For hockey Lancers, players’ character ranks high on list
Incoming class of players among best he’s seen, says coach of men’s team
When it comes to recruiting, University of Windsor Lancers men’s hockey head coach Kevin Hamlin has taken a very deliberate path.
Hamlin, whose team was one win away from reaching the national championship this past season, has not focused on big names or highprofile prospects.
“We still feel character is the No. 1 criteria for any winning program,” said Hamlin, whose team has been ranked nationally in the top 10 six straight seasons.
Friday began a new chapter for the Lancers, who graduated a big chunk of the roster and Hamlin had 13 new faces on the ice to start the team’s Recruit Weekend at Central Park Athletics.
“I think our recruiting class is the best that we’ve seen here in quite a while,” Hamlin said. “I’m looking forward to coaching them and seeing them on ice.”
The class features seven forwards, five defencemen and a goaltender.
“Virtually everyone recruited was a former captain of their junior team and, more importantly, they’re captains in the classroom as well,” Hamlin said. “We feel this group coming in will set a standard that I don’t think we’ll see, on and off the ice, for some time.”
Goalie Jon Reinhart backstopped Elmira to a Sutherland Cup title last year. He was named MVP of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Midwestern Conference and the OHA junior B player of the year.
“I know there’s been some success here and I’m just really excited to be a part of it now,” said the 21-year-old Reinhart, who studies business and economics.
Windsor native Eric Palazzolo played with Reinhart in Elmira two years ago and the Lancers also added defenceman Josh Segers and forward Jake Brown, who has won four Sutherland Cups, from that Elmira squad.
“I knew Eric and with Jake and Josh, it made the decision to come fairly easy because there’s some familiar faces and, obviously, a great program here,” Reinhart said.
Hamlin did add a few Canadian Hockey League grads in sixfoot-seven defenceman Jack Van Boekel, who finished last season with the LaSalle Vipers; forward Daniel Beaudoin, who played briefly with the Windsor Spitfires before finishing with the Vipers, and Belle River defenceman Kody Gagnon, who has played in both the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
“I had enough moving and it’s good hockey here and I figured it’s time to come back,” the 20-yearold Gagnon said.
“I can go to school in my hometown and play hockey. It’s perfect.”
The Lancers have also added defencemen Adam Burnett, who played in Prince George, B.C., and Montreal native Jonathan Tecce, who played in Markham.
At forward, Essex’s Alex Friesen returns home after playing in Carleton Place last season, while Nathan Savage was captain of the Vipers last. The Lancers have also added Ben Assad, who was captain of the Calgary Canucks in the Alberta Junior Hockey League; Ryan Shaw, who played junior B in Cambridge, Ryan Taylor, who played in Whitby, and six-foot-nine forward Ian Parker, who played in Weyburn, Sask.
Hamlin will have the group on the ice on Saturday as well before the weekend wraps up with a trip to catch the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park on Sunday.
“It’s really cool and you get to be a little more comfortable for when you come in September,” Reinhart said of the weekend camp.
“You get to know people and it’s not all new people.”