Hitting the rink with the roller hockey team

Sports columnist Brian Dzenis spent his Tuesday night practicing with the club roller hockey team.

At The Temple News, I’ve done my fair share of watching and analyzing Temple sports teams, but last week, I became a participant when I spent a practice with the club roller hockey team.

I have a bit of a hockey background, and as far as skills are concerned, here’s what I bring as an amateur hockey player: Most of my experience comes from playing Dek hockey, that is, hockey played wearing sneakers instead of skates.

I first donned roller blades this past summer, and while I am not a complete fish-out-of-water on them, there are two major flaws in my game.

One, I cannot stop. If I’m skating and want to stop, I explore two options. The first is to crash into the boards, which can be painful. The second is to spin around in a circle until I stop moving, which can take a little bit of time, but at least I don’t run into anything.

Two, I cannot skate backward. This immediately rules out playing defense, and it would make navigating around the rink easier.

Senior defenseman Mike Peterson generously offered me a ride to Sportsplex in Bucks County, where the team practices once a week. I arrived and talked with coaching team Jamie Babcock and Steve Siliani, plus a few players, whom I warned about my limited skills.

Before I could hit the rink, I had two minor equipment issues to work out. I showed up in shorts and a T-shirt, thinking that would go with my skates, helmet and other protective equipment. It turned out I needed roller-hockey pants and a jersey. Babcock lent me both.

The jersey, which was bright yellow and from a team called “Lethal Bananas,” made me laugh. Its nameplate on the back read “Bananarama.”

Both the jersey and pants carried what some players call the “hockey smell,” a polite euphemism for body odor.

“I don’t think I’ve washed that jersey for a few months,” Babcock said, “same thing with the pants.”
No big deal. In my opinion, if you’re playing hockey and you don’t smell bad afterward, you’re doing it wrong.

Then, it was time to hit the rink.

The first drill involved skating in a single-file S-pattern up and down the rink. I was the last guy in line because of my lack of speed, but I turned OK.

At the recommendation of Babcock, I stood aside for the second drill, when the team practiced breakouts. A breakout occurs every time the team gains possession of the puck in a game. A defenseman carries the puck around the back of the net while the forwards spread out and move up the rink. During this drill, I realized roller hockey is a four-on-four sport, as opposed to five-on-five in ice hockey, which completely changes the game’s philosophy.

“The biggest difference between roller hockey and ice hockey is that the game is a lot more open. With there only being four guys out there, there is a lot more room on the rink to operate,” Siliani said. “There is also no icing and offsides in roller hockey, so in roller hockey, you can have guys set up on two opposite ends of the rink.”

In an ironic turn of events, the one drill I didn’t participate in happens to be the one during which I fell down during the entire practice.

As I stood next to Siliani and watched the team’s breakouts, which end with the team shooting the puck against the goalie, senior forward Mark Diviny skated backward toward me to get into position to shoot. He didn’t notice me, and I didn’t realize how close I was to the action until it was too late. He backed into me, and I went down.

“I was just in total confusion, and I didn’t realize you were behind me, so I tried to receive it on the backhand, didn’t look, and then I crashed into you, and we plummeted to the ground,” he said. “I was counting on no one being there. The thing about hockey is you have to have awareness out there on the rink.”

For the next drill, the coaches split up the team into two groups, the A team and B team, in a varsity/junior varsity setup. They assigned me to the B team. The drill involved one-on-one matchups between a defender and a forward. I was a forward, and I matched up against sophomore defenseman Evan O’Connell. I struggled mightily at first. I lost control of the puck and turned it over the way redshirt junior quarterback Vaughn Charlton turns the ball over on the football field. Eventually, I adjusted the way I was holding my stick and was able to move with the puck without losing it.

“You shot on me a few times and beat me a couple times,” O’Connell said.

Well, that depends on your definition of a shot. My shots look as though I’m scooting the puck in the general direction of the net. I don’t have much experience shooting a puck, as Dek hockey uses a ball.

The last drill involved one-on-one, two-on-two or three-on-three battles between the forwards and defense for a puck dumped in one of the corners. The forwards would have to shoot the puck, and the defense would have to carry it to Babcock. I did my best not to be a liability. By the time I reached the action, it had moved elsewhere.

