For parents who have children with a special talent, it is often a struggle — economically and emotionally — to provide them with the kind of support they may need in order to succeed in a highly competitive field. Schools, seminars, summer camps, and competitions can cost big money and may involve sending one’s teenage child thousands of miles away to pursue a dream.##M:[more]##
In the 2001-’02 and 2002-’03 seasons as High School North’s goalie, Jimmy Merrow posted a 39-10-3 overall record and came within a hair’s breadth of taking the Knights to the state championship game. Growing up, Jimmy played youth hockey and regularly traveled up to Toronto each summer to take part in Jon Elkin’s goaltending camp.
Elkins was a former coach with the Calgary Flames, and his camp helps young netminders learn different aspects of the craft in a highly regimented environment. “They have a series of drills that helps teach good technique through repetition,” says Jim Merrow, Jimmy’s dad, who also helped out at the camp.
One of the exercises involved a series of nets positioned around the perimeter of the rink with goalies going from station to station and taking part in different drills that highlight specific skills, including glove saves, blocker saves, butterfly slides, and poke checks. “The camp helped me improve my game tremendously,” says Jimmy. Still, as Jimmy reached his sophomore year at High School North he and his family realized that he had limited opportunity in central New Jersey to continue to improve his skills against the highest caliber of competition. So Jimmy and his parents decided that it was time for him to leave for greener — or rather icier — pastures.
“After talking with a number of hockey people, we knew that if Jimmy was really serious about playing hockey and wanted to improve his skills enough to get to the next level, then he would need to leave this area,” says Jim Merrow.
So last August Jimmy headed off to the Banff Hockey Academy in western Canada. Established in 1994, the academy allows players from throughout North America, Europe, and Australia to develop their skills in a program designed and run by a staff of NHL, European, and North American college professionals.
Players receive 15 hours of ice-time per week in which they are given comprehensive instruction and the opportunity to hone their skills. They also play in tournaments against some of the top young players in Canada that are attended by college, junior, and professional scouts. Players are also enrolled at Banff Community High School in Alberta, one of the top ranked schools in the country.
With an $18,”900 tuition per year as well as months of separation from family and friends, the price is not cheap, literally and figuratively. But Jimmy, interviewed at his parents’ home in Plainsboro during his winter holiday break, says that it is all worth it. “I’m happy that I went,” he says. “Skillwise, if I hadn’t gone I probably would now be at the same level as I was before I left.”
Jimmy, now 17, and his parents and sister Kiersten moved to Plainsboro four years ago. His father is a senior manager at Novartis in Parsippany, and his mother, Maureen, is a claims processor at Allstate Insurance in Bridgewater. Kiersten is a student at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Jimmy has played hockey since he was a young boy, playing youth hockey in Bridgewater and Peapack. He also played for the Mercer Chiefs traveling team as well as High School North, where he took over the starting goaltending job as a freshman.
Once workouts started at Banff, the first thing he noticed was the differences in skill level from the competition he regularly faced in the CVC. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” he says. The biggest difference between players up there and those around here is in the skating speed, passing, shooting, reading the play, reaction time. Everything is at a much higher level.”
While in western Canada, Jimmy attended a camp where he had a unique opportunity to face slapshots from an even higher level of competition — former professional players. “They are unbelievable,” he says. “There is just no comparison. They can pick their shots and put the puck wherever they want at amazing speeds.”
Jimmy is one of five goalies attending Banff. Playing in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League (a developmental league for aspiring players), Banff regularly faces opponents with players as old as 21 on the teams. With a team filled with 16 and 17 year olds, Banff players are often overmatched offensively. This means that Banff goalies regularly face a multitude of shots-on-goal. Nonetheless, Jimmy has proven that he is one of the top goalies in the conference. In a Halloween day thriller against Cochrane, he stopped 55 out of 56 shots to give Banff a 4-1 win. He also made 56 saves against Foothills on October 17 and 44 saves on October 5 against Three Hills.
While Banff doesn’t win many games, the amount of work a goalie gets is a positive experience. “You really don’t get better unless you play against people who are better than you,” says Jimmy’s dad. “It forces you either to step up or get out. It’s a goalie’s dream to face that many shots because it helps you improve.”
Jimmy’s father, who played hockey in his youth growing up in New England, cautions that attending a hockey academy such as Banff is not for everybody. “It’s a disciplined way of life,” he says. “The kids don’t really have a lot of downtime, and it takes a special sort of kid to be able to take full advantage of that.”
On a typical day, Jimmy wakes up at 6:45 a.m. and is at practice by 7:45 a.m. Practice ends at 10:15 a.m. and he gets changed and heads to school. After school he hits the weight room on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Fridays usually include a light practice because many of Banff’s games are played that day. There are also a number of optional practices.
In addition, Banff Community High School has a reputation of being one of the most demanding schools in Canada. “It’s a good transition for him for when he is on his own,” says Jim. “It’s a maturing process — academically, socially, and with his hockey — that he will need to use later on.”
The extreme cold and heavy snow of western Canada doesn’t help the immune system. Neither does the 10-minute walk through sub-zero temperature from the house where the players stay to the rink every day.
In addition to helping his team make the playoffs, Jimmy has set himself a number of personal goals that he hopes to meet by the end of the season. “I want to be rated among the top five goalies in the league and continue to improve my game,” he says.
He already accomplished one goal — to play in the all-star prospects game in January in front of a host of scouts from Junior A programs. “It’s a chance for the better first year players to get noticed and be able to move on,” says Jim.
In fact, moving on to the next level is in Jimmy’s future. In April Jimmy will try out with the Bridgewater Bandits, a Junior A team in Massachusetts that plays in the Eastern Junior Hockey League. Made up primarily of teams around the New England region, Jimmy would be playing an even higher caliber of competition with the added benefit of being much closer to home. “We definitely could see him play a lot more,” says Maureen.
“New England is a breeding ground for college players because there are so many colleges with great hockey programs there,” adds his father. “Jimmy’s goal next year is to play on one of those teams.”
He also will tryout in the summer with one of the Junior A teams in the Alberta league in western Canada. The decision where Jimmy will be next year will be made sometime around then. “It’s tough for an American kid to get onto a Canadian Junior A team because they are allowed only six or seven import players per team and most of those go to scorers,” says Jim.
Jimmy’s hockey ambitions remain simple — he hopes to make it to the NHL like his idol, former Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy. “I hope to someday get paid for playing hockey. Getting paid for something you love doing would be a great gift.”
