HISTORY

History

 

History of Elite Player Development

 

Thunder Hockey has always believed its mission was to support local student-athletes who showed the desire to improve and to provide those players with the training necessary to achieve that improvement. Approximately 90% of Thunder players are from the Southern Affiliate and an additional 5% are from within the Southeast District. Recruiting local players and developing them within the program has been a higher priority for Thunder Hockey than recruiting top end players from outside the Southeast.

 

Consistent with its mission, Thunder Hockey measures its success in the number of players that advance to play at a higher level – specifically those that advance to the USA Hockey National Select Camps. Since its inception in the 2004-2005 season, Thunder Hockey has made participation in the USA Hockey Player Development program mandatory for all Thunder players with US citizenship. As a result, Thunder Hockey has sent players to National Select Camps every year and in every age classification except for the 2008 Select 16 Camp.
 

 

Thunder players that have attended USA Hockey National Select Camps
	Select 14 Camp	Select 15 Camp	Select 16 Camp	Select 17 Camp
2005	1991’s Zachary Sandanato Drew Slaton Bjorn Krupp	1990’s Vinny Saponari Trey Wimberly Hunter Brown Erick Ware	Thunder did not field a 16U team in 2005	Thunder did not field a 18U team in 2005
2006	1992’s Alex Larson Alex Dubrinsky Kyle Livingston	1991’s Zachary Sandanato Bjorn Krupp	1990’s Vinny Saponari Trey Wimberly	Thunder did not field a 18U team in 2006
2007	1993’s Corey Hucker Brad Prevel Ben Roush Dylan Shamburger Greg Sauers	1992’s Kyle Livingston	1991’s Bjorn Krupp	1990’s Vinny Saponari Brice Geoffrion Hunter Brown Erick Ware
2008	1994’s Sebastian Lemm Nicholas Covino	1993’s Jay Williams Ben Roush Dylan Shamburger Perry Holcombe	1992’s None	1991’s Joel Kern Zachary Sandanato Bjorn Krupp Wes Elrod

 

Two Thunder players have played with the US NTDP – Vinny Saponari (1990) and Bjorn Krupp (1991).  Both were on Thunder Teams in the inaugural season and both attended the Tier I National Championship Tournament with their respective Thunder teams. 

 

Additionally, Vinny Sapornari played on the National 18U Team at the World Under 18 Championships in 2007 and 2008. Christian Elsborg (1993) has been named to the Danish National team in the European Cup that is set to take place at the end of March in Italy.

 

Vinny Saponari is also the first Thunder alumni to play NCAA Division I college hockey, playing this year for Boston University. Additionally,Brice Geoffrion (1990) has made a verbal commitment to play NCAA Division I college hockey for the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

 

On June 21, 2008 Vinny Saponari became the first Thunder alumni drafted by the NHL when the Atlanta Thrashers selected him in the fourth round of the NHL entry draft.

 

For the past three years, USHL Scouting has listed Thunder players on the annual USHL draft list. The table to below lists those players.
 

Thunder players on USHL Draft List
2007	2008	2009
1992’s Alex Larson   1991’s Bjorn Krupp Zach Sandanato Zach Benardi Daniel Broussard	1993’s Jordan Cosby Corey Hucker Perry Holcombe Brad Prevel Ben Roush Greg Sauers Dylan Shamburger Hunter Moix   1992’s Teemu Tiitinen Jan Kaminsky Mike Lant Alex Larson Daniel Benardi   1991’s Joel Kern Ben Vincent Zach Sandanato Zach Benardi Daniel Broussard	1994’s List not yet released   1993’s Jordan Cosby Corey Hucker Dylan Shamburger Perry Holcombe Jay Williams Ben Roush Greg Sauers   1992’s Teemu Tiitinen Jan Kaminsky Mike Lant Alex Larson Chase Stokes

 

In the past two years, five Thunder players have been selected in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) entry draft. Jan Kaminsky and Daniel Bernardi were drafted in 2008. Bjorn Krupp, Daniel Broussard, and Zach Bernardi were drafted in 2007. Currently Bjorn Krupp and Daniel Broussard are playing in the OHL.

 

Several players from our graduated birth years (1990 & 1991) have moved on to top Midget Major, NAHL, and Prep School programs.  Non-US Players have attracted the attention of their home country’s national programs including Finland, Denmark, and Canada.  Thunder Hockey facilitated the necessary contacts to make sure that these players do not lose opportunities to represent their home countries while living in the USA. 

