To coach a peewee team full of players aged 11-12 years old is not an easy task.  A good coach, not use to peewees, can “over coach” a team trying to drive them to a level of performance they are not ready to play at;  an inexperienced coach can “under coach” by not pushing a team that is ready to play at another level.  Peewee players mature in their play during the season, the good coach knows when to take the team to the next level.  The Minneapolis coaches, led by head coach Brandon Christensen, did that this past season in part by adapting their ways of coaching to teach this year’s talented Storm team.   And it showed.  As the team played the 2014-2015 season, they became more cohesive developing a team approach to hockey both on and off the ice.  Zabinski, after an okay start of the season playing defense, had blossomed and was one of the team leaders.  A few months later when Zabinski took the ice at the Edina Invitational he had improved and become a top player.

Nine plus weeks had passed since the Storm lost their opening game to Andover.  Minneapolis and Edina were in different pools at the Edina Invitational Tourney and there was a strong possibility that the two emerging powerhouses in the 2014-2015 season, would play in the championship game.  In the Storm’s opening pool game Friday, Minneapolis beat a good Eastview team 6-0.  The Storm followed that win with pool victories over Stillwater 4-2 and Blaine 5-1.  In pool play, the Storm demonstrated multiple weapons with forwards Will Mortenson and Joe Miller and defensemen Will Svenddal and Erik Clow, but it was Max Zabinski who stole the show.  All had improved in those nine weeks.  Mortenson was the scorer, Miller was the playmaker, and Zabinski was the power player.

The Storm opponents in the Edina tourney could find ways to contend with Mortenson’s and Miller’s play on the ice; but none could contend with Zabinski’s play.  When both Minneapolis and Edina made the championship semifinals, the two favored teams looked to be headed to the championship game but Sunday morning; the Storm was upset by a smart Osseo/Maple Grove team and ended up finishing third in the tourney.  There was no Edina/Minneapolis matchup in the Edina Invitational, but the two teams would meet three weeks later in late January.

At that late January game played at Braemar, the Storm beat the Hornets 3-1 and went on to win the District 3/District 6 peewee A regular season.  As expected the game between two powerhouse teams was  a great peewee game.  The two teams were tied 1-1 going into the third period.  The Hornet's defense had found ways to contend with Mortenson and Miller, but had no answer for Zabinski.  The powerful center scored the game winner.  

Halfway through the third period, Zabinski took a faceoff to the left of the Edina goal, drove the puck to the end boards, muscled his way through two Hornet defenders to retrieve the puck, and drove the net taking a quick shot beating the Edina goalie from a tough angle to score.  The goal put the Storm up 2-1.  It was the game winner.  The Storm beat Edina 3-1 and two weeks later beat the Hornets 4-3 to win the White Bear Lake's Moose Goheen Tourney.  The Storm won the District 3/District 6 regular season title and District 3’s peewee A title.  In 28 distict games played in the two leagues, the Storm lost just one game.  Zabinski was the fifth leading scorer for the Storm posting 56 points/28 goals in 55 games.  In post season play, the Storm won the District 3 peewee AA playoffs and were seeded #1 (of 24 teams) in regional play.  They won their first two South Regional games played at St. Cloud’s MAC and would play in the South Regional championship.

On a Sunday, the first day in March, this corner of YHH drove to St. Cloud to see the Peewee AA South Regional final between St. Cloud and Minneapolis.  It was a good game between two top teams, but a disappointment.  Zabinski did not play for the Storm.  He had injured his leg in the Storm’s 5-2 win over Eden Prairie the day before.  Without Zabinski, the Storm lost to St. Cloud 2-1 in overtime but the team came back to beat Eden Prairie 6-2 to earn the South Regional’s #2 seed to the state peewee AA tourney.  At St. Cloud, Zabinski hoped his injury will be heeled by the time of the state tourney two weeks later.

At state, the Storm won their first two games but lost a tough game to Prior Lake in the championship.  Zabinski watched all three games from the stands, on crutches, rooting for his team and going back into the locker room with his team before, during, and after each game.  Mackie Zabinski is an extremely strong skater.  He skates low and with powerful strides, but more importantly never stops skating.  Impressively, besides scoring 56 points in 55 games, he was a +66 in the plus/minus column for the season.  He started the year playing defense and finished the season playing center.  He played both positions well; but is a terror at center as a peewee.  Imagine a steel ball bouncing off of targets on a pinball machine and one will get a feel for the impact he had on the ice last season.  He has a great shot, but his best shot is a quick very hard wrist shot that thunders off the end boards when he misses the net.  One of the best kids the Storm coaches have had, Zabinski loves hockey and will be back at the next level in the upcoming season.  A leader on and off the ice, Zabinski was the best peewee AA/A player in the state last season.  This corner of YHH agrees with the Storm coaches.  Zabinski was in a league of his own.