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Braden R Solid & Dependable defenseman who is a fast learner. He doesn't require a lot of explaining or repetition. Great positioning and a speedy skater who stopped more than his fair share of breakaways. In addition to his defensive successes, he lit the lamp a couple of times and had several assists. Paul K He was another solid defensive threat. His greatest strength was helping Blaize out by clearing out the front of the crease. Any time a puck came across the slot, he was there to knock it to the boards preventing easy scoring opportunities for the opponents. He missed some this year to ski, but won a gold medal with his ski team. He picked up a goal and an assist in the St. Pat’s Tournament. Harrison O A speedy kid who started the season as a forward. He kept begging me to play defense, but we really liked his speed up front. After convincing us to give him a chance at D, he showed us all that we should have listened to him earlier. This kid can back check! He really developed into a solid defenseman for his team. In addition to stopping innumerable breakaways he racked up 3 goals and 4 assists in league play. Big heart! Charlie W This kid was a welcome addition part way through the season. We pounded his team in the Thanksgiving Tournament and he saw the light. When I was told that he was interested in coming over to play for us, I made a few phone calls to find out if this kid could hack it on our all-star, undefeated, superpower of a team. Overwhelmingly I was told by people familiar with his play that he would fit right in with our team. I trusted those opinions and they didn’t steer me wrong. This kid is serious about hockey. He jumped right in and impressed us with his eagerness to learn and play. We were the big winners by him coming to this team not visa versa Pete G Chris Pronger as I call him. Scott Stevens is who is dad wants him to be. As a coach or GM, you’re smart to build your team from the net out. Since we didn’t have anybody in mind for goalie at the beginning of the year, we started with the next best thing…Defense. This is the kind of player that NHL teams build a franchise around…a big, smart and unwavering defenseman who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. That is no accident mind you. That knack for always being a factor in the play is called SMART HOCKEY… and being told that you play SMART HOCKEY is one of the highest compliments that a player can receive. He was a calming factor for me in a sometimes very stressful season. His hard and accurate shot from just inside the blue line helped him score 4 goals and 5 assists in league play. Dominic M This kid probably thought that I thought, he never did anything right. Fathers and sons enjoy a special relationship when they share the bench. The father’s become overly critical of their own kid’s play and the kids tune their dad out…ALWAYS! We coaches know that and try to avoid doing it…so because this kid is not my son, it became my job to get in his ear whenever he needed a little re-adjusting. I’ve seen him play soccer before and he is really good, so I had to laugh every time I saw him use his soccer techniques to keep the puck in the zone by catching it, trapping it and passing it with his skates. . I’m here to tell you that this kid did do some things right……. In league play he racked up 9 goals and 10 assists. Nathaniel K This kid today is not the hockey player he was in September. He made a really noticeable improvement in his speed, and his positioning. He was almost always the first kid at the rink and the last one to leave. A true team player, he bounced around from forward to defense and back for a good chunk of the season before settling in at right wing. He has a great ability to fight in the corners and on the boards and stay on his feet. This skater had outstanding performances against Southern Ill and St. Peter’s, scoring two goals in each of those games. He had 5 goals and 4 assists in league play and more importantly always had a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Chandler L Another true team player, this skater was another one that bounced around from forward to defense and back for a while. In the EOS tournament, he asked me to start one particular game and I let him. He went out and scored a goal that first shift. Two games later I started him again and his line scored right out of the box. At that point I told him that he was my new good luck charm. In Champaign, when one of our regular defenders went down with some bad chicken, we asked him to fill in at defense for the last two games of the tournament. He took to the task without a single complaint. That unselfishness really impressed me and I want to take this opportunity to thank him in front of his teammates for that. Justin B This forward had a talent explosion during the season. I always knew that he had some speed, but he really came out of his shoes in the last couple of months. I don’t remember exactly when it was, but one day I was on the bench and I was watching him blazing down the ice. I remember that I could feel myself smiling as I was probably saying out loud, “my gosh…..where did these jets come from?” He ended the season as one of the top scoring wingers with 7 goals and 9 assists in league play. He is one of those kids that you look forward to seeing every week, because whenever he comes into the locker room, he always has a huge smile on his face. As a returning Mite next year, I am going to miss the chance to razz him on the bench. Jared W and Connor L I am going to talk about these two guys together, because they served as our 1-2 quarterback punch all season long. The first one has got to have the prettiest stride I have ever seen. I told his dad once that I loved to watch him skate. Sometimes I would just laugh out loud when I would see him on a breakaway, because it is just so exciting to watch him. He has breakaway speed, he knows it and he uses it. He ended the season with 26 goals and 10 assists in league play. I couldn’t ask for a nicer kid on the team. He has played for me prior to this year. It was my pleasure to have him on my team both times and I can guarantee you that I will draft him again every chance that I am given. (Connor Lange) The other guy is one of the those kids that just finds a way to score. He is also lightning fast but is a different kind of player. We’ve all seen those guys in the NHL that just know how to score. That is this guy. The scary thing is that he is a premier and dominating player in our league, and he’s also one of the younger players on the team. He qualifies to play at the Mite level again next year, but we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen. This kid needs to move up to be challenged. He ended the season with 26 goals, 13 assists and is also a nice kid that we really enjoyed coaching. (Jared Westcott) Jacob N This speedy forward is another one that makes me laugh out loud when I see him tearing down the ice. A feisty back-checker, he reminds me of Speedy Gonzales, because he his so little, but he is so fast. He has the biggest heart and has the most self motivated drive and determination of any kid I have ever coached. He is really hard on himself when he feels he let himself and his team down and he celebrates like he’s won the World Series when he feels like he contributed to the team’s success. He ended the season with 16 goals and 8 assists in league play. He has one of the hardest job on the team being the coach’s son and I want to thank him for not cracking under that extra pressure. Blaize S I will tell you as the father of a goalie that this kid has THE HARDEST JOB on the team. I will tell you that his parents have the second hardest job. For a kid that started the season just kicking around the idea of getting between the pipes, this guy sure did accomplish some unbelievable things. By time the season ended, he was draped in a brand new goalie helmet, new pads, blocker and catcher. He stood on his head for his team more than once. He never blamed his teammates and he took responsibility for every goal. It was obvious because he would always slam his stick, stare straight ahead and refuse to look over at the bench when I would try to talk to him afterwards! He kept us in some games that we might not have deserved to win and because of that he led us to an UNDEFEATED league play season. |
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