And just like that, practice ended.

I’m glad I got the opportunity to practice with the team, and I’ll say this: Club sports are a serious business. Everyone involved is very skilled and committed to their craft. The roller hockey guys, who are responsible for keeping up with their own conditioning apart from practice, do this on their own time and without scholarship money.

Before I left practice, I had one last question for Babcock – would I make the roster?

“At this point, no, but if you keep skating and you get your legs under you and move out there, it’s all about skating,” he said. “If you can skate, you can play.”

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Saint Louis slipup costs soccer

Despite upsetting No. 15 Charlotte, 2-1, Sunday, the men’s soccer team missed the playoffs.

The men’s soccer team (9-7-2 overall, 4-4-1 in Atlantic Ten Conference) defeated No. 15 Charlotte, 2-1, Sunday, in the regular-season finale.

Unfortunately for the Owls, the win against the 49ers (11-3-4 overall, 5-2-2 A-10) came too little too late, as Temple was eliminated from the A-10 Tournament Friday after its loss against Saint Louis. The Owls faced a must-win scenario for both games this weekend to even have a shot at a playoff berth.

“It’s nice that the guys played when we were knocked out of it on Friday,” coach David MacWilliams said. “For them to come with that passion was pretty good. Obviously, it’s bittersweet because I feel my team should be playing in the A-10 Tournament.”

Charlotte scored first, following a Cherry and White ceremony for the team’s seven seniors, but the Owls responded quickly with a goal from senior Francois Sagna. Senior J.T. Noone, Temple’s career leader in assists, nailed a clutch penalty kick prior to the end of the first half to put the Owls up for good.

Overall, Temple’s season mixed a little good with a little bad. Tough losses – shutouts actually – against William and Mary, Old Dominion, Duquesne, La Salle, Fordham and Saint Louis proved critical in deciding the fate of the season. One or two victories from those games could have changed the outcome of an otherwise competitive year.

“Well, I think if we take the whole season, there was only a couple weeks during the season that we struggled, and that was the key to our whole season,” MacWilliams said.

After those two tough weeks, the Owls managed to find their groove and pull off six consecutive wins, including against Albany, Siena and rival Saint Joseph’s, to put themselves back in contention for a possible postseason berth thanks to the offensive combination of sophomore Tyler Witmer and Noone.

“Both of those guys are great guys, great players, and I think they did an awesome job for us,” MacWilliams said.

Noone highlights the departure of seven seniors for the Owls. He will be accompanied by Bryant Hosler, Augustin Coly, Martin Dell’Arciprete, Mike Puppolo and Sagna. The departure of nearly one-third of the team leaves a huge hole, and MacWilliams said it will be “difficult to replace them.”

“You can’t replace J.T.,” MacWilliams said. “I think Marty did a great job. All the players did a great job for us.”

The team will return five juniors next season, including goalkeeper Bret Mollon.

MacWilliams said their consistency and a greater number of goals would be pivotal to the Owls’ 2010 season if they’re to have more success.

Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu.

Men’s rugby continues to roll

The club men’s rugby team downed the one-loss Millersville Marauders, 46-20, in its first playoff game to continue an undefeated season.

In a week when the scent of defeat saturated the Philadelphia air, Temple men’s rugby team and coach John Sciotto turned the tides.

The Owls, undefeated this regular season at 5-0, kept that momentum going in the first game of the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union Semifinals with a 46-20 win against the previously 4-1 Millersville Marauders.

Millersville, a member of the Division II Freedom league, put up a fight in the first half, scoring twice in the first 20 minutes, but the Marauders’ playoff run ended against Division II Liberty powerhouse Temple. The Owls recorded their first undefeated season in team history, securing wins against teams like The College of New Jersey and East Stroudsburg by 72 and 43 points, respectively. This time against Millersville, though, the Owls seemed a little shaky in the first half, only scoring four tries and two conversions along with a penalty kick.

It turned around in the second half, as Temple added three more tries and two more conversions.
Team captain and outside centre Gareth Jones said a halftime speech prompted the turnaround.

“Thanks to an electric speech by [fellow player] Mike Rizzo, we turned around in the second half,” Jones said. “It wasn’t our best. We have a lot to work on, but a win’s a win.”

