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Top 50 MN Peewee AA/A Player of the Year (Part 5)

By frederick61, 04/04/14, 8:00PM CDT

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Luverne's Declan Beers is #1

Sometimes, a good athlete is so talented, that he can put on a pair of skates and play at the top levels of the sport immediately.  That is extremely rare.  Sometimes, after playing squirt and peewee hockey for years, a player puts on his skates and has developed has his athlete talent to play at the top levels of the sport seemly overnight.  Somewhere in the middle of those two thoughts, is Declan Beers, this year's top peewee AA/A player.


Garretson, South Dakota

Beers is a big strong forward who has played hockey the past two years for Luverne's peewee A team.  Luverne has been one of the smaller associations in the state typically having less than 25 players trying out at the peewee level.  Two years ago, they had 11 forwards on their roster, last season they had 10.  But despite that, the Cardinals have been successful consistently skating a full season with a short bench.  Making it tougher on the Cardinals' forwards, most Southern Minnesota games are 15 minute stop time periods at the peewee level.  Often Luverne peewees played four games on a weekend.


Luverne's Declan Beers attacks Armstrong net in the South Regional played in St. Cloud.

In the 2012-2013 season, Luverne made it to the state tourney semifinals before losing to the eventual state champs, the Minneapolis Storm.  This year, the Cardinals won D5's peewee A regular season title and D5's #1 seed to the South Regional.  On a team with a short bench, Beers saw a lot of ice time the past two years.

Last season, he was a solid player, but attracted little attention.  This season, his play attracted considerable attention especially from his opponents. The teams that played Luverne would report that the Cardinals were a one-player team.  They were not a one-player team.  Luverne had talented forwards, but Beers was so outstanding, it seemed as if the Cards were a one-player team. 


Beers' play always attracted extra attention. Here he fends off two players to move the puck into the offensive zone.

Beers has a hard shot with a quick release.  He is accurate with his shot, but if it misses the net, the puck thunders off the end boards.  But a fan does not have to see his shot to see him as an exceptional hockey player.  Playing for Luverne against tougher teams, he is often singled out facing multiple opponents whenever he attempts to move the puck.  Some of his opponents kept as much as three forwards within a short radius of him to keep him from gaining speed or setting up an open Cardinal forward.
 
What they feared is Beers gaining the puck behind the net.  If the opponent had not played Luverne or seen Beers play before, they were in for a shock.  Beers would gain control of the puck, kick into high gear, and skate through the opponents.  Once Beers hit high gear, his opponents could not keep up.  It was as if they were standing still in their skates.  They could only react if he came close.  With his size and strength, he would drive through most players trying to react and move in for a score.  It is a rare talent considering he rarely touched the puck in the summer.
 
What is also rare about Beers is where he comes from.  Beers comes from Garretson SD.  His  hometown does not have a single hockey rink.  Garretson is a town of 1100 people seven miles from Luverne.  It is a community of farmers, railroad workers, and commuters.  It is a suburbia for people who work in Souix Falls.  It is  a community that does not play hockey.  Football is their sport.

Luverne's Declan Beers watches his shot beat the goalie (the puck can be seen crossing the line).

Beers hung up his skates after playing for Luverne last season in the state tourney.  He played baseball and football.  For some reason, last summer Beers and his friends all grew adding around a foot to their heights.  They all played on the same football team.  Football is the sport in Garretson, not hockey.  Few people knew tht Beers played hockey, few if any had seen him play hockey.
 
When Beers showed up to tryout for Luverne hockey, he so impressed the Luverne hockey people with his in proved skills at the tryouts that they debated putting him on the bantam A team.  In the end, the decision was made to keep him on the peewee A team.  Watching him play at the Rochester Tourney in mid-January, a fan for the "other team" ruefully commented "Beers should be playing Bantam A".
YHH saw him play multiple games for Luverne in the 2012-2013 season.  He was a good player and one could see he had potential, but other Luverne players drew attention that season.  When YHH first saw him play this year (after last year's peewee A state tourney appearance in Faribault), he had changed from being good to being a great peewee player.  It was surprising.  In the 35 or so games that the Luverne played this past season, Beers scored around 120 goals and had around 70 assists.  He was the Cards team leader.  On the ice, he made helped the other players by setting an up tempo pace in games and in practices.  In a South Regional game against a top ranked Orono team, Beers had a 5 point game (three goals/two assists).  He was a team leader off the ice motivating his teammates in dry land sessions among other things.
 
Even though YHH writes constantly that players change during the year, during the season, or sometimes during a week as they grow and learn the sport, Beers transformation was dramatic.  So what happened is Garretson last summer?  The simple truth is Declan is an all-around athlete that excels at sports.  He loves playing sports.  That means playing baseball, football, and golf when not playing hockey.  The only summer hockey he played last year was to attend a couple of camps, but he constantly works out.  Even when watching sports on the tube, he works out during commercials.

Beers puts the shot from the left slot past the goalie. He has a hard shot with a quick release that catches the goalies off stride. Armstrong's goalie Nikki Harnett was one of the few that could catch up to his shot on net.

He showed up ready to play hockey at the tryouts in the fall.  The Luverne Association ws surprised and debated moving Beers to their bantam A team.  But there is another reason why he is the top peewee A player in Minnesota this past season.  When YHH spoke to some officials at Garretson, they had never seen him play hockey.  They saw him as an all-around athlete and they wanted him to play basketball in the winter.  That view of the people in Garretson, that Declan is a an athlete first, explains why he is #1 this year.
 
As for Declan, he wants to play sports and in the future he wants to play hockey for the Air Force.  He reminds YHH of a Bud Grant.  
 
Grant was a prominent Minnesota sports figure who came from Superior WI.  He like Beers was an all-around athlete playing football, baseball, and basketball at the college and pro levels before becoming a revered and long time Vikings' football coach.  Beers will be a fun player to watch in the future, hopefully on the hockey rinks in Minnesota.  Maybe some of the Garretson people will drop by and watch him play.  Maybe Beers will be a prominent and revered coach after playing sports in college or in pros.  But this year, one thing is certain.  Beers is YHH's top peewee AA/A player.

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