Sometimes, an athlete is credited with "saving the franchise."

Mario Lemieux, for example, is widely acknowledged for saving the Penguins -- twice. It could be argued Sidney Crosby did the same in the past few years.

That might be true, but it's hard to argue that what Bryan Hickey did saved the Elizabeth Forward hockey program. Literally.

Partially for that -- but moreso for his brilliant play -- he was named the Penguins/Highmark PIHL Player of the Month for Class AA. Hickey was honored at Mellon Arena during the Penguins game against the Florida Panthers Feb. 19.

"He came over from Serra for his senior year," Warriors coach Larry Briggs said. "We were close to not having a team at all. We had no goalies and not many players. My son [Corey Briggs] stepped in to be our goalie, and Bryan decided to play for us.

"And Bryan has done more than anything we could have expected. He's been a leader for the young kids on a team that has four ninth-graders and only eight or nine players overall. He's picked the whole team up."

Hickey, a senior right winger, had nine points in a recent five-game stretch to earn him the award and had 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 20 games played. He was second on the team in both categories behind Jeremy Pell (16 goals and 20 assists).

Despite the efforts of Hickey and pell, the Warriors finished the season at 3-18-1 and missed the playoffs.

"It was quite a surprise [to be named player of the month] with our team's record and stuff," Hickey said. "There are so many talented players in Double-A, it was a great honor."

Hickey was the third-leading scorer for a Serra Catholic team that last season went 12-5-3. A resident of the Elizabeth Forward School District, he attended Serra and played for the Eagles each of the past three academic years.

"I was kind of up in the air about whether to go to Serra or EF," Hickey said, "and pretty much the thing that became the deciding factor ... was whenever coach told me they needed one more player or else they would not be eligible.

"I have pretty good friends on this team from playing with them on other different teams, so it was such an easy factor to just say, 'Yeah, I will come over and play.' I didn't want any of those kids to not have a team, so it ended up working out better."

Hickey also plays for the Penn Enforcers Junior 'A' team of the America East Hockey League and is fourth on that team in scoring with 12 goals and 26 assists in 40 games.

Judging by those numbers at that level, there's no denying, Hickey has vision and hands. But at 5 feet 9 and 220 pounds, physical play will always be his forte.

"He's as strong as an ox," Briggs said. "He's hard to knock off the puck."

"Being a bigger guy, I have no problem throwing my body around," Hickey said. "I played football [at Serra], so I am not afraid of a little contact ... I try to work hard to create goals."

Hickey said he is leaning toward attending California University of Pennsylvania this fall and playing for that school's club hockey team. But he hasn't ruled out trying out for the Junior A North American Hockey League or the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

This season's Elizabeth Forward team is only 3-17-1 playing with eight or nine players many nights. But the future should be much brighter.

Though Hickey is one of four seniors who will graduate, a strong freshman class is on the way -- and several of this season's freshman already have started to make an impact.

Corey Briggs has made great strides during his first season in goal, and he should be that much better after a summer to work on it.

EF also boasts junior Jeremy Pell, who, like Hickey, was selected to play in the PIHL Class AA All-Star Game. An extremely skilled player, Pell has been playing defense most of this season to fill that need for the Warriors. .

"I will tell you right now, he will be one of the leading scorers next year in Double-A for sure," Larry Briggs said. "He's pretty amazing.

"I guarantee we make the playoffs next year. Most people look at EF hockey right now thinking, 'There's a good shot we get a victory there.' We'll be changing that in the next couple years.

"We'll get better each year and three years from now, when all these ninth graders are seniors, there's no doubt we'll be one of the top teams in Double-A."