The Gettysburg hockey program was started back in the mid 1980's and became officially recognized as a club in 1992. Many of those original players took part in the first ever alumni game last season and attested to a great time. However, last season it was an alumni team playing against the current Gettysburg team. This season the word got around and it was decided to have an all alumni game. Despite having the minimal numbers for each team and having a make-shift goaltender the second annual alumni game went on with flying "orange and blue" colors.

The two teams were split fairly evenly among young alumni vs. veteran alumni. There was a split between graduating years of 2000 and above and 1999 and below, with the only exception being coach Eric Esser '04 who played with the veteran players as their goaltender, a position he had not played since he was six years old. But the teams were set with 10-12 players per team, so plenty of ice time for each alumni.

The veteran players were a little worried at first going up against the youngsters, many of whom graduated last season, and having the shaky goaltender in coach Esser. As the game started it was the veteran players that were getting most of the chances. It wasn't until five minutes in to the period when newly graduated alumni Dave Frascarelli '08 was able to wrist one past goaltender Esser to give the young alumni the one goal lead. The veterans continued to turn it on but goaltender Rich Sommerkorn '08 stood his ground and kept the veterans scoreless. The young alumni were able to slip another goal in to take the two goal lead midway through the first period.

It was beginning to look bleak for the veterans until they were finally able to get on the board with a one-time shot in front by Sean Reilly '88 to bring the veterans within one. This was the spark the veterans needed as they came flying down with two more goals before the end of the first period to take the lead 3-2.

The second period went back and forth with both teams exchanging chances and goals with the period ending with the veterans still up by one goal, 5-4. Highlights in the second period included Lee High '73 and Mark Engelhart '79 showing they could hang with the younger alumni, and Mark even taking a slapshot off the ankle. Pete Sienkiewicz '93, Billy Michaels '93 and Jason Smith '94 lead the scoring for the veterans in the second while Rich Butler '93 and Eric Fennell '93 owned the blue line. For the young veterans, unfortunately Tom Swon '08 took a shot to the nose and was out of commission for the rest of the game, while Luke Archambault '08, Scott Kenner '07, and Mac Donnelly '07 were reunited as linemates.

The final period was just as exciting as midway through the period the young alumni tied the game on a shot by assistant coach, Garrett Gaydosh '08 over the shoulder of head coach Esser. The game remained tied with Sommerkorn keeping the veterans at bay and coach Esser stopping the young alumni including a point blank shot by Ben Flint '08 in front of the net. As time was winding down it was Frascarelli who was able to slip a shot past Esser for his hat trick and to take the lead 6-5.

There was less than two minutes remaining and the veterans took a time out to regroup. They had a faceoff down in the young alumni zone but it was Archambault who broke free out of the zone one-on-one with Esser and as he dangled Esser dove and stopped one of Gettysburg's all time leading scorers. Immediately following, the veterans pulled their netminder for the extra attacker and took their chances but Sommerkorn was shutting the door as he did last season in the MDCHA championship game. Asst. coach Gaydosh was able to break free in the final seconds and seal the victory with an empty net goal for a 7-5 final.

We would like to thank all the alumni who came to the game and the weekend festivities. The Alumni game is being played on replay on Adams County Television and can be viewed online Monday February 9 at 7:00pm at www.actv.org/online . Pictures are available from the event on the Media page.