ALUMNI SUPPORT

April 2007

Dear Penn Hockey Alumni, Parents, and Friends: 

Another season of Penn Hockey is now behind us.  The 2006-07 Team finished with an overall record of 7-21-3 (2-12-3-1 in the MACHA).  

THE HOME STRETCH

The second half of the 2006-07 campaign started strong when the Team returned from Christmas break and opened with a 5-2 win over The College of New Jersey and a 2-2 tie against ACHA-ranked William Patterson University.  Quite improbably, that weekend placed the Team in contention for the sixth and final MACHA playoff spot and, with two league games against beatable teams on the horizon, the Team remained optimistic about its chances for reaching the post-season.  Two subsequent one-goal losses to league opponents, however, quashed Penn’s playoff hopes.   

Notwithstanding the absence of a forthcoming post-season, the Team enjoyed several end-of-the-season highlights, including a near-upset of nationally ranked Penn State, a 2-1 victory over Division I opponent Villanova, and a 4-2 victory over ACHA-ranked Temple University.  And, with sixteen players returning, the Team looks forward to a successful 2007-08 season.   

NEW LEADERSHIP

With the departure of senior leaders Matthew Bessette (Team Captain), Ned Swanson (Assistant Captain), and Matthew Weyandt (Assistant Captain), the Team elected new leadership on February 21.  As a result of those elections, the following players secured leadership positions for the 2007-08 season: 

• Jeffrey Greenberg:  Rising senior forward and captain from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Upper St. Clair HS) . . . currently enrolled in the College of Arts & Sciences where he majors in Diplomatic History and minors in Political Science . . . two-time MACHA All-Star (2004-05 & 2006-07 seasons) . . . led the MACHA in assists during the 2004-05 season . . . led the Team in points during the 2006-07 season . . . currently has 118 career points and served as an Assistant Captain during the 2006-07 season . . . Jeff has earned Dean’s List honors for the past two years and currently maintains an overall GPA of 3.78 . . . Jeff will sit for the LSAT in October of this year and hopes to attend law school in the fall of 2008.

• Hal MacKenzie:  Rising sophomore defenseman and assistant captain from Rye, NY . . . currently enrolled in the College of Arts & Sciences where he majors in classics (language based) . . . in this first year at Penn, Hal was a significant contributor on both ends of the ice and saw significant ice time on both the power play and penalty kill . . . earned a 3.35 GPA in his first semester . . . Member of the Sigma Chi fraternity . . . in high school, Hal was the Captain of his Fordham Prep hockey team where he played five years of varsity hockey and won both the 2006 Westchester hockey player of the year and 2005 scholar athlete of the year . . . off the ice and outside the classroom, Hal is the self-described “biggest N.Y. Ranger fan in the world” and is convinced that they will win the Cup this year.
  

• Samuel Lerer:  Rising sophomore forward and assistant captain from Avon, Connecticut . . . currently enrolled in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a dual degree program between Wharton and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences where Sam majors in both Finance (business major) and Computer Science (engineering major) . . . leading goal-scorer as a freshman (18 goals, 6 assists, + 12) . . . earned Dean’s List honors . . . Member of the Sigma Chi fraternity . . . in high school, Sam was the Captain of his Avon High School hockey team where he was a three-time all-conference selection and a four-time scholar athlete . . . in addition to his role as Assistant Captain on next year’s team, Sam will also serve as the Vice President in charge of transportation.
  

NEW ALUMNI BOARD

The Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics is seeking alumni who would like to support the club hockey program by serving as a member of an alumni board.  This board will assist the club in fundraising efforts, thereby maintaining a quality club program.  Any interested alumni may contact Dr. Michael J. Diorka, Director of Recreation (diorka@pobox.upenn.edu) or 215- 746-8614. 

NEW LOCKER ROOM

Although any off-season brings with it numerous administrative tasks, this off-season brings with it the unique and formidable task of demolishing and rehabbing of the Team’s aging locker room facility.  The Team took the first major step toward a new space in early April, when it gathered for the final time in the old locker room.   

The day began promptly at 10am when the first shift of players arrived to clear out the space.  The first group of four worked efficiently to clear out bags and then remove shelving, benches, and an old stick rack.   

An hour and a half later, the next group of players arrived to empty, condense, and inventory the Team’s storage room.  With years of jerseys, bags, and assorted equipment having accrued in the Team’s limited storage space, this proved to be no small task.  Nevertheless, the players successfully emptied the room, inventoried its contents, and crammed the totality of the Team’s possessions into a substantially smaller, but temporary, space for the summer.  

Finally, the last two groups of players arrived and promptly painted the now-empty locker room. 

With the locker and storage rooms now emptied and painted, the Team hopes to make the following improvements: 

      To the locker room

• Replace current double-doors with single door and, in doing so, replace padlock entry with keypad entry;
• Install twenty-four individual player stalls;
• Replace current flooring with thick carpeting or other new rubberized flooring;
• Add school logo to center of floor;
• Purchase new TV for film/video review sessions and mount it above the entry door;
• Cut walkway in wall from locker-room to storage room;
• Build limited number of shelves to mount two speakers, one amplifier, and a collapsible shelf below the computer to allow for computer-hook-up.

   To the storage room

• Replace padlock entrance to room and replace with key pad entry on door;
• Remove all shelves and replace with (1) individualized shelf-space for each player, and (2) larger shelves for bag storage.

To help us accomplish our goals, we welcome your financial contribution in any denomination.  Significantly, donations in the amounts listed below entitle the donor to the following recognition: 

$35,000 Locker room naming rights; name recognized on donor plaqu
$1000 Naming rights on an individual player stall; name recognized on donor plaque
$500 Penn Hockey jersey; name recognized on donor plaque
$200  Penn Hockey hat; name recognized on donor plaque

FUNDRAISING

As renovations on the locker room begin, the Team is working diligently to make its own financial strides.  Specifically, each player was tasked with selling advertising space along the rink’s dasher boards.  The purchase of a season-long advertising space on individual dasher boards is available for a payment of $2500.  In exchange for that payment, each advertiser will receive a 3’ x 8’ full color dasher board advertisement, the right of first refusal on renewals, a 100 x 100 pixel advertising space on the Class of 1923 and Penn Hockey websites with a corresponding link to the advertiser’s business, and one-hundred free skating passes.  To the extent that you, or a colleague, are interested in advertising with the Class of 1923 Arena, please contact Coach Gallini for additional information. 

OTHER DONATIONS

Even if you cannot provide the Team with a financial contribution, please consider volunteering your time or skill to the Team.  For example, we invite you to help us with any of the following tasks:  (1) redesigning the Penn Hockey website; (2) helping the Team with fundraising ideas or events; (3) publishing wallet-size 2007-08 game schedules; (4) designing Penn Hockey paraphernalia; and/or (5) authoring, compiling, and publishing a 2007-08 Team media guide.   

As the foregoing makes clear, the Team is pushing itself to grow into an elite ACHA program but only with your help can the Team’s aspirations become a reality.  Please contact Coach Gallini via email (brgallini@yahoo.com) if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions about the direction of the Program.  In the meantime, we look forward to updating you on the status of the Team’s locker room renovation project and the 2007-08 season. 

Very truly yours,

The 2007-08 Penn Hockey Team 
 
 

PLEASE SEND DONATIONS TO: 

Penn Men’s Ice Hockey
c/o Allen Pendleton
Pottruck Health and Fitness Center
Department of Recreation
University of Pennsylvania
3701 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA  19104 

MAKE PAYABLE TO:  The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
MEMO:  Men’s Ice Hockey Locker Room