Jared Showen '21 Recruiting Profile

My name is Jared Showen.  I first tried skating and playing hockey as a first year Squirt.  I do not come from a hockey family, neither of my parents skate.  Once my friends in my new school convinced me to try playing hockey and I convinced my parents, we bought my first set of skates.  We took them out of the box and on to the ice for the first time, not knowing they needed to be sharpened first.  I think I have come a long ways since then.

My first year playing hockey, I played for our local Tier III team, the North Franklin Shamrocks House Squirt team.  At the time, I was disappointed that I did not make the travel team with my friends that had convinced me to play hockey.   In the summer before that first season, I had tried to learn as much about hockey as I could by watching it, reading about it, and of course playing video games, which helped teach me some of the basic rules.   Once I settled into the house team and began to learn how to skate, I realized it was a great place for me to start, and it was there that I learned to love playing hockey.  My first coach that season was Mike Benedict Jr. and he was a huge help to me in that first season.  He helped make the game fun, while challenging me to get better, and helped me become a leader. We started our first season winless, headed into the New Years weekend and entering the Bell Capital Cup in Ottawa, one of the largest youth hockey tournaments in North America.  By this time, I had started to get much better.  That weekend I led our team to a 3-1 weekend in the round robin, making the tournament All-Star Game, where I scored three goals, earning the award for Outstanding Forward.  We went through the crossovers that weekend and made it to the tournament Championship, played at the then ScotiaBank Place where the Ottawa Senators play.  We won the Championship game by a score of 4-1, avenging our loss in the round robin to the Stittsville Rams.  I scored our last three goals in that Championship game as well, to be named the Outstanding Forward of the game in the finals.  The joy of winning that Championship game in that rink with my teammates and new friends gave me a fire inside I always want to keep burning.  I love to compete, and I am DETERMINED to succeed and DETERMINED to win.  

Late in that season, I was moved up to the travel team and have remained there since.  Through squirts and minor PeeWee, I played for the North Franklin Shamrocks.  At Major PeeWee, I also began to play for the St. Lawrence Steel AA team in the Eastern Ontario Minor Hockey League-the OEMHL, while continuing to play with the Shamrocks.  I needed to play more competitive hockey, against better teams.  My second year with the Steel, as a Minor Bantam, I was named Assistant Captain by my teammates.  After that 2016-2017 season, I tried out for and made the USA Hockey NY District Summer Development program for 03’s held in Oswego, NY.  I also was invited to the Northwood School Summer Hockey Camp that summer, held for some of the best 02 and 03 players in the area.  This 2017-2018 season, I am continuing to play for the Steel as a Major Bantam in the OEMHL, where my teammates named me Team Captain for this season.  I was also selected to represent our team in the OEMHL Major Bantam All Star Game.  For the 2017-2018 season I decided to also play for the St. Lawrence Thunder, a regional Tier II team, instead of the Shamrocks, in an effort to continue to play the most competitive hockey I can find.  In this, my first season with the Thunder, I have been named Team Captain by my Coach, Erik Mclaughlin.  Coach McLaughlin has helped me a lot this season to understand what it means to be a leader on my team.  I now understand that it may not have anything to do with my point total at the end of the season.  It is more about how I carry myself on and off the ice, and the relationships I build with my teammates, and those around me on a daily basis.  I try to help my teammates be better players and better people, to let them know that I support them, for without a solid team, we will not have success.

Being named Captan this season on both of my winter teams, one by my teammates and one by my Coach, is an honor for me and a testament to my Character.  It shows the hard work I have put in to become a better player in a short amount of time, and my teammates know that they can expect me to be at practice every night, ready to work.  I am a hard working player, very determined to be be the best player I can be.  I am a responsible Center, one who takes pride in my play in the defensive zone.  One of my strengths in the defensive zone that gains the respect of my teammates and coaches, is my willingness to block shots and defend our net. I use my vision and quickness to lead the attack out of our zone as a good puck moving Center, with the speed to join the rush even as the third man out of the zone. I am accountable, and I hold my teammates accountable as well.  I am a very dedicated player, always at practice willing to work hard to improve.  I also work outside of practice with a Strength and Conditioning coach at a local university in a effort to continue to grow and improve my speed, power, and quickness.  In the summer and fall, I am also an active Soccer player, playing both for my school team at Salmon River Central as well as a club team in Canton, NY the FC Freeze.

I am a good student in school, a member of the National Junior Honor Society, and I take all AP Core classes. I was our school’s winner for the Attorney General’s Triple “C” award, an award given to New York State’s outstanding students, recognizing Courage, Character, and Commitment.  I have also won numerous school awards, most years winning an award for self-discipline.  It is a quality that has been good for me, and I expect it will continue to be.  It is a quality that I have gotten from a strong family background. 

Both of my parents are successful adults, my Father owning a local lumberyard where I work in the summer months, and my Mother being a District Manager for a National Retailer.  My only sibling, an older sister, is a college student at SUNY Plattsburgh, studying to be a Veterinarian.  As I become older, I have become interested in studying Forensics, Criminology, Criminal Justice or Physical Therapy in a College setting.