The Oxford-Avondale United Varsity Hockey team is back for another season.
Tryouts are 3:45 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 at the Troy Sports Center, located at 1819 E. Big Beaver Rd.
‘If you’re interested in coming to skate with the team and you can’t make (the) tryouts, just get in touch with me and we’ll put you on the ice,? said Coach Dan Henzie. ‘Tryouts aren’t over until we have 20 kids on the team and I can’t put anymore on.?
Henzie can be reached at (989) 751-2733 or via e-mail at usaeagles98@yahoo.com.
‘I want people to know that Oxford hockey is back and it’s here to stay. We’re trying to build our team to be stronger, deeper, and more recognizable,? said Alison Bouck, director of team communications and marketing. ‘We want to attract the students that are in middle school . . .and who knows we may add a junior varsity division to this at some point in the future.?
Oxford and Avondale decided join forces last season after Oxford had gone a year without a team due to former Oxford Head Coach Dave Hague retiring in 2013 and having 13 seniors graduate the previous season. This left a core group of about eight players, which wasn’t enough for a team.
‘Historically, it takes time to build a team,? Henzie said. ‘It takes time to build a program. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to dismantle it and that’s kind of what happened to Oxford.?
Like Oxford, Avondale had a successful team as well, but after graduating about 10 seniors in 2014, the school was was facing the prospect of not having a team for the 2014-15 season.
‘The first year of the (Oxford-Avondale) merger was a very difficult situation,? Henzie explained. ‘We had players who probably weren’t ready for this level of hockey, so it took awhile to get that portion of the program started.?
While they may have had a difficult first year on the ice, Henzie said they had a successful year in the locker-room.
‘It was a good year of bonding,? he said.
‘It does take a couple of years to build that program up,? Hezie added. ‘And then all of (the) sudden,you’re going to have not just a competitive team, you’re going to have a recognizable program, which is really the whole focus of this.?
Henzie believes playing on a high school team is a more rewarding experience than playing for a travel team.
‘The experience of (playing) in front of your schoolmates, having your name announced, getting a goal and having your friends cheer for you, that experience is tremendous for these kids,? he said.
Having had a son play all through high school and in college, Henzie noted that his son called it ‘the greatest experience? of his whole hockey career.
‘As a coach, that’s what I want to bring to these kids. I want to give them that experience and opportunity because that’s what it’s really about,? Henzie said. ‘Then, we can take all the X’s and O’s and say ‘we want to be competitive, we want to be this, we want to be that. We want to develop players.? We want to do all those things. But I think once these kids see how fun it could be and the kind of memories they’re going to generate playing for their high school in front of their schoolmates, it’s just a great thing.?
Henzie is excited for this season to get underway.
‘This year, some of those kids that weren’t maybe ready last year are back on the team and I can tell you they’re ready for this year,? he said. ‘From a coaching perspective, I look at that and say we’re going to be competitive, we’re going to go out (there) and compete in every game and we’re going to start winning games.?
Knowing that hockey is an expensive sport, Bouck, who has two boys on the team, said they’ve set up a program to help parents pay costs associated with the sport.
They’ve held various fund-raisers and are looking for more team sponsors.
Individuals or businesses interested in sponsoring can contact Alison at (248) 225-6392 or send an e-mail to theboucks@aol.com.