The men’s rugby team finished first in its league, scoring 197 points, including completing 31 tries, while allowing just 14 points, all from the game against Saint Joseph’s.

The playoffs continue this weekend before picking up again next semester. This weekend’s game could pit Temple against either St. Joe’s or West Chester. The Rams finished ahead of East Stroudsburg in the Freedom League with 205 points. St. Joe’s ranked behind the Owls in the Liberty League with 119 points.
Despite Temple’s momentum entering the playoffs and the win against Millersville, Jones refused to look ahead and simply said, “It was a team effort [today].”

Nadia Elkaddi can be reached at nadia.elkaddi@temple.edu.

Close to title, but no cigar

The field hockey team made it to the Atlantic Ten Championship but lost, 3-0, to Richmond.

The field hockey team fell one win shy of an Atlantic Ten title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this weekend in Amherst, Mass. The Owls (9-12 overall, 4-2 A-10) advanced to the A-10 tournament on the strength of a 4-2 win against eventual champions the Richmond Spiders (13-8 overall, 5-1 A-10) on the final day of the regular season. The Spiders came back and bit the Owls, 3-0, in the championship game Saturday.

Temple entered the A-10 Championships riding a three-game winning streak, with victories against La Salle, Saint Louis and Richmond. Each victory proved crucial for the Owls, who came down the stretch needing every win to secure a spot in the tournament. With the win against Richmond on that last day of the regular season, Temple earned the third seed and faced Saint Joseph’s, while Richmond played defending champion Massachusetts. The Owls had beaten both Richmond and then-No. 10 UMass during the regular season, but in the first round, they drew the one team in the tournament they had not yet beaten, St. Joe’s, who beat the Owls, 4-0, back on Oct. 9.

Since the Owls’ first-round game against St. Joe’s took place 3 p.m. Friday, the Owls already knew their opponent would be Richmond should they win.

And as the game against St. Joe’s got underway, it didn’t take long for Temple’s offense to take control. Within the first six minutes of action, the Owls earned two corner opportunities. They capitalized on the second one when senior forward Kasey Ruth scored off an assist from senior defenseman Kristen Wanner to put The Owls on top, 1-0. Early in the second half, junior goalkeeper Sarah Dalrymple made a save on a Hawks’ attempt that would have tied the game. Not only did the save preserve Temple’s lead, it also gave the Owls possession, which led to a two-on-one goal by senior midfielder Charise Young thanks to an assist from freshman Katie Briglia.

Ruth would later score again to increase the lead to 3-0, the game’s final score.

“Perfect execution on her part,” coach Amanda Janney said of Ruth’s performance, especially her goal-scoring.

The 3-0 shutout, Dalrymple’s fourth of the year, sent the Owls to their first A-10 title game in six years and their first championship appearance with Janney as coach. Temple had not won an A-10 title since 1994, and that streak continued after the team faced Richmond. The Spiders’ only A-10 loss this season came to Temple, and they exacted revenge.

Neither team did much offensively. The Owls’ leading scorer, sophomore forward Bridget Settles, had a shot blocked 10 minutes into the first half. It seemed like defense would characterize this game, which was not a problem for Temple, which had only allowed six goals in its last six games.

Richmond broke the defensive dominance, as A-10 leading scorer senior defender Sarah Blythe-Wood scored the first goal, her 21st of the season, on a corner opportunity. Richmond wasted no time padding its lead and added another goal five minutes later on a two-on-one opportunity by sophomore forward Katelin Peterson. The Spiders eventually won, 3-0.

“[Despite the loss], I think with the returning crew we have [Settles and Dalrymple], I do expect to be in the final game next year,” Janney said.

Raymond Boyd can be reached at raymond.boyd@temple.edu.

Akron looms under Friday night lights

The Owls go for their eighth straight win and a 6-0 record in conference against the Akron Zips.

The football gods seemed to be on the side of the Cherry and White Thursday night, as the team survived Miami (Ohio)’s late comeback and won, 34-32, on a field goal with three seconds left. The win increased Temple’s winning streak to seven games and kept the Owls undefeated in the Mid-American Conference.

