Fighting Irish at the Ice Box

By Randy Russon
May 31, 2014
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Summer heat? What summer heat?

Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League held a three-day spring skates tryout camp that concluded on Friday night at the Ice Box Sports Center in Brownstown.

“Our spring skates are designed for us to put together a developmental crew and for us to review our early commitments. I believe we have a good crew of prospects and along with early commitments, we have some real potential here and the makings of a real interesting summer,” Fighting Irish assistant coach Pete Flynn told HockeyNewsNorth.com.

Along with fellow MWJHL strong-hold, the Traverse City Hounds, the Fighting Irish is in transition as both clubs have to retool with several players having advanced to the collegiate ranks .

“That’s the beauty of the game at our level. We have been fortunate in our organization that we have players who keep moving forward and we have built a tradition that goes back a few years for us now,” Fighting Irish coach-general manager Dan Vasquez told HockeyNewsNorth.com.

Nonetheless, the Fighting Irish expects a number of returning veterans back in Detroit for the 2014-2015 campaign including forwards Anthony Wojciechowski, Rob Danyo, Richie Pinkowski and Jacob Hernandez.

Defenceman Christian Ramage, Aaron Robinson, a versatile skater who plays both defense and forward, are also expected to return along with depth forwards James Stacey and Nolan Jakzerski.

Vasquez and Flynn, along with seasoned scout Bob Brown, have been spending the off-season watching a plethora of players as they continue the process of assembling the Fighting Irish roster for the 2014-2015 term.

To that end, the Fighting Irish tendered five players from the recent tryout camp.

They are, Chase Tackett a 1996 birth-year forward forward from Brownstown who was a top goal scorer at the midget AA level in 2013-2014 for Belle Tire; Steven Sewell a 1996 birth-year forward from Belleville who played the past two seasons in the Minnesota Jr. Hockey League; defenceman Austin McKibbin, a 1995 birth-year from the Southgate Senators midget AA program; 1996 birth-year defenceman Cody Dombroski, who hails from Florida and who played midget AA with the Orlando Jr Knights; goalie Sean Stephens, a 1997 birth-year who played at Detroit’s Allen Park High School in 2013-2014.

The Fighting Irish will continue weekly skates on Wednesday evenings at 8:10 pm at the Ice Box.

Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish has moved back the start date of its summer league to Sunday, June 14.

And the team will hold its fall tryout camp August 19-21.

Players can register via the Fighting Irish website http://sports.bluesombrero.com/detroitfightingirish.com or contact Lisa Cruz at 734-771-5330

PHOTO: Fighting Irish assistant coach Pete Flynn talks to a few players at the MWJHL team’s spring skates tryout at the Ice Box Sports Center in Brownstown.