File photo: David Jackson/Park Records
The Miners Red Hockey team wasn't supposed to play in the USA Hockey National Championships last weekend, but they didn't go down without a fight.
Park City battled illness, an extended playoff break and a tough out-of-state tournament in West Chester, Pennsylvania, losing in all three tournaments. However, the Miners Red played close games in two of their games, losing 4-2 to Langley of Virginia on March 20th and 4-3 to Owen J. Roberts of Pennsylvania on March 21st. Ta. Head coach Mike Adamek said Owen J. Roberts had a great game. This loss was probably the best hockey the Park City team had ever played.
Adamek and the returning players believe this trip was a great success. They all aim to defend their state title next season, thereby earning an automatic bid to the national tournament, and then win a few games and possibly advance to the quarterfinals there. The Miners Red Division national champion is Colorado native Valor, and the Miners men's lacrosse team took the field on Thursday.
“Our kids learned that they can play against higher level teams. … The next step for our team is to be able to do that consistently,” Adamek said. Ta. “Really, it was just little stretches where other teams were able to take advantage of our mistakes.”
Adamek said Park City will work hard next season to evolve its offense and focus on quality slot shot opportunities. He said the scraping in front of the net didn't yield the results Miners Red was hoping for. They also faced their toughest goaltending all season.
The focus shifted in the third and final game, with the Miners Red losing 7-0 to the Colorado Monarchs. At this point, Park City had already been eliminated from the quarterfinals, and the top two teams from all four groups had advanced.
“I think the biggest reason Park City has been doing so well lately is because there is a lot of overlap between our youth program and our high school program,” Adamek said. “This year's team showed the kids that it's fun to want to be on a high school team.”
The Miners Red had a large group of fans watching them at home during the national tournament, including Adamek's son Brody. Jennifer Wheelwright, whose son Cody is a junior on the team, was watching the game as a classmate at Parleys Park Elementary School in Park City. Wheelwright has been a physical education teacher at the school for 21 years, and her students happened to be playing hockey during the game.
Once Wheelwright knew he would be teaching during the game, he knew he needed to stream the game. She said it was great to be able to show the students what hockey is like at such a high level and show that Park City kids can be on such a big stage. The match eventually had to be abandoned as the Miners Red team scored and the fans refused to leave the room.
“A lot of kids don't have the opportunity to see these types of games, so this is pretty special,” Wheelwright said. “A few times I had to peel him (Brody) off the screen and be like, 'Just play some hockey and come back.'
One of the stars of the Miners Red in the loss was another junior, Johncy Reese. Adamek said Reese was able to fit in seamlessly with the other outstanding out-of-state players at the tournament. Reese scored three goals through three games for Park City.
Reese said he couldn't have done as well as he did without his teammates surrounding him. He added that they seemed to bring a new level of physicality and that's why they all came together.
“My biggest takeaway from Nationals was the bond the team developed with the crew and coaches,” Reese said. “We now know the level of play that is required of us, so we need to work harder to achieve our goals. … Our seniors have set a high bar for us juniors to move up.” It set me up. All I have to say is positive things and a big responsibility.”
