A Night Out with Upper St. Clair Hockey

It was an evening of celebration, reflection and farewells Tuesday night as the Upper St. Clair Hockey Association hosted its annual end of the year banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe.

Kurt Kharouf, the "voice of the Panthers" from the television broadcasts on channel 7, was the master of ceremonies for the event.

"It's amazing how I keep coming back to these," Kharouf said, tongue-in-cheek. "I haven't been a parent of this organization since 2004, yet I'm still here. But when you meet the parents and the coaches here, you find out why you stay around."

The coaching staffs of the freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams each introduced their members, gave remarks on the past season and presented year-end awards. 

The six seniors on the varsity team, George Asrian, Ben Herman, C.J. Murray, Parker Phillips, Michael Segerdahl and Justin Selep gave farewell speeches to thank their families, coaches and teammates.

USCHA president Stephen Gielarowski congratulated each of the three teams on a great season, but the attention gravitated toward the state champion varsity team.

An emotional Gielarowski lauded the varsity team as the "finest group of young men my son has ever played with," and admonished the younger teams to remember the evening as motivation for the future.

"You are the future of USC Hockey," Gielarowski said. "Remember this day because one day it will be your time. This is where you want to be when your time comes."

Varsity head coach Larry Marks thanked his players, assistants and all of USC Hockey's supporters during his speech, and was overwhelmed with emotion at the mention of business manager Joni Selep, mother of Justin.

"I've known Joni for a long time now, since Justin was little," a tearful Marks said. "She made my job so easy. She took care of everything to the point where all I had to do was show up, sign some papers and get right on the ice. I love Joni and we're going to miss her."

Asrian, this year's Brian Weaver award recipient for his contributions on the ice and in the community, thanked the varsity coaching staff for helping the team become better players and also better people.

Herman, who received the Player's Player award as voted by the team, said winning a state championship was an experience he'll remember for the rest of his life.

"Hopefully one day, we'll get to skate together again," Herman said, choking back tears.

Phillips was named the Defensive Player of the Year and credited the coaching staff with helping him become a better player and helping to put him in position to play on the next level.

Segerdahl received the Ryan Malone award for the player who has made the most progress in the program, and stole the show with his tongue-in-cheek, off the cuff remarks. He thanked his teammates for allowing him to have more fun than he ever has playing hockey.

"I still would've had a lot of fun even if this team didn't win a state championship," Segerdahl deadpanned, "But not as much fun."

Selep was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Year, and provided what might have been the most profound perspective of the night.

"Some players are blessed players because of their ability," Selep said. "But I think of a blessed player as one who is surrounded by the best people. I consider myself a blessed player because of everybody in this room."

Selep called Marks, "the best coach I ever played for," and told his teammates, "I love you all. We became a family, and then became champions."

Murray, the team's captain and Most Valuable Player recipient, reflected on how far the team came from starting the season at 5-1, losing their next five games to fall to .500, and then going 11-1-1 down the stretch to win the Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania Cup, which he refers to affectionately as "Mr. and Mrs. Cup."

"If you told me at the beginning of the season we would win a state championship, I would've said 'Yeah, right," or "Are you crazy?" Murray said. "But we came together as a team, and we realized we had a group of triple-A players.

"To see that this team was mostly made of sophomores, I expect this team to win a couple more state championships," Murray said. "I want to come back next year and see USC Hockey become a dominant force."

On a personal note, I was humbled and honored to receive so much gratitude for Patch's coverage of the season. I cannot take full credit, however, as it was a team effort between myself, Michael Bennett and our editor, Becky Emmers.

Speaking with Michael Segerdahl, I told him that we should thank the team in return. Having the opportunity to cover such a quality organization and an outstanding group of young men truly made our jobs so much easier and so much more fun.

So, on behalf of Upper St. Clair Patch, thank you, USC Hockey, for welcoming us as part of the team through the ups and downs, and allowing us to journey down the path of an unforgettable season.