The 97 Fire played winter hockey summer set Wisconsin during the 2009-2010 season.  In that season, the 97 Fire were major peewees and they posted a .700 record beating most Minnesota peewee A teams (except Edina losing three of the four games played).  They also beat the Green Bay Jr Gamblers in 5 of the 6 played, but the 97 Fire could not beat the 97 Madison Capitals.  The Capitals ended up being ranked #12 that year; the 97 Fire was ranked #15.  The Capitals went to the national tourney.  The Fire played in the Quebec Tourney in February that year.

The following year, most of the players listed below came back to play for the 97 Fire as a Bantam minor AAA team.  In the 2010-2011 season, they ended up ranked #10 in the country.  Christiano Versich, Peter Tufto, Tom Novak, Alex Broetzman, and goalie Darion Hanson joined the team that year.  Versich left Highland after playing for the Caps as a peewee the previous year.  Darion Hanson played his sophomore year for St. Francis MN high school in 2012-2013 and ended up playing part of the 2013-2014 season on the Omaha U16 team with Matt Pulver.

Novak, Versich, Broetzman, Tufto, and Weihrauch will be seniors for St. Thomas Academy next fall.  Novak led the Cadets in scoring in 2013-2014 with 70 points (26 goals).  Versich was the #2 scorer with 59 points (24 goals); Broetzman was the #3 scorer with 46 points (24 goals); and Tufto was the #4 scorer with 43 points (16 goals).  Smallidge will be a junior next year.

AJ Robbel, Jarret Scheibel, Taylor Schneider, and Billy Jerry were also on the 97 Fire Bantam minor team in 2010-2011.  Robbel played defense last season for the Jefferson varsity and will be a junior this fall.  Scheibel played two seasons at Shattuck and played last season for Steel County in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.  Schneider played on the Lakeville North Class AA runner-ups in 2013-2014.  Billy Jerry played on the St. Thomas Academy junior varsity last season.  

So what has happened to the players on the 97 Fire peewees in the last four seasons as they start transition from Minnesota Hockey to juniors, college, etc.  It is no surprise that some have already playing juniors.  What follows is YHH’s best understanding of what the kids ended up doing.  The 2009-2010 97 Fire peewees were a good team.  YHH watched them play during that season in their Wisconsin home base and at various venues around the Twin Cities.

2009-2010 97 Fire Roster

1.Goalie Evan Robert/Oakdale MN-Roberts ended up playing for the Shattuck’s Bantam A team in the 2011-2012 season posting a 26-2-0 record giving up 2.0 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shot on goal.  He moved to Shattuck’s U16 team for the 2012-2013 season and posted a 14-9-3 record for the Sabres.  That season, he gave up almost an identical 2.1 goals per game while stopping 91% of the shots on net.  Last season, he opted to play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights.  Robert played 44 games split between their U18 and midget teams posting a 2.2 goals per game average while stopping 92% of the shots on net.  Robert was in the nets for the HP-17 White team this weekend at the PIC.   

2. Goalie Megan Dubois/Hudson WI-Dubois has played in the nets for the Shattuck girls prep team in the 2013-2014 season. She posted an 18-5-0 record for the Sabres; giving up an average of 1.50 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on goal.  She was in the nets for two games at the U19 Nationals early this month, winning both games.  At the nationals she gave up an average of 2.9 goals per game while stopping 91% of the shots on net.  Dubois was in the nets for the Sabres’ U16 team in the 2012-2013 season.  She led the Sabre’s U16 team to a national championship in 2013. 

3. Andy Carroll/Northfield MN-Carroll played defense for the Northfield varsity the past three seasons posting 42 points (9 goals) in 70 games since leaving the 97 Fire.  Carroll played defense in the 2012-2013 season with Logan Von Ruden.  Von Ruden skipped his senior year to play junior hockey with the NAHL Minnesota Magicians and ended the season in the USHL playing for the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders.  Carroll, Northfield’s third leading scoring last season, will be a senior this fall.

4. Will Garin/Mound MN-Garin will be a junior if he returns to Holy Catholic Family this fall.  He has played the last three seasons for the Fire scoring 99 points (33 goals) in 68 regular season games.  He had a tryout with the USHL Tri-City Storm at the end of last season and has committed to play hockey for the University of Connecticut in 2016-2017. 