The Owls play another game under the lights, this time Friday night in Ohio against the Akron Zips. Here are three things to watch for from each team Friday night as the Owls look to keep up their winning ways:

TEMPLE
Making history: Thursday night’s win against Miami (Ohio) means that for the first time in 19 years, the Owls will finish the season with a winning record. Temple won its seventh straight game and improved to 7-2 overall on the season. The Owls look to improve their win total as they wrap up the season with Akron, Kent State and Ohio.

Chester Stewart, Round 2: The redshirt sophomore quarterback replaced redshirt junior starter Vaughn Charlton Thursday night and did what coach Al Golden wants from the quarterback position – manage the clock and avoid turnovers. Stewart did just that, as he threw for 143 yards and committed no turnovers. Stewart threw a couple of nice, deep balls, and his 31-yard pass to sophomore Joe Jones set up the Owls’ last-second win. Stewart starts his second consecutive game under center Friday at Akron against a defense ranked second in the MAC in pass defense.

Turnovers still an issue: Turnovers still appear to be a problem, as the Owls fumbled the ball five times Thursday night. Senior linebacker Alex Joseph fumbled Miami (Ohio)’s kickoff with less than three minutes remaining. Luckily, he recovered it, allowing the Owls to march down the field and win on freshman kicker Brandon McManus’ late field goal. The Owls were fortunate to squeak out a victory last week, but they can’t keep pushing the envelope by turning the ball over so often each game.
Akron

Not so fast: While Temple enters this matchup riding a seven-game winning streak, Akron is the complete opposite. The Zips are looking for just their third win on the season after a 28-20 upset over Kent State Saturday. The Zips, 1-4 in the MAC, have a chance to break even in the conference with remaining games against the Owls, Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan.

Another young gun: After getting shredded for 426 yards by Miami (Ohio) freshman quarterback Zac Dysert, the Owls defense will attempt to contain another freshman arm – Patrick Nicely. Nicely started the previous four games for Akron and has thrown for 1,135 yards and five touchdowns this season. He threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns as the Zips held off Kent State for the upset.

Avoid negative yardage: While the Owls allow the most passing yards in the MAC, they are tied for third in sacks recorded. Akron quarterbacks have been sacked 23 times this season. The Akron offensive line has its hands full this weekend trying to stop sophomore defensive end Adrian Robinson (4.5 sacks) and sophomore defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson (3.5 sacks).

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.

Surprises from unlikely sources

The defense played poorly, while Chester Stewart started at QB.

While it isn’t surprising that Temple beat a then-1-8 Miami (Ohio) team Thursday, a few surprising things happened during the game.

The first thing is the score: 34-32. Fun fact: The now-1-9 RedHawks have scored more points against the Owls than any other opponent this season, including Penn State. The Nittany Lions defeated the Owls, 31-6, back on Sept. 19.

“You’ve got to give tremendous credit to Miami [Ohio]. I can see they have changed on film early in the season until now. I knew we were going to have our hands full,” coach Al Golden said.

The defense certainly had its hands full trying to contain the spread offense led by redshirt freshman quarterback Zac Dysert. Dysert seemed to move the ball easily judging from his stats, 426 passing yards and three touchdowns. Every kind of pass play – short, long, screen – seemed to work against the Temple secondary. The defense managed to get one interception, which led to a first-quarter field goal, but other than that, it wasn’t the unit’s best week.

“We just didn’t get as many takeaways as you should get against a team that throws that many times,” Golden said.

Golden opted to go with redshirt sophomore Chester Stewart in a surprise start at quarterback instead of redshirt junior Vaughn Charlton. The move was surprising and not surprising at the same time. On one hand, Charlton has played poorly and can be seen as a liability rather than an asset to the team this season. But Golden stuck with him through eight games, so it seemed he was willing to ride out Charlton’s struggles.

“Chester’s been really improving,” Golden said. “He was ready for his opportunity, and we just made the decision.”

“Coach always preaches to prepare as if you were a starter,” Stewart added. “I’m always prepared to be the starter in case Vaughn goes down.”

Or if Charlton puts up a stinker like the one he had at Navy, where he threw for 37 yards and two interceptions. Stewart had a few hiccups taking snaps from the center, but he did the job he was asked to do – protect the ball. He only threw the ball 11 times, completing six of them for 143 yards, but that’s the way it should be with freshman running back Bernard Pierce having the success he’s had on the ground.

