Coach Jeff Wressell has chosen the 2008 Team West Michigan, which will represent the area in fall hockey over in Detroit. About 110 players tried out for the teams, and the final selections represent 12 different schools. "That is amazing," Wressell wrote. Anyway, here are the final selections (in no particular order):
Defense-
1. Ryan Mylenek
2. Brett Bergy
3. Brendan Giffel
4. Chris Sandmeyer
5. Joshua Light
6. Doug Wheelright
7. Billy McMullen
Forwards:
1. Jeff Sanders
2. Matt Ragains
3. John Kersaan
4. Michael Hickson
5. Luke Swardenski
6. Ken Babinski
7. Anthony Pino
8. Chris Norkus
9. Drew O'Brien
10. Kyle Hicks
11. Lance Fredrickson
12. Michael Soto
Goalies:
1. Zach Bresko
2. Scott Tiefenthal
3. Brogan Vandevelde
Congrats to all players and good luck!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Team West Michigan Selected
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25 comments:
Keep us posted on the progress...good luck boys!
gunna be a down yr for twm this yr...
First of all, I want to say thank you to the first poster who wished the team luck and want to keep you posted on how the team is doing.
Team West Michigan opened the MDHL season with a tough start. The team lost the first game 7-0 and the second game 7-3. With that being said, I also want to let you know that Coach Wurst and I truly feel we have a very talented group of hockey players and Team West Michigan has lost it's first two games in the league each year for the past two years and finished the Fall season near the top of the pack.
We have 4 simple goals for this hockey team and these players. First, we want the players to become better players and improve each week and each game. Second, We want them to improve as a team and learn to play with each other and use everybody's talents to win hockey games. Third, we want the players to be at the top of their game going into their high school season, and fourth, we want to get our players scouted and recognition where deserved to give them the opporuntity to continue to play at the next level after school. We want to do all of this while still having fun.
I can tell you that our players and team got better every period during the first weekend. We opened the season playing the top team in the league, but the team never stopped giving 110% and our third period was the best period of the game.
The second game we fought back in the first and second period from 1-0 and 2-1 to tie the game and take the lead 3-2 before going down 4-3 at the end of the second. We simply ran out of gas in the third and gave up 3 to lose 7-3, but are working on that.
The two biggest challenges we faced the first weekend were breaking the puck out of zone cleanly and regrouping when we lost the puck in the D-Zone and these are both very common when adjusting to the speed of the game in the MDHL and when you are still learning to play as a team with new players. Please understand that I am not making excuses at all, just being realistic.
I will tell you it is an honor to work with all of these young men. They all have a tremendous work ethic and are very talented hockey players and will represent West Michigan well. The MDHL resumes play next weekend and I will keep you posted as to how the team does.
I would like to also say one thing. This is a wonderful blog and avenue to talk about West Michigan hockey and to share stories and I appreciate the work that has gone into setting this up. I will be happy to post updates on the team and may even share some thoughts on other stories on here, but I promise you this, I will always post my comments using MY ACTUAL NAME. Everybody is entitled to their opinions on our team, but there are certain individuals who have worked very hard to put this team together and organize this and they don't get recognition at all (I am not talking about me either), so when you come on here and take cheap shots at this team and the group of hard working young men who give up their weekends to represent West Michigan or when you feel the need to take a shot at the process, at least have the courtesy and guts to put your REAL NAME to you post. I would respect that alot more.
Thanks to those who have wished us luck and to Mr. Edwards for this wonderful website.
Jeff Wressell
Why so defensive about the "process"? I sure don't see any "cheap shots" posted.
Not defensive at all. Like I said before, I stand behind my players, the process and the people involved 100%. By the way, there was a pretty derogatory post that is now removed.
After watching "tryouts" for the 2nd year. I wouldn't say the process is fair. I was standing next to a guy that named 85% of the team @ 11:00 am Saturday. Even more disturbing was that one player that wasn't even there on the weekend got a free pass to Monday and made the team. I guess the commitment they preach only for a select few. Bottom line is if your coach doesn't "encourage" you to tryout don't bother.
