This year’s inaugural Harriton Athlete of the week is Alex “Crusty” Krauss, the Boys’ Varsity Ice Hockey starting goalie. Alex is a junior at Harriton, and recently came back from a serious injury that sidelined him for most of the previous season.

The team recently played Oxford High School in their first game of the season. Alex was pleased with the results of the team’s hard work in preseason.

He remarked, “We were pretty excited to get the season started, but there was tension in the locker room. We have a new coaching staff and we lost a few guys for this year, so we didn’t know what to expect. Going onto the ice, the team was nervous, but they settled in and played great. We outplayed them by a lot. We just dominated them.”

The Rams ended up winning the game 11-0 in a shutout mercy rule. There were only 9 shots on goal during the game, but Alex did not let any reach the back netting.

Alex commented on the shut out, “9 shots isn’t a lot, but I’m still happy to pull out a dub (win) for the boys.”

Krauss’ shutout is indicative of the high level play the team needs from him to be successful this season. Staying steady in goal, especially in a potentially nerve-wracking return to the ice in his first game back from getting his spleen removed, sets the tone for a solid season from Krauss.