Evan Hoey '16 Recruiting Profile

      I grew up around the game of hockey. My earliest memory as a child is when my parents let me stay up to watch the end of the Ranger game when I was three. I ended up falling asleep on my mom’s lap due to how late it was but I woke up just in time to see Mark Messier celebrate scoring the game winner in overtime.     

     Ice hockey has been a part of me since that day. I was in my first pair of skates when I was three years old. They were not ice skates though - my dad signed me up for a Learn-to-Skate roller hockey clinic at our local park. It seemed like I was the only kid that enjoyed being there. For instance, there was a two mile running track that went around the park, and on the last day at camp, our instructor asked if we wanted to take a skate around the track.  Everyone else said no, but I was the only kid that had his hand up willing to go. My dad took me to ice skate for this first time when I was four. We spent the whole session of free skate playing air hockey in the arcade at the rink because I was too afraid to step on the ice because I had the thought I would fall through. My first Learn-to-Play ice hockey was right before I turned five. I could never stop smiling when I was out there. Ever since those moments, I have ate, played, and slept hockey.

     Going to a private high school made being a student athlete that much more difficult. I had a harder workload than other kids my age plus I was playing a sport. I learned that time management was the key. My free time was spent doing homework or studying for tests that week so I didn’t fall behind in the classroom and I could stay on the ice. My mom always reminded me that she would bench me faster than any coach would if I did not keep my grades up in the classroom.  

     Everyone has their definition for leadership. Mine is that you need to lead by example. Words are great but you need to back it up by taking a hit to get the puck out of the zone, blocking a shot in the first minute of the game or the last minute, and playing every shift like it was your last one. Leadership is shown off the ice too. During games, this means tapping your stick against the bench when a teammate makes a good play or picking up a teammate by telling them what could have been the better decision and not yelling at them for their mistake. A team leader is one who is a role model for other players; a leader shows up to off-ice training on time, shows up to games when they are suppose to, is never late for practice, or something as simple as watching their language around children. As a player myself I try to follow all these little things because little things add up to a bigger picture.

     My aspirations for hockey as a player are to help teams win and to play at the highest level I can. My two strongest character traits as a player and a person are my strong mindset and work ethic.