Hockey: Stevenson savors national runner-up finish to season
When in Rome ... buy cowboy hats.
That's exactly what the Stevenson boys hockey team did during the recently completed USA Hockey National Championships held in the greater Dallas, Texas area.
In addition to buying cowboy hats (why not? It's Texas), the Patriots racked up plenty of wins on their way to finishing second in the country.
Stevenson (41-12-0-3), which earlier won its first Illinois state title in the school-sanctioned-program's 29-year history, lost 2-1 to Pope Francis Prep out of Massachusetts in the tournament opener before firing off four wins in a row to put it in the national title game. There, Stevenson lost to Shattuck St. Mary's out of Faribault, Minnesota 5-1 to finish second in the High School Tier 1 division.
"They put in a lot of work and effort," said Stevenson coach Tom Wood, who just completed his sixth year as head coach after 14 years as an assistant coach for his father, Jim, at the school. Wood's brother, Dan, is a current Stevenson assistant.
"As a team, they bonded really well from the beginning of the season. They hung out together and did things outside of hockey. Teams that are really successful tend to like hanging out with each other and doing things together. This is, by far, the closest teams I have coached. Hard work, talent and good team bonding is what brought this team together."
The cowboy hat shopping spree, Wood noted, typified the team's demeanor this season. "They were loose and they liked to have fun," he said. "After our first game, we bought cowboy hats and we went to the rodeo. We had fun like we did all year."
Wood said the magnitude of the national tournament did not overwhelm the Patriots in the least bit. "It was more of a, 'We are here so we may as well take advantage of the opportunity.' It was a once in a lifetime thing. We may as well try to win it."
Wood added the team took the teachings of longtime Miami Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra to heart.
"There was an article where Eric Spoelstra told his players before they went on a big run a few years ago that you have to behave like champions before you are champions," he said. "We took that motto to heart. You will not be a champion if you don't work like one and act like one. That was the team's yearlong goal, which they did a really good job with besides working hard and doing a lot of other good things with charity work. We won the school's community service award and we had never done that before."
At nationals, Davis Jegers (7 goals, 3 assists), Dylan Jette (3 goals, 7 assists), Cam Schneider (9 assists) and Will Harlow (2 goals and 4 assists) led the way. Seniors Nolan Jones, Raffi Biedron, Jonathan Adler, Brody Stokes, Schneider, Mac Fitzpatrick, Beckett Cole and Tuggy Erdenebat provided exemplary leadership, Wood noted.
"We had a balanced team," Wood said. "We had four lines of offense that could score, good top-end talent that could outplay the other team's top players. We had depth."
Woods pointed out Stevenson's three all-state selections were spread out on the ice with Jonathan Adler (goalie), Jones (defense) and Jegers (forward). Biedron, who had the game-winning goal in Stevenson's overtime state quarterfinal win, is the recipient of the Chicago Blackhawks scholarship, which takes into consideration such factors as community service and grade-point average. Biedron sports a 4.85 grade-point average (highest of any Stevenson winter sports participant).
Jones was an all-Scholastic Hockey League first-team pick, while Jegers was a second-team pick. Stevenson had 11 players score 10 or more goals with Jegers (36 goals, 30 assists), Jette (28 goals, 34 assists), Brandon Schultz (21 goals, 9 assists), Biedron (18 goals, 17 assists) and Jones (16 goals, 21 assists) leading the way. Adler posted a 2.64 goals-against average.
Stevenson also made history with its 5-0 win over St. Viator to win the Amateur Hockey Association Illinois Red Varsity state title. Stevenson reached the championship game with a 7-5 win over Loyola Academy Gold - one of the state's most storied programs.
"We had a good run," said Wood, who played at Stevenson and then helped coach his brother at the school. "This is the first group that we took from freshmen to seniors. To see them achieve what they did is great. This has been super-rewarding. A lot of people put in a lot of time and effort with coaching and out in the community. Stevenson hockey is unique. We are one of the few schools in the state where hockey is a sanctioned-varsity sport by the school. This is a testament to the players and parents and Stevenson High School. A lot of people have put in a lot of effort. The school has been very generous with funding that has allowed us to develop a good program."