*Advisor’s Note – Reprinted from 2017 June printed edition

Andrew Nogowski has wowed Cinnaminson High school with his abilities on the ice as a goalie. As a member of the Cinnaminson Ice Hockey Club as a junior, Andrew helped lead the team into the club finals before the team lost to Mainland in a shoot-out.

Andrew was contacted by a member of the Niagara Whalers, a Tier II Junior “A” team that plays in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League in Port Colborne, Ontario. According to the team’s website, found at niagarawhalershockey.com, “The Niagara Whalers Jr. ‘A’ Hockey Club operates a first-class program that is devoted to the development of young hockey players, both on and off the ice. Our first year in the league showed the success and progress we expect from our players and coaches, qualifying for the playoffs in our first season. In our second season, we moved into the second round of the playoffs after hiring legendary head coach, Terry Masterson. This season we finished with an overall record of 54-3-1 and won the Russell Cup Title.”

During his time in Canada, which is considered the mecca of hockey and produces the majority of pro players in the NHL, Andrew was a backup goaltender and saw action in one game, playing 29 minutes and stopping 13 of 16 shots that he saw that game. However, his team did win the league championship.

“It was an amazing experience I will probably never have an opportunity as amazing as that again, unless I get into the NHL, that would be a dream come true,” Andrew said.

Andrew also played some games in the Eastern Junior Elite Prospect 18u League with the Philadelphia Flyers select team, the Philadelphia Firebirds, prior to getting the call to come to the Whalers and he lead all the EJPL goalies in total saves for that year, so he has proven himself in the area and has some seasoning in Canada as well.

For ice hockey players for college, for freshman players, you usually have to be 19-20 years old, so you have more experience, so Andrew is taking a gap year to improve his skills and hopefully get a scholarship for ice hockey somewhere.

Andrew had been playing ice hockey since the third grade and it has quickly become his entire life.

“It’s basically a full time job,” Andrew says but he isn’t complaining.

*Advisor’s Note – story originally run in June 2017 printed edition of newspaper.  PDF version can be found here – http://chs.cinnaminson.entest.org/ourpages/users/kindc/Final%20Copy%20-%20June%202017%20Issue.pdf