“We don’t need a guy that throws 300 yards when we’re rushing for a whole bunch of yards,” Golden said. “We want to control the clock. We can’t have a quarterback that turns the ball over.”

It doesn’t really matter who the quarterback is, as long as he doesn’t turn the ball over. Stewart was fine against Miami (Ohio), but whether he can keep this up remains to be seen.

Pierce had another multi-touchdown game, as he made three trips to the endzone to go with his 178 yards, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone by this point in the season.

“It’s awesome to have a running back like Bernard. It just makes our job so much easier,” sophomore offensive lineman Steve Caputo said. “When he makes big runs, it’s all him, and he’s unbelievable. We haven’t had somebody like this in a while.”

It’s remarkable that he can keep up this production as teams key in on him.

“There’s always a possibility that he’s going to score,” Stewart said. “The way he runs causes teams to stack the box and gives us the opportunity to throw the ball downfield.”

That was a big reason Stewart connected on a 31-yard pass to sophomore receiver Joe Jones. The Miami (Ohio) defense stacked the box because of Pierce’s 18-yard run on the previous play.

For this game, at least, the offense made up for some of the defense’s struggles to will Temple to the win.

“I kept telling the staff and the guys, ‘If you want to be a good team and have one of these streaks, there’s going to be games like this,’” Golden said.

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

The Owls survived a fourth-quarter comeback from Miami (Ohio) to win their seventh straight game. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Chester Stewart started under center, but the formula remained the same, handing off to freshman Bernard Pierce.

It was a scene all too common the last three seasons.

The football team held a halftime lead and nursed that lead into the fourth quarter, only to see a sure victory snatched from its hands in the final moments.

But one thing has changed this season – the finish.

With a late comeback victory at Navy and a last-second field goal Thursday night, the Owls finally understand how to close out wins.

“I kept telling the staff and kept telling the guys that if you want to be a good team and you want have one of these streaks, there’s going to be games like this in there, and I just didn’t know when they were going to be,” coach Al Golden said. “I’m so proud of our team for the way they responded.”

The Owls led 21-13 at halftime and 31-13 after three quarters against 1-8 Miami (Ohio) Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field and seemed to be in cruise control to their seventh straight win.

However, the RedHawks made a furious, fourth-quarter dash, scoring 19 unanswered points to take a 32-31 lead with less than three minutes remaining.

The 2006-2008 Owls would have never recovered.

But 2009 is a different story.

Freshly named starting quarterback redshirt sophomore Chester Stewart and freshman running back Bernard Pierce drove the Owls down the field, paving the way for freshman kicker Brandon McManus. McManus’ chip shot 18-yard field goal with three seconds remaining gave the Owls a 34-32 win and improved them to 7-2 overall and 5-0 in the Mid-American Conference.

“Bernard got us down there, and my offensive line, snapper and holder did a great job,” McManus said. “I just wanted to win this for the seniors because of all the hard work they’ve gone through over the four years.”

While the upperclassmen have endured the pain and punch lines during their careers, it’s clear the underclassmen are contributing to the team’s success.

And it starts with Pierce.

Pierce wasn’t able to reach the 200-yard plateau for the third straight week, instead settling for just 178 yards on the ground. Pierce, already Temple’s freshman rushing leader, has rushed for more than 100 yards in six of his last seven games. Pierce’s three touchdowns Thursday night put him at 14 for the season, one shy of single-season record holder Paul Palmer.

“To have a running back like Bernard, it makes our job so much easier,” sophomore left guard Steve Caputo said. “When he makes big runs, it’s him. He’s just unbelievable. We haven’t had someone like him in a while.”

While Pierce has blossomed into one of the premier rushers in the nation, it’s been the quarterback position that has underachieved this season. With that, Golden decided to make a change.

After watching redshirt junior quarterback Vaughn Charlton complete just five passes for 37 yards with two interceptions at Navy, Golden replaced him with Stewart. Charlton had thrown for nine touchdowns and seven interceptions on the season. Three of those picks came in Temple’s opening-night loss to Villanova.

