Posted: 04/26/2005
15 of the 23 selected for the Southeast team that will compete in the 2005 Hockey Night In Boston Jr Hi Showcase are players who competed in the BTHL organizations during the 2004-2005 season. These players put aside their sometimes bitter BTHL rivalries, under the leadership of Coach Tim Pergram and assistants Claude Crane and Larry Fuller, to compete as members of the Mid America Hockey Academy team which went undefeated during the round robin evaluation tournament in Atlanta April 15-17th. This marks the 3rd consecutive year that Coach Tim Pergram has entered a team in the Atlanta tryouts, and the 2nd straight year that they've gone undefeated.
The players selected are: from the Cincinnati Cyclones - Ben Blank, Chris Crane, Ian Depasquale, Jesse DiLillo, C.J. Groh, Nate Han, Brennan Kerchner, Ryan O'Leary, Clay Pergram and Tony Woodward; from the Columbus Stars/Capitals - Blake Edwards; from the Indy Arctic Blast - Michael Stanisz; from the Louisville Storm - Luke Blackman, Nick Frederick and Matt Fuller.
In addition to those selected above, 5 more BTHL players were named as alternates, and as such stand a very good chance of being placed on another regional team's roster. Corey Cohoon and Nate Reynolds (Cincinnati), Garrett Collard and Alex Holmes (Louisville), and Todd Jacobs (Indy) played well in the deep and talented Southeast evals.
The Southeast team faces off against some of the best 90/91 players the Northeast, MidAtlantic, New York, Prince Edward Island and eastern Canada has to offer May 12-15th in Salem NH. According to Coach Pergram and veteran HNIB staffers, this team is one of the most talented to ever come out of the Southeast and has a very good chance to win the overall North American championship. The HNIB Jr Hi Showcase is scouted by over 70 prep school, junior, and college coaches, so this is great exposure for these young men. This past year, the first two players that Coach Pergram placed in prep schools have signed with Div I and Div III colleges to play hockey and earned scholarships for their education.
Best of luck to the Southeast team as they look to represent the BTHL well and improve on the 2nd place finish of last year's squad (which featured returning selectees Blackman, Blank, Frederick, Groh, and Pergram).
Later this summer, Coach Pergram will start the process anew of evaluating players to build two teams to compete at the Jr Hi (7-8th graders) tryouts next spring - which are moving to Nashville, TN. He is also looking to build 1-2 teams for 9-12th graders to compete in the Sophomore and Major showcase tryouts to be held in Laurel, MD.