Upper St. Clair said goodbye to eight seniors from last season's PIHL Class AAA semifinalist hockey team, but the Panthers still plan on speeding back into the Penguins Cup's Final Four.

Upper St. Clair has become a swifter skating team, and the final result might be just as promising -- if not moreso -- than last season.

"We're a faster team overall," coach Larry Marks said. "We're not as physical as we were last year, but I definitely think we are a faster, quicker team.

"Just collectively, overall, I think we're just a much faster team than some people think we're going to be. With the addition of new kids, we've got some more quickness up front.

"We lost some size and strength with the loss of three defensemen, which hurts, but I think with the speed we added, we hopefully can make up for it. I really like that this team has speed."

The Panthers won three of their first four games of the young season before a loss Monday to Shaler, the defending Penguins Cup champion. They will play Canon-McMillan tomorrow.

"The team looks real good this year," team captain James Kline said. "We lost a lot of talent from the team last year, [but] it seems we really got back to where we were at the end of last season.

"We want to move onto the Penguins Cup, win and move onto states and win that also. We've got some [lofty] goals this year."

Five of the team's top nine scorers from last season graduated, but Kline said the additional speed is partly the byproduct of plenty of perspiration from the team members over the past few months.

"The whole entire team, we decided to take the offseason a little more seriously this year and work out as much as possible," Kline said. "Our assistant coach, Dillan Lewis, came in and worked out with us and has worked out almost every other day. Everybody got faster, bigger, stronger.

"We don't want that feeling we had at Mellon Arena at the end of last year when we lost to Seneca Valley, so we really worked hard and were highly motivated."

Kline, a senior, led the team in scoring and was second in PIHL Class AAA with 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) in 22 games. Heading into the week, he was tied with junior C.J. Murray for the team lead with eight points in four games.

"He's very, very gifted offensively," Marks said of Kline, who also plays for the South Hills Amateur Hockey Association's under-18 'AA' team. "He's working hard at becoming a good leader. He has some big shoes to fill with the captain we had last year.

"He's very, very good offensively ... He has really, really good hands, and when he puts his mind to it, he has great vision of the ice. Sometimes he tries to do too much himself, and that's one thing we're working at this year -- use your linemates, use the whole ice -- and he's learning and deserves all the credit in the world for that."

The Panthers haven't yet had their entire complement of players available to them for games due to injury, so their lines aren't set. But Kline, Murray and Justin Selep (seven points in four games this season; 30 points in 22 games last season) have been by far USC's most consistent producers.

Senior alternate captain Zach Feldman is a savvy, gritty veteran presence among the Panthers' other forwards. Two other alternate captains, Mitchell Lewis and Rob Schneid, lead the defensemen corps.

Senior Matt Wregget, son of former Penguins goalie Ken Wregget, is one of the top goalies in the area and can single-handedly keep Upper St. Clair in contention.

"He's amazing to watch," Kline said.

Versatile junior Parker Phillips has been solid playing both forward and defense for the Panthers.

Other contributors include seniors Sam Mendelson, John Columbus and Brent Medoff, junior Michael Segerdahl, sophomores Stephen Gielarowski, Robby Harbison, Andrew Schmitt, Ryan Halesky and freshmen Luke Stork, Taylor Horrocks and Michael Sweeney.

Mendelson is new to the team this season, Medoff missed all of last season due to injury, Segerdahl has not played yet this season due to injury and Harbison has been limited to one game.

The newcomers, particularly the freshmen and some of the sophomores, have been pleasant surprises for the Panthers.

"Some of younger players, they know their role this year; they know they're the future of Upper St. Clair hockey," Kline said. "A lot of them have really big roles this year. We've got some really, really good young talent."

Upper St. Clair's Mike Sweeney, right, beats Gateway's Darren Johnston to the puck in a PIHL contest last week. The Panthers defeated the Gators, 7-4

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