5. Matt Pulver/Chippewa Falls WI-Pulver played for Omaha 16U team in 2013-2014 and has committed to play for Air Force Academy in 2016-2017 season.  The 6’0” Pulver posted 63 points (16 goals) in 57 games.  Omaha U16’s went unbeaten in the North American Prospect Hockey League in 2013-2014 (19-0-1).   

6. Chase Ellingson/Spring Lake Park-Ellingson will be a junior at Breck in 2014-2015.  The past two seasons, he has put 66 points on the scoreboard (31 goals) in 49 games.  He played in the 2013 Class A state tourney for Breck.    Ellingson assisted on two of Breck’s goals in their 3-2 win over East Grand Forks for the third place trophy.

7. Alec Baer/St. Louis Park MN-Baer left Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the 2012-2013 season to join the Vancouver Giants in Canada’s Western Hockey League.  He played 60 games with the Giants this past season scoring 18 points (8 goals).  Baer played for St. Louis Park in 2011-2012 posting 27 points (13 goals) as an eighth grader.  At Benilde, he scored 15 points in 19 games before leaving the team and finished the 2012-2013 season playing for the Giants.   

8. Collin Saccoman/Stillwater MN-Saccoman completed his third season at Shattuck this past season and it was a good one.  The Sabres won the U18 Midget Tier I national title two weekends ago and ended the season ranked #1 in the nation.   Saccoman scored 15 points/7 goals for the national champs.  that won the USA National U18 Tier I title in Green Bay three weeks ago.  He played his first two years at Shattuck on their Bantam Tier I team and on their U16 team with Fire teammate Evan Robert.

9. Pieter Von Steinbergs/Minnetonka-Von Steinbergs played defense last season for the Skippers scoring 7 points/2 goals in 25 games as a junior.  This fall will be his senior year at Minnetonka.  

10. Dan Weihrauch/Stacy MN-Weihrauch has been a forward on the St. Thomas Academy varsity team and will be a senior next year at St. Thomas Academy.  He has played the last two seasons on the varsity posting 17 points (9 goals) in 40 games.

11. Nick Austin/St. Louis Park MN-Austin will be a junior defenseman for Benilde-St. Margaret’s next season.  Austin has played 55 games in the last two seasons for the Red Knights posting 18 points.  He made the Red Knights’ varsity as a freshman.

12. Jared Michelson/Inver Grove Heights-Michelson played defense last season for the Omaha U16 team with Fire teammate Matt Pulver.  As a ninth grader, Michelson played the 2012-2013 season at St. Paul Academy and posted 44 points (16 goals) in 25 games.

As a side note, David Brumm/Maple Grove, Nick Heid/Spring Lake Park, Luke Osterman/Stillwater, and Baron Thompson/Apple Valley all played for the Omaha team this past season.  Brumm just signed a tender with the Minnesota Magicians; Heid signed with the Portland Winterhawks in Canada’s Western Hockey League.  Baron Thompson is now 6’5” tall; he is a 1999er.  

13. Sam Oden/Edina-The 6’0” Oden (Sabres’ #20) played defense for the Shattuck U16 team posting 21 points (7 goals) in 66 games in the 2013-2014 season.  Overall, in three years at defense for Sabre teams, Oden has played 158 games posting 78 points (18 goals).  He will be a senior this fall.  In the 2011-2012 season, Oden played on the Sabres’ Bantam A team that made national championship semifinals in Buffalo NY.  He played defense with former Fire teammate, Collin Saccoman.

14. Jesse Gabrielle/Eagan-Gabrielle was originally from Moosomin, SK.  As a ninth grader on the 2012-2013 Eagan varsity, Gabrielle posted 43 points (15 goals).  Gabrielle returned to Canada for the 2013-2014 season playing 49 regular season games for the Brandon Wheat Kings (26 points/12 goals) in Canada’s Western Hockey League.  Gabrielle played for Western Canada’s U17 team in the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.  The tourney was played in early January, 2014.  Gabrielle posted 5 points (3 goals) in the six games played.  Western Canada had a .500 record (3-3) in the tourney.

15. Ty Cousineau/Minnetonka-Cousineau played his junior year last season for the Skippers at defense.  He will likely return to the Skippers and join former Fire teammate Von Steinbergs as a defensive duo for Minnetonka.

And the 97 Fire Ended 

The High Performance Hockey League (Chicago Mission, Little Ceasars, etc.) was formed in the summer of 2011 and had its first season of play in 2011-2012.  The 97 Fire were invited to join the league for the HPHL first season and it didn’t happen.  Already the players were starting to go their own way.  Thats youth hockey.