Roosevelt ice hockey team keeps a positive mindset
4 min read
Seasons are often filled with ups and downs.
Even the most dominant teams will be faced with the adversity made from the least expensive of lows.
Even the groups that wrestle the most will locate times of pleasure made from the greatest of highs.
Each individual hurdle provides the upcoming problem.
At this point, if you had been to check with the Kent Roosevelt ice hockey staff, they may possibly inform you that they are fatigued of clearing the hurdles.
In a time like no other for all teams, couple have faced the degree of adversity that the Tough Riders icers have.
But they are however skating. Nevertheless successful and they are nevertheless smiling.
“We have saved a positive attitude from the extremely start off of the period,” initial-12 months coach Brad Edwards explained. “Every likelihood we got to action onto the ice, we were pleased to do it and grateful for the option.”
The initially hardship the program confronted, while, place individuals options in jeopardy.
On Sept. 25, Kent State College announced its ideas to shut the KSU Ice Arena indefinitely. The rink was the house of the Rough Riders for all methods and dwelling games.
Suddenly, Edwards identified himself scrambling to obtain a new residence for both of those. Fortuitously, he was capable to work out ice time at The Pond in Chagrin Falls. Comfort was out the window, however, as the Rough Riders latched on to observe periods scheduled for Wednesday nights at 9:15 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 7 a.m.
The moment the puck dropped to open the year, the Riders raced out to a 4- start out right before factors arrived to a halt and the method was compelled to shut down due to the fact of a good COVID circumstance within just the staff.
The pause lasted from Nov. 30 till Jan. 8. Finally back on the ice in mid-January, the Tough Riders have been understandably with no the sort and conditioning that helped them open up the yr so solid. Roosevelt gained only three of its next 8 games — and just as the group was beginning to find its ice rhythm all over again (with a thrilling time beyond regulation victory more than Orange and a stunning triple-additional time triumph in opposition to Olmsted Falls), the Riders’ system was shut down for the reason that of speak to instruction linked to a constructive COVID situation within just the Orange method.
“Hockey is not a activity that you can just stop participating in for two weeks and consider that your conditioning and mentality are going to remain at the level they want to be at,” said Edwards, who is a 1996 graduate of Kent Roosevelt and went on to engage in ice hockey at Kent Condition. “Our young children have dealt with almost everything so properly this calendar year. I could not be far more very pleased of them. It is really hard for me to describe how proud I am of them.
“Our team has responded so properly to coaching and they are so cohesive collectively as a group,” Edwards claimed. “They have carried out so significantly in a quick amount of money of time, and I seriously believe that that what they have worked by way of this calendar year will get ready them for existence. We advised the little ones at the start of the year that they would want to be well prepared for just about anything. It was a wonderful way for us to show them that in everyday living, things materialize. They can occur unexpectedly and you have to study how to deal with them as greatest as you can as just about every one particular of them comes up.”
Edwards is in his very first calendar year at Kent Roosevelt, but far from a rookie to coaching. His profession in ice hockey commenced when he was 7 and his father “missed soccer signups.” He brought practical experience to the system, then crammed out his staff with coaching veterans, who also were deeply rooted to the ice hockey system: Mike Haney (Class of 1992), Brent Pfeiffer (1989), Tyler Gallagher (2012), along with goaltender mentor Steve Angus and longtime Roosevelt hockey supporter Tom Fisher as a team specialist.
Edwards also praised the help the faculty district gave to his method in the midst of a pandemic time.
“The district has been very little but supportive this calendar year,” Edwards stated. “They have bussed us to and from each and every follow and just about every video game. I believe it was an plan that originated from a basic safety standpoint, which was wonderful, but I consider it also experienced a big aspect to do with the bond our crew crafted with every single other, spending all of that time on the bus collectively.”
Overall, the team has been stuffed with contributions throughout the board, but led by junior goalkeeper Jake Bennett (88% save proportion), senior Kade Kiger (13 goals, 8 helps), senior Ethan Steffl (28 objectives, 12 assists and one-match report 7 goals), senior Jason Sears (70% draws) and senior Dennis Antalek (defensive blue-line anchor).
Leaders that aided the Rough Riders crystal clear all of the hurdles.
Now, near the complete line, hunting back at the issues almost appears to deficiency the gravity they the moment had.
“I am not certain what we would do with out adversity,” Edwards admits.
