The Reeths-Puffer hockey team’s effort to improve this season is getting some outside assistance.
Fruitport High School, which doesn’t have a team of its own, recently entered into a hockey co-op agreement with R-P.
After several years of playing with Kenowa Hills, Fruitport’s hockey players will be wearing the green and white this season.
There are six Trojans-turned-Rockets on the roster this winter, and several are expected to play big roles.
That list includes forward Jaxon Stone, who demonstrated the ability to put the puck in the net last season while playing as a sophomore for Kenowa Hills.
R-P forward Jaxon Stone
“He was one of their leading scorers last year,” R-P Coach Ryan Martin said about Stone. “Jaxon was definitely the big get for us, in terms of experience and scoring.”
Also coming over from Fruitport is senior forward Ricky Wiggins, a familiar name to area football fans. He was a key offensive and defensive lineman this fall for the O-K Blue conference champion Fruitport football team, will bring the same valuable bulk to the ice, according to Martin.
“He’s a big strong kid, a big presence,” Martin said about Wiggins. “He can battle pretty well down low. He scores a lot of those dirty, scrappy goals that coaches love.”
With the Fruitport players on board, and roughly 10 players back from last year’s team, Martin thinks the Rockets are positioned to improve on last season’s 7-18-1 record.
R-P defenseman Isaiah Winters
They will begin the season on Friday night when they host Kenowa Hills at Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena at 7:30 p.m.
“We believe we’re a little bit deeper than we were top to bottom last year,” said Martin, whose squad lost eight seniors to graduation in the spring. “We think we have more team speed than we had last year. We’re bringing in six guys who have varsity experience with Kenowa. We’re real fortunate that they’re from Fruitport.
“We have a solid group of returning players who are all going to contribute, one way or another. Those contributions are not always measured in points. We have some guys who are great defensively and are real good team players.”
The Rockets expect to be very strong on the back end of the rink, starting at the crucial goalie position.
R-P goalie Tanner Bonjernoor
They return two standout netminders who both saw a lot of action last year, giving R-P the kind of goalie depth that most high school teams only dream of.
Senior Tanner Bonjernoor will be the opening night goalie and is a co-captain of the team. Junior Isaiah Van Noord is also in the mix after earning honorable mention All-Conference honors last season.
“They are very similar goalies,” Martin said. “They both compete hard on loose pucks, which cuts down on the scrambles in front of the net, and they both move and skate very well for goalies.”
Some fans are curious about how the situation will play out, since obviously only one goalie can play at a time.
R-P goalie Isaiah Van Noord
“I’m not sure if we’ve decided yet,” Martin said about how the goalies will share time. “Tanner will get the start at home on Friday night, and after that we will probably play it game-by-game. It’s nice to have open goaltender competition in practice. That will allow us to go with the hot hand a bit.”
The Reeths-Puffer defense will be led by senior captain Isaiah Winters, who is strong defensively and offensively, according to Martin.
“He has tremendous skating ability and a very good shot with a quick release," Martin said. "It can catch a goalie by surprise sometimes.”
The Rockets will also count heavily on two third-year varsity defensemen, juniors Connor Stawski and Dewey Madoff.
Two first-year forwards, sophomores Tyler Tindall and Bucky Martin, have a lot of skill and will be scoring threats up front, according to Coach Martin.