The Eastwood Eagles, an independent club hockey team, are picking up right where they left off last season.

Eastwood hockey co-captains Andrew Gedert (left) and Gary Pogan with the Cold Turkey Tournament trophy

The Eagles, who carry players ages 14-18, are in their ninth year of existence. They finished with a 23-5-1 record last season and won three tournaments — the Sylvania Northview Cold Turkey Tournament, the Monroe Christmas Tournament and the Cleveland Rock and Roll Tournament.

This year's team, led by eighth-year head coach Brian Contris, repeated as Cold Turkey tourney champions in the Varsity B division on Nov. 26-28 at Tam-O-Shanter. Eastwood (5-4) topped Whitmer and Ottawa Hills before beating the Fremont Ice Wolves 6-3 in the championship game.

“We've been inconsistent so far,” Contris said. “We're a good skating team and they seem determined, we just have to get them all playing together. We have kids playing from several different schools and it's been tough, but we're getting used to it. It's been that way the last couple years. They're all pretty strong skaters, but it's taking them a lot longer to kind of jell together. I think winning that tournament was a big step for them. I think they can go as far as they want to go.”

Contris said this is the first year that the Eagles have no players from Eastwood on their roster. Last year's team had two players, Austin LaVoy and Justin Bockbrader, from Eastwood.

“We started off trying to put together Eastwood kids,” Contris said. “We still go as the Eagles. None of the Eastwood kids came out this year, but I hope to have a couple next year.”

This year's squad features three players from Cardinal Stritch (junior forward Justin Moore, senior forward Tim Langlois and sophomore defenseman Ryan Ballesteros), two from Woodmore (junior goalie Andrew Gedert and forward Alex Gedert, an eighth-grader) and one from Oak Harbor (senior defenseman Davyd Perry).

The Eagles also have two players who played for Lake's club team last season, senior forward Duncan Vail and senior defenseman R.J. Schultz. Through nine games, Vail has six goals and three assists and Schultz has seven assists.

Gedert, a co-captain, has a 3.81 goals-against average (241 saves on 274 shots), while Moore has seven goals and five assists. Moore is the Eagles' top returning scorer from last season (22 goals, 19 assists). Langlois has six goals and seven assists, and Perry has two goals and four assists.

“We lost 70 percent of our scoring from last year,” Contris said. “We're looking for scorers.”

The Eagles must replace four-year starter Jimmy Grandowicz, who finished his career with 251 points. Grandowicz scored 26 goals with 44 assists last year, and this season he is helping the Eagles with player development and planning.   

The Eagles' roster also includes players from Napoleon, Bowling Green, Liberty Center, Northview, Rossford and Delta high schools. Bobby Huey, a freshman at Bowling Green State University and a BG high school grad, has one goal and six assists.

“A lot of these kids just have the drive because they were either cut by their high school team or they don't have a high school team to play for,” Contris said. “Our name's getting out there and they want to take it to the next level. They seem to have self-motivation.”

Eastwood, which has scored 38 goals and allowed 34 in its first nine games, plays its home games at the Fremont Rec Center and the BGSU Ice Arena.

The Eastwood Hockey Team celebrates after winning the Cold Turkey Tournament

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