By / Ryan Laverty
Rookie parties and dinners out might do the trick for the pros, but when it comes to fusing a team of nine and 10-year-old strangers into a team, KC Icemen coach Jerome Radawetz knew there was only one bonding experience he could count on: mini sticks.
“We’ve got guys on this team from all four corners of the city so it was really important to do some off-ice, team-building stuff early in the season,” explained Radawetz, who has been coaching with the Knights of Columbus for seven years.
“We got a tournament out of town early in the year and we got to do things as a team to really get to know each other. The swimming and the mini sticks were things that really brought us together.”
As a united front, the Icemen skated their way to a 5-2-1 record in the opening third of their season in Federation Hockey’s Atom Canadians Division, knocking off a pair of Whitemud West teams who finished the opening frame with matching 5-2-1 records.
With 35 goals-for in the first eight games of the season, there is no question the Icemen have talent, but after falling 2-1 to the first-place St. Albert AA Barons they’ve started to count more on the leadership of Tanner Laderoute, Joseph Nardi, Connor Radawetz — who are also the Icemen’s top three scorers — and second-year goalie Erik Szubor to take a run at a championship.
“We completely dominated that game,” Radawetz said. “They got one bad goal and our guys couldn’t bounce back, but now we’re hungry. We want to go undefeated in the second round and that includes not getting beat by St. Albert.”
At press time, the Icemen had yet to face the Barons in the second round, but their winning ways had continued, posting three-straight victories to take hold of first place in the division.
And while Radawetz said he is pleased with his team’s play, he’s doing his best to ensure his squad doesn’t peak too early this season.
“Our goal for this round is to go undefeated and get on a roll heading into Minor Hockey Week, but our ultimate goal is to win a city championship,” Radawetz said. “Winning Minor Hockey Week is sort of the kiss of death for a city championship because everyone is gunning for you the rest of the year. So it would be nice to win both, but we’re really just worrying about the big one...the
big trophy.” |
