Arrows Taking Aim
KITTANNING — Ronan Miller hopes four times is a charm.
Miller and fellow Butler residents Taite Dusheck and Justin Strobel are members of the Armstrong Arrows' 18-under hockey team headed to San Jose, Calif., next month for U-18 Nationals.
Miller, a winger, played on the Arrows' U-16 teams that reached nationals the previous three years. Those Arrow teams placed second in Wayne, N.J., in 2016 (losing to the Maine Moose in the title game), third in Frisco, Texas, in 2017 and lost in the quarterfinal round in New Jersey last year.
“We've been getting ready for this (national) tournament for a long time,” Miller said. “We're hungry to win it. We believe we're good enough to win it.”
Miller has scored more than 20 goals and 50 points for the Arrows this season. Practicing and playing out of the Belmont Ice Complex in Kittanning, the team is 39-9-6 on the season.
The 18-under Arrows are ranked eighth in the country entering the national tourney, which takes place April 4-9.
The team began its regular season schedule in September after practicing in July and August.
Strobel, a right wing, said the players had a week off after last season ended before tryouts for this year's team got under way.
“That's the way we wanted it,” he said. “We practice two or three times a week along with our games. Everybody on our roster, except for one of the goalies, has been on one of those U-16 teams that came so close at nationals.
“To a man, we feel like this is our time.”
The team is comprised of players from a wide region. Some of them travel 90 minutes or two hours to come to practice. The head coach, Nick Mish, lives in Johnstown.
“I love how hard these kids work,” Mish said. “Ronan has scored a number of big goals for us. Justin is a tall forward with tremendous work ethic and Taite is a defenseman who is good at joining the rush and making things happen.
“We had to win the state championship to qualify for nationals. This is the first U-18 Armstrong team to get there. We beat the Arctic Foxes 7-3 in the state title game. These guys weren't going to be denied.”
Dusheck described every player on the team as “very dedicated.”“We have guys from Penn Trafford and Franklin Regional ... very talented players and it's nice being able to play with that level of talent,” he added.Dusheck said the team's differential between goals scored and goals allowed “is among the best in the nation. We've got a lot of skill up front and that helps a lot, but our defensive work is pretty solid, too.”Lee Grafton and Tyler Snyder are assistant coaches for the Arrows' U-18 team. All of Armstrong's teams play in the Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey League.“Taite got me to join the Arrows and Coach Grafton has been with me for a few years now,” Strobel ssid. “He's helped develop me as a player and I owe a lot to him for that.”The best way to repay him may be a national championship.“We feel we can beat any team in the country if we play together,” Dusheck said.Miller will second that.“We've had almost no break since last summer,” he said. “This year's team, we're making the most of everything. We've earned an opportunity to go get that banner.“We (Arrows) have never done it before. We really want it.”
