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6/1/03-Hockey
Heart + Desire = Eaglets' success
The Orchard Lake Good News
Heart and desire: that formed the backbone of the Eaglets' hockey team's success, says Head Coach Brian Klanow. "From the start of the season, the team worked extremely hard, both in practice and in the games." St. Mary's won its first Michigan Prep Hockey League championship and fashioned a 20-3-3 record, the second best in the program's nine-year history (1997: 22-4-1), and was ranked No. 4 in the final Class B ratings.
"We gained a lot of recognition," adds Klanow, including an invitation to participate in a "showcase tournament" in December that is usually attended by numerous college scouts. However, St. Mary's couldn't solve Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook, which squeezed past the Eaglets, 2-1, in the District final, the fourth year in a row that Cranbrook has eliminated St. Mary's in state tournament action.
"I think we have just as good a team, " says senior Rick Merlo, "but Cranbrook plays a good defensive system. We didn't get the breaks. We had three or four shots that hit the post."
Merlo (20 goals), Aaron Jeffrey (25) and Josh Schaffer (20) had 67 of the the team's 144 goals. They are among seven seniors graduating from the program. Merlo --one of 12 nominees for Mr.Hockey -- and Jeffrey intend to play junior hockey this fall with an aim of catching a college recruiter's attention, while Schaffer has accepted a hockey scholarship at the Air Force Academy. Sophomore Pat Nagorsen (13 goals, 19 assists) and goalies, sophomore Shane Trexler and junior Mitchell Rybicki, lead a strong group of underclassmen next season as the Eaglets will be playing in their own, brand new arena. "The arena is attracting a lot of hockey players to St. Mary's," says Klanow, who will manage the facility when it is expected to open in late summer.
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