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Jr. Kings’ Squirt teams take different paths to states T
By Chris Bayee
he Los Angeles Jr. Kings’ Squirt A1 and B1 teams fol- lowed different paths to clinch- ing spots in the CAHA A/B state
championships in San
Jose in mid-April, but their for- mula was very similar - a lot of hard work.
The A1 team, which won a
SCAHA title, played in many of the 2001 age group’s most prestigious tournaments, from the Bauer International Invite in Chicago in November to Su- perSeries events in Boston and Dallas. The success the team enjoyed was a by-product of hard work and development, coach Nelson Emerson said. “This was as rewarding of a
season as I’ve had in coaching,” said Emerson, whose involve- ment with the club stretches back nearly a decade after his 13-year pro career concluded with parts of three seasons with the Kings. “There were no issues, but the biggest reason was these kids worked their tails off. It was just work, work, work on skills. They enjoyed it so much that they wanted to be on the
ice as much as possible.” The B1 team took a differ- ent approach, playing tourna- ments exclusively in Southern California to further its devel- opment.
“We found worthy oppo- nents everywhere we turned,” said coach Jamie Storr, whose 15-year pro career started with the Kings after he was LA’s first-round draft pick in 1994. “From where they started until now (going to states) has taken a lot of hard work by the play- ers.”
Emerson’s A1 team, which
had lost only five times in near- ly 70 games heading into states, had some built-in advantages, including participation in the SuperSeries events.
“A lot of our success is from those,” Emerson said. “The people who put those together do a great job, and your team plays six games in two and a half days. Our team stepped up when it needed to.” The composition of the A1
team itself provided a frame- work for succeeding.
“A huge asset was 12 of the
kids live within two miles of each other,” the coach said. “Six
A commitment to hard work over the course of the season helped propel the LA Jr. Kings’ Squirt A1 team to the SCAHA championship in its division. Photo/
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of them go to school together so we could have one practice a week before school, 6:30-7:45 a.m. on Fridays.
“I bet we’re the only team that could do that because we’re fortunate enough that the play- ers live close to the rink (Toyota Sports Center).”
Another was the players’ fa- miliarity with one another. “We have some who have played together for 4-5 years now,” Emerson said.
Storr, who also is the Jr. Kings’ head goaltending coach,
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found himself in a very differ- ent situation at the start of the season.
“I took a group of kids that no one else wanted,” he said. “I felt all had the ability, but they needed a lot of work. So I told the parents and kids, ‘If you feel you want to play at a high- er level, here’s the program we need to follow and the amount of ice time you’ll need.’ ” So the team committed to a practice schedule that in- cluded an offensive skills ses- sion with ex-NHLer Val Bure
on Mondays and power skating practice with fellow ex-NHLer Brandon Convery every Thursday, bookending Tues- day’s practice.
tronomical, but the result was improvement,”
“When everything is said and done, six or seven players are looking at playing at higher levels next season.”
Members of the Squirt A1 team include Jack Blake, Brendan Brisson, Jacob Brockman, Blake Emerson, Quinn Emerson, Michael Gallagher, Hunter Johnson, Huston Karpman, Alexan- der Krause, Kristof Papp, Matthew Ramos, Julien Roa, Lukas Roscoe, Drew Vieten and Dustin Wolf. The Squirt B1 team in-
cludes Conner Ahlstrom, Maks Bure, Jordan Isen- berg, Noah Jamani, Harout Joulfayan, Harry
Meisel,
Ronan Mobley, Aidan Pat- terson, Josephy Schickler, Ryan Segers, Tyson Storr, Cade Sweeney, Denis Vezi- na, David Vieten and Lilly Yovetich.
“The commitment was as- Storr
said.
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