“We just thought it was time to make a change there,” Golden said. “It was no secret that Vaughn didn’t have a good day last week. Chester’s been really improving. To be honest with you, the team has improved the last couple of weeks, and Chester just went to work. He never complained about not being the starter. He was ready for his opportunity, and we just made the decision.

“We want to control the clock, and we can’t have a quarterback who turns the ball over,” Golden added.
Stewart did just that, completing 6-of-11 passes for 143 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Stewart completed deep passes of 30 and 45 yards and threw a 31-yard pass to sophomore Joe Jones on the final drive that put the Owls in the redzone and set up McManus’ game-winner.

Thursday was Stewart’s first significant action under center this season. He played in six games last season – three of them starts – and threw for 524 yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“He threw the ball well during the week,” Golden said of Stewart. “He didn’t miss too many [today]. He really threw the ball with confidence.”

Stewart, who was told he would be starting Tuesday after practice, said there was no sense of panic in the huddle after Miami (Ohio) took the lead late in the fourth quarter.

“We were relaxed and knew we had to execute,” he said.

“I think I did pretty well,” Stewart added. “My teammates made it easy for me. The line protected me all day, Bernard opened it up with the run game, and receivers got open so I just had to deliver the ball.”

While the Owls edged out another win, there is definitely more work that needs to be done as they strive for a spot in the MAC Championship in December. The oft-tough defense allowed 426 yards passing by RedHawks freshman quarterback Zac Dysert and fumbled the ball five times.

Nevertheless, times are good for Golden and his team. The Owls travel to Akron to face the 1-7 Zips Friday before they wrap up the regular season with two important games against Kent State and at Ohio – both teams right behind Temple in the MAC East standings.

“I said eight weeks ago after Villanova you got to have fun, you have to enjoy the battle,” Golden said. “Our kids are enjoying the battle now. We’re going to go attack and see how many we can win here.”

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.

TUCC students face parking issues

Validation system problems recently caused headaches for TUCC students. Management is working to correct them.

Students who take classes at TUCC recently found themselves forced to pay $8 more for guaranteed discount spots at the Centre Square garage at 15th and Market streets.

In an e-mail sent to TUCC students the last week of October, Associate Director William Schreiber addressed technical difficulties with the validation process for the garage. Some students who have parked there after 3 p.m. on weekdays or during weekends, times when discounted parking in guaranteed, were being charged $13 instead of $5, according to his e-mail.

If the price comes up as $13 after inserting a validated ticket, Schreiber urged students to cancel their payment and notify a Central Parking employee to have their ticket knocked down to $5.

Centre Square Parking Manager James Urso noted the efforts he and his staff went through to alert students about these technical difficulties.

“[Central Parking employees] have posted signs on the payment machines reading ‘Attention Temple Discount Parkers,’ which provide specific directions on how to correct the miscalculation,” he said. “More importantly, we have provided TUCC with discount validation tickets to use until the technical problem is properly diagnosed and corrected.”

This technical difficulty has added to the frustration TUCC students are experiencing with the Centre Square Garage. Other than this malfunction, many students expressed dissatisfaction with its fare rates and parking times.

Central Parking charges $5 a space for Temple students for parking between 3 p.m. and midnight weekdays and up to 12 hours on weekends, Urso said. Before 3 p.m. weekdays, students must pay the regular fees to use the garage.

“I think [the fare] should be $5 all day, especially during the SEPTA strike,” senior human resource management major Joe McEvoy said, adding that he does not like the rule that students cannot park at the discounted rate until after 3 p.m.

Senior Elina Shklovin echoed McEvoy’s opinions. Shklovin, also a human resource management major, said she was frustrated with parking at TUCC.

“Spots are tight,” she said, adding that the time rules for discounted parking were an inconvenience.
“I think it should be open from morning until night because people who have night classes have to come in early to do assignments, and it’s not fair to make us pay $29,” Shklovin said.

Other than these issues, students have much to complain about. Urso acknowledged he and employees received complaints from students regarding the TUCC security staff, claiming they have refused to validate their ticket which had correct entry time and a valid Owl Card for identification.

Schreiber said he was unaware of these complaints. He stressed the rules set in place, which prohibit students from using the parking garage at its discounted rate for anything other than Temple-related activities, including class, faculty appointments, meetings and lab use.

