after the body!"
What motivates a smaller
team to keep playing a
physical style? "Just the will,"
says Marcus, "because we
know we have the talent to
win a state championship.
And when you have the
chance, you don't want to pass
it up because it's a once-in-a-
lifetime thing!'
Among Andover's top for-
wards are Marcus, a left wing,
and freshman right wing Jar-
red Starr. Both players are
key penalty-killers and play
strong defensive games. Of-
fensively, Marcus has five
goals and eight assists for 13
points while Starr has netted
seven goals and assisted on
four for 11 points (through
February).
"Scott's a real aggressive
player," Farrell says. "He
skates hard. If I had a 'Mr.
Hustle' award he'd probably
get that . . . He does a great
job killing penalties. He's one
of our unsung, most valuable
players!'
Starr, says Farrell, "does a
good job killing penalties.
He's done a very good job for
a freshman, with the seven
goals . . . He's a shifty little
player. He's got some good
moves."
The high point of Starr's
first high school season came
on Feb. 8 when he broke a
scoreless tie against Livonia
The team
looks
strong
again for
next
season.
Stevenson, one of the area's
better teams. The Barons
went on to win, 3-1.
Of the Baron's top five
defensemen, two are Jewish.
Dan Gunsberg and Brad
Schneider are juniors who
stress defensive play.
Gunsberg, however, has con-
tributed three goals, plus
three assists. Schneider has
three assists.
Gunsberg "has developed
quite a hard shot," says Far-
rell, "which has been a plea-
sant surprise. He's an ag-
gressive defenseman. He
picks up quite a few penalties,
but he's learning and he's one
of our most important
defensemen. He's kind of a
.
Above, Jarred Starr skates
hard in practice while,
below, Dan Gunsberg holds
his position.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
51