 

Perhaps there is no better case study for Thunder’s commitment to develop players from within than Joel Kern (1991). Joel came to Thunder Hockey in the fall of 2005. During the 2004-2005 season, Joel had played for a 14U Tier II team from his home state of Louisiana.  Though he had attended the Select 13 Southeast District Camp in 2004, he did not make it past Affiliate Player Development Select 14 tryouts in 2005.  Clearly Joel had the desire to improve, but needed instruction, training, development, and competition. In 2006, after playing for the Thunder 14U team, Joel advanced from the affiliate level tryouts to the Southeast District Select 15 tryouts, but did not advance past the first cut at District tryouts.  In 2007, after playing for the Thunder 16U team, Joel advanced past the first cut to the final day of Southeast District Select 16 tryouts, but did not advance to the National Select 16 camp. In 2008, after serving as Captain for the Thunder 16U team, he was selected to attend the National Select 17 Camp.  Joel Kern is now playing for the S-2 Tier I 18U team and visiting schools like Yale and Air Force. 

 

History of Success in Elite Competition

 

There is an old saying, “Competition is the whetstone of talent”. This is a key tenet of Thunder Hockey. The TPH Spring tournament program was originally organized to allow the better players from different cities across the South the opportunity to play together and to play against top quality competition. Since the inaugural season in 2004-2005, Thunder Hockey has consistently put teams of predominantly Southern developed players in competition at top-flight tournaments and against elite competition.

 

Each season Thunder Hockey schedules as many top 20 teams as possible. After four years of competition, Thunder teams have developed a reputation of never quitting, never giving up, and “giving 100%”. Because of that positive reputation and through nurturing personal relationships, the number of top 20 teams on the schedule increases each season.  Showcases and Tournaments are carefully selected to insure Thunder players compete against elite competition. In the first years of the program, Thunder players would only see top 20 teams in showcases and tournaments. As the program has matured, those teams have increasingly agreed to schedule exhibition games and festival style weekends with Thunder Hockey.   

 

Thunder Hockey believes that student-athletes best grow and develop by consistently exposing them to this elite level of play and keeping a coaching focus on performance. As they perform – that is as they do the things they are being taught - they will eventually be rewarded consistently with results. When Thunder Hockey first began, scores against top competition were often the same as a couple of touchdowns against.  Nonetheless, Thunder teams return to elite competition year after year. Today, the scores are more consistently close. Results come from staying committed to the program’s core player development philosophy - staying focused on performance NOT the scoreboard.

 

Some of the showcases and tournaments that Thunder Hockey attends:

 

Nike Bauer Invitational Tournament - Chicago 2007 – 16U team (upper division), 14U team, 13U team, 12U team,  11U team 2008 – 16U team (upper division), 14U team, 13U team, 12U team,  11U team   USHL Opening Weekend/Midget Minor Showcase –Sioux City  2008 – 16U team (organized by the Dallas Jr Stars)   NAHL Showcase 2009 (Ann Arbor) – 16U team, 14U team 2008 (St Louis) – 16U team   Compuware/Honeybaked Tournament - Detroit 2008 – 14U, 13U, 12U, 11U 2007 – 14U, 13U, 12U, 11U 2006 – 14U, 13U, 12U, 11U

Little Ceasars/USHL Showcase  - Detroit 2008 – 16U 2007 – 16U   Green and Gold Invitational – London, Ontario 2008 – 16U team, 15U team, 14U team, 13U team 2007 – 16U team 2006 – 16U team   Border City Cup – Windsor, Ontario 2007 – 14U   Silver Sticks – Whitby, Ontario 2008 – 15U team   Peewee Quebec 2008 – 12U team (supported by the Nashville Predators)

OHL Cup

 

Each year Thunder Hockey is invited to participate in the OHL Cup.  This has served to be a great showcase event for Thunder players as most Division I programs are present as is the USHL.  NHL teams also have a strong presence, along with some of the top caliber family advisors in the industry.  Recognition from OHL teams in the past has helped spark interest for those players with DI programs, which is the path most players in Thunder Hockey are looking to pursue. 

 

History of Thunder Hockey's Participation in USA Hockey National Championships  
 

2004-2005

Thunder Hockey was thrilled when as a first year program, their age group, the 1990 14U team represented the Southeast District at the USA Hockey Tier I National Championships in 2005.  This team, coached by two former NHL players, Jayson Moore and Danny Geoffrion, was one of the first Southeast District teams to advance to the quarter finals at the Tier I level. 

 

2005-2006

That immediate success of the inaugural season was followed in 2006 by the 14U (1991) team advancing to the Southeast District finals, where - despite playing hard - lost to the Florida Junior Panthers.

 

2006-2007

The following season would be a different story.  In 2007, following an overtime goal against Team Maryland in the Southeast District Finals, the 16U team coached by former NHL player Uwe Krupp, became the second Thunder team in three seasons to attend the USA Hockey Tier I National Championships.  At the tournament, Thunder goaltender Austin Keiser (1991) represented the Southeast District in the skills competition and won the event. 

 

2007-2008

Austin In 2008, the 14U (1993) team was undefeated going into the finals of the Southeast District tournament, where they lost to the Florida Everblades.