Senior risk management and insurance and legal studies major Kendall Givens said she recently started taking advantage of the discounted parking at TUCC and was thankful for the garage.

“I wish it was free, but it’s OK,” Givens said. “At least it’s a place where we can park for just temporarily.”
The Centre Square garage is privately owned and managed by Central Parking, but has a partnership with TUCC. Another garage in the area, Expert Parking’s location on Market Street at 17th Street, also offers the discounted rates to students for night and weekend parking at TUCC.

“[The partnership between the Centre Square garage and TUCC was] probably based on location and convenience to TUCC,” Urso said, noting that he was unsure of its actual origin.

Schreiber said the garage is very beneficial to TUCC students.

“Temple has had a relationship with Central Parking for many years, and there have been very few problems,” he said. “When I distribute the parking information over the TUCC student listserv at the beginning of each semester I often receive replies from students saying how much they appreciate the discounted rate of $5.”

Lena Van can be reached at lena.van@temple.edu.

Second ‘Smash’ episode tapes with live audience

Temple students are writing, producing and starring in their own variety show reminiscent of SNL. The show’s second episode films this Thursday.

A group of Temple students is making like the gang from Saturday Night Live by writing, directing, producing and starring in its own TV series being filmed on campus this Thursday and airing online. The program, Temple Smash, will also be broadcast on Temple’s television station once it is up and running.

Temple Smash is a 30-minute TV variety show series featuring sketch comedy acts, musical performances and stand-up comedy, taped in Annenberg Hall’s Studio 1 in front of a live audience, a la the ever-popular Saturday evening variety show.

Scott McClennen, a junior film and media arts major and SNL intern, is co-producing Temple Smash alongside fellow junior FMA major Kim Burnick. McClennen had the idea of putting together a student-run variety show last year, and completed a pilot episode during the Spring 2009 semester to show at the Diamond Screen Film Festival in May. The upcoming episode is two months in the making.

“There’s a lack of unity between SCT departments, but they are all related,” McClennen said. “One of the missions of Temple Smash is to get students to come together and put their media skills into practice. It serves as a platform for students to showcase their talents.”

The project currently has independent extra-curricular status, but McClennen said he hopes Smash will become university-sanctioned.

“Trying to do this takes money, and fees keep popping up for costumes and props,” he said.

Funding isn’t the only issue Smash faces, however. The show could also use more support from fellow students. There are roughly 35 cast and crew members, but volunteers are needed to lend a hand, specifically with performances, writing, advertising and marketing.

McClennen reached out to the Temple Reel Society for volunteers, and sophomore philosophy major Lauren McEntyre was one of the several society members who obliged.

“Scott came to one of our meetings for set-up help. I don’t have any film experience, and I thought it would be fun,” she said at one of two tech rehearsals held last week.

The first act to practice was a short comedy sketch titled, “Who Invited Her,” written by Ryan “Toast” Dadalski, about a girl who shows up to a typical college party and ruins it with her incessant fact and statistic dropping.

“When I was applying [to Temple], I asked if there was something like this that I could get involved with,” said sophomore BTMM major Emily Diego, one of the actors in this skit, “and they were like, ‘No but you can start one.’”

Diego, who was part of the audience for the pilot episode, knows McClennen and several of her co-stars through Temple’s Improv Club. She acts in another one of the show’s sketches with Victor Gennaro, a junior theater major and host of Temple Smash, but hadn’t formally met him before rehearsal.

“I came late and just met him for the first time right before,” Diego said of the scene where Gennaro, playing an over-the-top movie director, is supposed to slap her backside. “That was like our handshake, if you will.”

Junior advertising major Aaron Miller acts in two sketches, including “Who Invited Her,” alongside Diego. He said he is glad to be involved.

“[This experience] provides something that wasn’t there before, and a lot of people at Temple, which I found out through doing this sketch, have very similar interests,” he said.

Frank Sauerwald is the staff supervisor overseeing the operation, but it’s the students who are in charge of pulling the show together.

“What’s cool about working with other students is we can sit down and talk about the scripts, like last night we went over to one of the writers’ house, and we went through the script, and we looked at things that might be good to cut out or things that might be good to add,” Miller said.

Performers aren’t limited to Temple students, either. David Ray, a University of Pennsylvania sophomore, was invited by McClennen to deliver his stand-up on Temple Smash.

