Family tug of war for Noszkas; Tie between 1980 and 2010 U.S. hockey teams

By Mike White | Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010, 8:15 p.m.

The Chartiers Valley-Trinity WPIAL basketball playoff game Friday night brings about an interesting family situation.

Matt Noszka is a junior and second-leading scorer on Chartiers Valley's team. Coach Tim McConnell has called him the unsung hero of the team.

Noszka's aunt, Linda, sent me an email alerting me to the interesting situation. Her brother, Stan Jr., is an assistant coach at Trinity. Stan is Matt's uncle.

"Who do we root for?" Linda Noszka said in the email. "Of course, Matt's father, my brother Dan, and his family will cheer CV on. But what about the rest of us."

I can't tell the Noszkas who to cheer for, but if they want to cheer for the winner, I'm pretty certain they should cheer on Matt. It's been a great year for Trinity, making the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Coach Joe Dunn has done a terrific job. But Trinity's chances of beating Char Valley are about 1,000 to 1.

Olympic hockey ties

Mitch Stephens of Maxpreps.com has an interesting story on a tie between the 1980 and 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey teams. Stephens also has some notes about the players during their high school days. To read it, click here.

Coach comments on lack of offense

One of the scores that was a real head scratcher in the first round of the basketball playoffs was Hopewell losing to Belle Vernon, 40-25. Twenty-five points? From a section champion? It is one of the most inept offensive performances in the Class AAA playoffs since the 1940s.

Mike Bires of the Beaver County Times covered the game and had some interesting comments from Hopewell coach Ron Rowan about his team's lack of offense and lack of basketball skill players.

Click here to read the story and go about halfway down the story to see Rowan's comments.