MUSKEGON - Maybe Reeths-Puffer hockey player Jaxon Stone should become a commercial spokesman for Bauer hockey sticks.
Until recently, Stone had spent his entire career using CCM sticks.
Then at a practice a few weeks ago, he borrowed a Bauer stick from teammate Tyler Tindall, liked how it felt, and asked Tindall if he could use it in a game.
Since then his shots have been finding the net at a pretty remarkable pace. While he’s always been a big scorer, Stone has nine goals in his last six games, and at least one goal in all of them.
He now has a team-leading 14 goals and 13 assists this season and is just one point away from reaching the 100-point mark for his three-year varsity career. There’s a good chance that could come on Wednesday when the Rockets play Grand Haven in a key conference game.
Jaxon Stone
Stone is convinced that his new stick has played a role in his recent production. That makes sense, because his six-game scoring streak began on Dec. 20 against Grand Haven, which was the first game he used the Bauer.
“I just tried a Bauer out in practice, and I really liked it,” he said. “It feels like I have a harder shot, and I have more confidence when I shoot.”
When asked about Stone’s production, R-P head coach Dustin Langlois never mentioned the stick. He said all the goals and assists come from a combination of talent and big dose of desire.
Stone is very fast, has a great shot and handles the puck very well, Langlois said.
He also said the small forward – who is about 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds – also has a non-stop motor that gives him incredible stamina on the ice.
But the X factor is his passion for winning, according to Langlois.
“He’s always willing to lay it all on the line to get wins,” the coach said. “This team means the world to him and you can see it in the way he plays.”
Stone was certainly very motivated last Wednesday, when the Rockets beat first-place Sparta in a big O-K Fischer Division game.
The game was tied 2-2 for most of the third period, then Stone scored two goals in the final three minutes or so to give R-P the lead for good.
“That was big,” Stone said about the victory. “They beat us earlier in the season. They outplayed us. We needed to win if we still wanted to win the conference. We had to beat them and we did.”
Stone has been playing hockey since he was very small. He said he first hit the ice before the age of five, as far as he can remember.
“It was thanks to my cousin Ricky Wiggins,” Stone said. “He skated, I went out and watched him and I wanted to it myself.”
Stone and Wiggins both became hockey players, and now they are two of eight Fruitport High School students who play on the Reeths-Puffer squad, because Fruitport does not have its own team.
Other Trojans-turned-hockey Rockets are Gavin Pastotnik, Vincent Pollock, Hayden Taylor, Eli Cuti, Tyler Cuti and Mark Stewart.
As a sophomore, Stone played for Kenowa Hills, because Fruitport had a hockey contract with the Knights’ program at the time. That contract expired at the end of Stone’s 10th grade season, Fruitport switched over to a co-op with Reeths-Puffer, and the rest is happy history.
Last season, his first with the Rockets, Stone was second on the team in point production with 23 goals and 27 assists, and he’s putting up similar numbers this season.
Some might wonder if Stone and his fellow Fruitport players might find it at least a little uncomfortable to play for another school, but he said that’s not the case at all.
“Puffer feels like a second home, and it’s just fun to play,” Stone said. “It’s all the same team, the same family. It doesn’t really matter what school we go to.”
Stone is very much wired for hockey and wants to go as far as he can in the sport. He will play juniors next season, in hopes of gaining more exposure and getting a college hockey scholarship. Eventually he said he would love to play pro hockey at some level.
Before then, however, he would love to help R-P win the Fischer Division championship this season. The Rockets came very close last year, finishing in second place just behind Hudsonville. They are currently just behind Sparta this year and tied in the loss column.
Sparta is 7-1 in conference play while Reeths-Puffer is 4-1.
“It would be cool my senior year to win (a championship),” Stone said. “Last year was pretty disappointing, coming that close. It made us realize how important each game is. We are going to have to win out to do it, but I am confident we can.”