“I wanted more experience doing stand-up in a new environment,” Ray said of why he accepted.
Ray met with McClennen at Temple during rehearsals to do a test-run of his four-minute stand-up act.
“He’s not sure about one of my jokes,” Ray said. “And it’s my best joke.”

Other acts include a song by Boxcar Children, a folk band that uses guitars in concert with a banjo, a ukulele, a harp and other string instruments, and a performance by four of the Bell Tower’s Freestyle Friday MCs, Verbatum Jones, Mic Stewart, Faze 2 and the Alien Architect.

Temple Smash is showing Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:15 p.m. in Annenberg Hall. Admission is free. The episode, as well as the pilot, will be available at templesmash.com.

Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

Prize winner plans to use $150K for art

Ryan Trecartin, winner of the first Wolgin award, will start new projects with his prize money.

On Oct. 22, Temple’s Tyler School of Art held its award ceremony for the Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts. Ryan Trecartin was named the recipient of $150,000, the largest juried visual art prize granted to an individual by a university.

Trecartin said he plans to spend the award money on exactly what he received it for – art.

“I’m literally going to spend all of it on making art,” he said. “The freedom this will give me is going to be taken very seriously, and I’m extremely excited to start a new production with this money.”

The Jack Wolgin competition began when the Philadelphia-based philanthropist decided to donate the $150,000 cash award to an emerging artist who “transcends traditional boundaries.”

“Temple, specifically Tyler, [has] an awards committee,” painting and sculpture professor Philip Glahn said.

The awards committee worked with Jack Wolgin to establish competition guidelines.

“Mr. Wolgin considered [this] to be an international art prize for emerging artists, for young artists. We got together, and the committee decided who would be representative [among artists, curators and critics] internationally to serve as nominators,” Glahn said.

After choosing from the list the committee organized, Glahn explained that they compiled a number of nominators in the United States as well as abroad.

“[We] called them up and said, ‘Who would you like to see? Whose works [deserve] this award and the kind of publicity that comes with it?’ These people then wrote us back, said ‘I would like to nominate this person or that person,’ so we had a pool of artists,” Glahn said.

The committee also chose the jurors who would select the winner. This year’s jurors were Melissa Chiu, museum director and vice president of Global Arts Programs, Asia Society in New York; Paolo Colombo, an art advisor to the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and director of Dorje Film in Rome; and Ingrid Schaffner, senior curator for the Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.

Jurors selected finalists New York-based Sanford Biggers, Chicago-based Michael Rakowitzand and Philadelphia-based Ryan Trecartin. They completed a two-day residency at Tyler where they held question-and-answer sessions, individual meetings with certain students and gallery lectures.

“I was really impressed with the types of questions I got from the undergrad students,” Trecartin said. “I left feeling inspired.”

During their stay at Temple, the artists were assigned faculty members to act as their guides to the university. Trecartin’s liaison was Foundations Department Chair Gerard Brown.

“It makes Temple at a level that no other school in the country can approach because we now offer as competitive in profile [a prize] as London or New York, or any other international art prize,” Brown said. “It’s very exciting.”

Trecartin’s art is described as a “singular video practice” that enhances the understandings of “post-millennial technology.” His work, in addition to that of the other finalists, is on display at Tyler until Nov. 14.

Interim director of the exhibition Shayna McConville said Trecartin created a new piece for the exhibition.
“It will actually premiere the fourth piece in the series of eight that he is working on,” McConville said.

Junior graphic design major Kelly Thorn said that while she was thrilled Tyler was able to host such a prestigious award, she thought student involvement could be amped up.

“I was so psyched when I found out that we were hosting the biggest art award in the world,” Thorn said.

“[One] thing that I really did not appreciate was the fact that Tyler [and] Temple students were not invited to the ceremony. In fact, we weren’t allowed to even walk in the hallway near the gallery or the reception,” she added.

Brown agreed, saying that while he thought the competition was a success, he hopes to incorporate even more student activity into the artists’ two-day residency next year.

“I hope that next year we find ways to move forward with it,” Brown said, “and get more students from Temple involved.”

Valerie Rubinsky can be reached at valerie.rubinsky@temple.edu.

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