Benefield: Hockey dreams come true for Santa Rosa squads

If Santa Rosa Junior Hockey was going to go big, they might as well go really big.

The 200-member program earned not one spot in the vaunted International Silver Stick Hockey tournament but two.

Both the U-12 PeeWee and U-14 Bantam teams won their respective regional tournaments in San Jose over the Thanksgiving weekend to earn spots in one of the most hallowed tournaments in youth hockey.

'When I grew up, Silver Stick was kind of an untouchable tournament,' said T.J. Albrecht, a native of St. Paul, Minn., and coach of the PeeWee squad. 'I wouldn't say it's as big as the Little League World Series, but it's close.'

So for not one, but two, Santa Rosa teams to earn places in the International Silver Stick this month is 'extremely rare,' said Jeff Hutcheons, coach of the U-14 Bantam team.

Rare indeed. Area hockey-watchers say it hasn't happened here before.

'Our club, our community that surrounds us, finds it a very big deal,' said Jason Nutt, president of the Santa Rosa Junior Hockey Club.

While two teams earned a spot in the tournament, just the U-12 PeeWee squad will go. That team, coached by Albrecht, leaves for Ontario today.

The cost and the likely four days away from school for members of the U-14, some of whom are freshmen in high school, was too much to bear. Organizers estimated it will cost about $1,000 per person to participate in the three-day competition.

'We sat down and had a team meeting with all of the adults,' said Hutcheons, whose son Dukotah was the team's leading scorer in the regional tournament with five goals.

'I have had this group of kids since they were five years old,' Hutcheons said. 'We tried to win this tournament nine times and we finally did, so it was tough.'

But the PeeWee team will board a plane today bound for the Great White North.

It's a remarkable turnaround for a team comprised mostly of kids who spent last year losing just about every game they played and who punched their ticket to the international tournament on the goals of a just-turned-13-year-old who until six months ago had never played the game.

Jake Herman, a nearly 6-foot seventh grader from Willowside Middle School, usually dedicates his winters to basketball, but Albrecht saw him skating around with the hockey club's introductory team and quickly invited him onto the select squad.

Still learning the ins and outs of the game, Herman's first goal of his career so stunned him, he forgot to celebrate.

'My whole team just tackled me to the ground,' he said.

'We wouldn't have won the tournament without him. He tied up both games when we needed it,' said Ryan Nutt, the team's leading scorer in the regional tournament. 'He's tied the two most important games in our season so far.'

But praise youth, because Nutt, all of 11 years old himself, said the best part about playing with the newbie Herman is that it reminds him of when he was just starting out on the ice.

'It's absolutely great. It's so fun,' he said of playing with Herman. 'It reminds you of what you were like when you were starting.'

'He's just always having a good time; there is nothing bad about it to him,' he said.

For local hockey enthusiasts here in sunny California, drumming up opponents can be tough. Explaining to friends and neighbors why families spend all Saturday eight months of the year in the car for one hockey game is even more difficult.

Albrecht, the Minnesotan, said he still tries to get his head around how different youth hockey is here.

'In the middle of winter, I'd go to Rec Park and skate for four, five, six, seven hours,' he said.

'It was very unstructured. A lot of the hockey I grew up with, I call it pond hockey. All ages, all abilities. Having that unstructured time is invaluable.'

As a kid in Minnesota, league play meant facing all manner of teams within 20 or 30 square miles. Here, Santa Rosa squads are in the Norcal league, which means away games in Lake Tahoe and Fresno.

'I have never seen so much travel in my life. It's unbelievable for me,' Albrecht said.

That said, Albrecht said giving kids an opportunity to see other communities, stay in hotels and meet other athletes from far-flung locales is invaluable.

And this team has paid its dues with losing, with driving hither and yon for games and coming up short, Albrecht said.

Whatever may come this weekend with stiff competition and competing in hockey communities primed for intense play, Albrecht's guys will have a blast.

'Nothing is going to turn these kids from having a good time,' he said.

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com and on Twitter @benefield.