We can debate this all day long, but I can tell you that coach Wurst and myself had the final say in what players made this team. If somebody named 85% of the team at 11:00 am on Saturday, then I would have to say that person had a pretty good grasp of the top players in West Michigan. With regards to the player who was not there over the weekend, but given a tryout on Monday, that player was at the Futures Camp for the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL and over the weekend in games in Sioux City, his goals against was less than 1.00. He is one of the top in the area and deserves to be there. Like I said, I certainly don't need to justify any of our decisions, but I will lay it all on the table, we have nothing at all to hide and have no agendas and no ties to any of the high school programs which I believe is evidenced by the number of schools repersented by our team. You are entitled to your opinion, but we are here to move on and develop the players we have and represent West Michigan the best we can.
Wow, for not needing to justify your fair process you certainly defended your preferential treatment eloquently. I do not have a dog in the hunt, but certainly understand why some feel slighted by this process. If you're saying the team wasn't picked on paper I'll have to take your word for it, but some of the selections seem questionable, including goaltending. I do wish the team the best and am pulling for them as they represent West Michigan. These are fine young men who deserve the recognition; just saying there are some others that probably deserved it as much that didn't necessarily get a fair shake.
If the post about politics is the one you thought was derogatory, that was mine. It wasn't meant to be rude, but if you want us to think for one minute that politics didn't play some role in a team that represents 10 or more high schools, you must think we're stupid. I'm sure you did the best you could, but I still think there was more that went into your decisions than just talent. Just my opinion, though.
is it true that team WEST MICHIGAN has a player from midland?
I feel Coach Wressel made very good choices on the team. Everyone has their opinion about this team and I'm sure few are the same. As far as the kid not at the weekend tryout because he had an opportunity he couldn't pass up, what if it was your kid? If your son got the offer to go to a USHL skate you can't tell me you wouldn't try to get your son to the tryout...who wouldn't? In some cases I would object with a kid coming in at the call back even after he did not show up for the tryout because he did not want to go, but for a reason like this I cannot disagree with.
We now know that this "tryout" is based on reputation vs performance during the evaluation weekend. Coach spelled that out in his comments. Hopefully, they will include these facts in the "tryout" literature they send out next year so many know this is just a nice fundraiser.
Interesting as I read on here that two kids from last year that didn't make the team went on to receive all state and all conference honors, not to mention both made junior teams. Tell me how these two didn't make the team if the best kids are chosen?
They didn't choose the best players...they chose the right ones.
I thought TWM would be a group of veterans from west mi that had been banging on each other for 10 years having an opportunity to play together 1 time before moving on with their lives. I guess I am naive.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the kid who got special consideration wasn't at a USHL invite-only tryout camp, he was at futures camp according to the explanation above. Those are totally different things and anybody can sign up to go to a futures camp. I don't know this player, and he may absolutely deserve to be on the team, but I do know that an exceptional player who was invited to an NAHL invite-only camp didn't even make the cut. Makes you wonder.
You do have to get an invite to attend a Futures camp, and was the NAHL Invite Only tryout during Team West Michigan Tryouts? Makes you think...
If reputation was a factor than last year ZB got the shaft. He only split time and helped his team to the State semi-finals only to be snubbed by 2 back-ups who together didn't have the starts he did. Atleast they took him this year,but we'll see how much he plays. If you aint from PC or Mona it doesn't matter.
People: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Let's be positive here. If you want to be nasty, there is a forum for that, it's just not here.
Bottom line: Tryouts are always a human process that yield imperfect results. Oh well. Kind of like life. That said: the kids who made Team West Michigan are excellent players and fine young men. For those kids who didn't make TWM, there is the WMDHL on Sundays -- and you only have to go to G-town or Kentwood, instead of having to spend weekends in Detroit.
