Summer hockey regimen pays off
Homestead’s Katz one of state’s top scorers
If you drove by Jackson Katz’s house last summer, there was a good chance the Homestead junior forward was outside shooting 500 hockey pucks a week.
“A couple of times people looked at me funny,” he said.
Katz was “bummed out” after scoring just one goal in the regular season last year, so he also worked on stick handling 20 minutes a day and hit the weight room in the off-season.
This year, only four players in the state have more goals than Katz’s 33.
“That’s crazy when you look on the website and see him in the top five,” linemate P.J. Quale said. “Me being his center, it’s a lot of fun to play with him.”
It’s hard not to have fun at Homestead these days, as the Highlanders own an 18-3 record and are on an eight-game winning streak. The team has outscored opponents by a combined, 40-14 in the third period and averages 4.7 goals per game. Katz is a major reason why. “I guess I’m just in the right place at the right time,” he said.
That could not be said in his first two seasons. He made varsity as a freshman but rarely played, finishing with two goals in 24 games.
As a sophomore, Katz wondered if he would ever get a goal.
“I did feel like I was holding everyone back when I wasn’t scoring,” Katz said. “I had to stay positive, even though it was hard. I felt that was necessary, because if you get down, your game is way worse.”
Finally, he got a goal in the last regular-season game. Katz then scored in each of his team’s first two playoff games.
But he knew he had to practice in the summer regardless of how hot it was outside or how strange it would look to see pucks flying on a sunny July day.
“For us, I really want the kids to play multiple sports,” Homestead coach Tony Navarre said. “He doesn’t really have another sport. I don’t think he overdid it, but once he committed to it, he went all in. I truly believe the one thing that really changed him was the offseason.
“He is just a hard worker. He works hard all the time.”
Quale, who has a team-high 23 assists, heard about Katz’s summer routine and then saw proof when the team gathered for summer workouts at the Ozaukee Ice Center.
“You could tell he really improved and he was going to be a dangerous player this year,” Quale said. “I could tell right away he got faster; he was a lot stronger and was way more built. He looked really good.”
It took just one game for Katz to score this season, and he did it twice in a 4-3 season-opening victory over Milwaukee Marquette on Nov. 19. And he hasn’t slowed down. Katz not only has 22 more goals than anyone else on his team, Katz has failed to get at least one point in just three games. The only time he was held scoreless in the last 13 outings was in a 1-0 loss to Whitefish Bay/Nicolet/Shorewood on Jan. 5.
Katz, who has 45 points in 20 games, has four hat tricks and has 16 goals in his last eight games.
“I feel like sophomore year I was maybe a little bit nervous with the puck,” Katz said. “This year I feel more confident and I can hold onto it and skate with the puck . ... I never thought it’d be going like this.”