Kids have fun, success in hockey

Most kids of the St. Peters Spirit Mite AA hockey team say their tourney win in a Thanksgiving meet in Chicago was their best hockey experience so far.

But, for goalie Joshua Dunne, the Chicago tournament last fall was a good news, bad news situation.

Joshua Dunne

Kyle Sery

He said the tournament win was great. But, he added, "I pulled my hamstring when I did the splits to stop a shot in the finals."

The St. Peters Spirit team plays in 8-and-under age category. The team includes 16 kids from throughout St. Charles County. As of late January, the team was 19-4-3.

Shane Thornton

Jacob Steward

In tournaments, they are one for two. After winning the Turkey Time tournament in Chicago, the Spirit finished 2nd in the Artic Blast meet at the Summit rink in Chesterfield.

Forward Kyle Sery remembered the loss to a team from Winnetka, Ill., in that meet.

Justin Meers

Tommy Trost

He said the hardest part of hockey is "playing good teams such as the Winnetka Warriors."

Although the Spirit kids are only 8 or 9 years old, many have been skating for years.

For instance, forward Shane Thornton said he began skating when he was 2½. He remembers when he scored his first goal several years ago. He rates that as his best memory of hockey.

Tyler Stewart

Jacob Russo

Forward Jacob Stewart is another kid who started skating when he was 2½.

Many of the other Spirit players have been skating since they were 3. That's when both forward Justin Meers and defenseman Tommy Trost started skating. Both started playing on a league team that same year.

Forward Tyler Stewart started skating at three and then gave up the sport. But, he's back on the rink and with the Spirit this year.

Forward Jacob Russo hasn't been skating very long. He's in only his second year on ice.

Carter Mize

Ryan Edgar

The Spirit's head coach is Kris Mize of St. Peters who was an assistant hockey coach for the DeSmet High School team for 7 years. Now, he is a sales representative for the medical supply company.

He has three assistant coaches with the Spirit, Tom Edgar, Terry Romanko and Deryl Lucas. All assistants have sons on the team and Coach Mize's son, Carter, is a defenseman on the team.

The sons of the assistant coaches are Ryan Edgar, Matthew Romanko and Ryan Lucas.

Coach Mize said he stresses that the kids need to have fun playing hockey at this young age. He tells the kids and their parents, "Wouldn't in be great if in eight more years all the players are still playing the game of hockey.

Matthew Romanko

Ryan Lucas

"My hope is that, in 8 years, my son as well as our other players will have a chance to play for their high school hockey team and play with or against each other."

But, in an aside to parents, he urges them to remember: "They are only Mites, they 'mite' show up to play or they 'mite' not on a given night."

For the players, he said he has four goals. One is to have more shots on goal than the opponents, at least 25 per game. Second, he wants two or less penalties per game.

He said if they have from 5 to 6 less penalties than their opponent, that means they'll play with a man advantage for one whole period. Penalties force a team to play a man short for a period of time.

Most of the kids believe they are good skaters now. But, they also know they have to practice more to get better as they grow.

Bubby Aboulehana

Blake Kochner

For instance, forward Bubby Aboulehana said he needs to practice his "cross-over" move, used to elude other players.

Defenseman Tommy Trost said he gets different views on what to work on. "My dad tells me I need practice on stick work but Coach says I need to skate backward better."

As a defenseman, Tommy needs to be able to retreat in the face of advancing opponents. But, he needs to be able to change directions quickly if he can intercept a pass.

Blake Freund

Jacob Barczewski

Forward Blake Kochner has a skating machine at home. The machine allows Blake to slide back and forth to strengthen his skating motion.

Defenseman Blake Freund skates with his 14-year-old brother, who is in an older hockey league. But, he admits he isn't at the point where he can compete with his brother.

Forward Justin Meers has two hockey nets at home. He practices while on roller-blades.

Jacob Barczewski is one of the team's two goalies. He said he has a hockey net at home and his dad and friends shoot tennis balls at him as he tries to make stops.