Mona backup played in the league 2 years ago on a team in Detroit, made team Michigan Midget Minor and from what I recall was backup behind a 2 time all state goalie, not much room to push for a spot there, especially when that goalie had played for their coach for 4 or 5 years. He didn't start, that doesn't mean he didn't play. I'm not saying ZB didn't deserve it, I am just saying get your facts straight before you say a kid gets preferential treatment because of what school he goes to. EK and Mona are 2 of the top teams in the West, so saying going to Mona got him on the team is false.
I agree with Mr. Blogger...keep it positive or keep it to yourself. I truly have a problem with parents (and others) that can only sit and whine. You need to realize what a "wet blanket" you are to your kid and his team. Your kid doesn't have a chance if he is hearing that attitude from you at home. (Plus I may add you are killing his team) Life is not fair...if you don't succeed try harder if you really want it...that is the message your kid should be hearing not "it is all about politics". These coaches do a great job and they really help showcase the West Mich hockey talent. Our oldest son made TWM in the past and was not from one the power schools. He also had some failures as far as making teams for other showcases. Did we think he should have made some of those teams? Certainly! But put yourself in the shoes of these coaches. It is a very difficult task to select "the best" especially when we are talking goalies...I would say the 3 on this team will be in the very top echelon this coming winter. Sometimes trying and failing is not all bad. Our son actually was recruited for Juniors from tryouts for teams he did not make. My suggestion is that instead of being critical of the people giving your kid a chance to play encourage him to work a little harder than the next guy and have a blast doing it. Best wishes TWM.
I appreciate all of the comments and discussion on here. I know you all have opinions and respect that. The bottom line is, tryouts are never an easy thing when you have such great talent to choose from. Team West Michigan played very well this past weekend and although they had a 3rd period in the first game that was really tough and gave up 4 goals, they played very well and came back and won the second game of the day 5-2.
As for the tournament teams selected, West Michigan is represented very well and we had another 3-4 players who are right on the edge of making on of the teams as well. I am proud of the players and the heart and dedication that they have shown and know they will represent the West side of the state well this weekend in Detroit.
I am also happy to answer a couple of your questions as well. Yes, we do have a player from Midland on the West Michigan team. The bottom line is, this is a young man who I had seen play before and is an exceptional talent. We were concerned about him getting a fair shake and tryout in Detroit and getting lost in the numbers so we invited him to our tryout. This league is to promote high school hockey and high school hockey players to the USHL, NAHL, EJHL and to colleges and if we can help a young man who would not have an opportunity otherwise get noticed, then we are going to do that. He is a very high end forward with tremendous upside, is making the committment to drive here for practices, and fits in well with the team. He deserves to be here and we are proud to have him.
With regards to the goalie who was at the Futures Camp, he was on this team last year and proved himself, he was in Sioux City for the camp and had a GAA of less than 1.00 and proved his play on Monday evening. He is one of the top 92 goalies in the MDHL and one of the top in the league as well. By the way, you do need to be invited to the Futures Camps and even if you are invited, your application still has to be accepted and they do turn players away. By the way this goalie was selected to play in Detroit this weekend.
I wish the West Michigan players well this weekend in Detroit and can tell you I am very proud of you. I am very fortunate to work with such a talented group of young men will keep those of you interested updated on how the team does. Thanks again to the Blogger for this website and all your work. It is nice to have a sopt dedicated to West Michigan High School hockey and to keep up to speed on how the players who have moved on are doing.
Good luck to everybody.
According to Mr Wressell "This league is to promote high school hockey and high school hockey players to the USHL, NAHL, EJHL and to colleges and if we can help a young man who would not have an opportunity otherwise get noticed", from what I have heard around the rink, Why would they take a goalie who does not want to play past high school.. btw I dont have a player on TWM or old enough to play high school
which goalie is that?
The players who are on our team deserve to be there. Sure there are others who were not selected who might have aspirations of playing at a higher level and who very well may be able to, but you can not deny the players who are there. Apparently, you know my players better than I do or just like stirring the pot. The tryouts were almost a month ago and are long done. The team is chosen and I will do my best for those players and anybody else I can help out from the West side, but I am going to use my time to be constructive.
Best of luck to the players participating in Detroit this weekend.
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