The Steinert High ice hockey team has endured some down seasons in recent years but, through it all, there has been one shining beacon of consistency.
Since joining the Spartans as a freshman, Jared Nixon has continually provided strong play and consistent scoring at forward.
Nixon has continued that trend this season. While centering a line between two freshmen, the senior collected a team-high 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in Steinert’s 2-7 start. He scored in seven of the first nine contests—all were multi-point efforts—and had two hat tricks.
Head coach Bob Weiss attributes Nixon’s prowess to his elusiveness on the ice.
“He’s been one of the fastest guys on this team for all four years that he’s been here,” he said. “He’s a playmaker, and it’s always tough to find someone with his speed to play with him. We’ve got two freshmen on his line right now because they’re the only two that can actually skate with him. So he’s bringing them along.”
The freshmen are Dano Malik and Mike Miller. Not surprisingly, Malik was second on the team in scoring with 7 goals and 4 assists.
While some guys would be upset about having to work alongside two first-year high schoolers, Nixon welcomed it. Part of the reason is their ability to hang with him on the ice; another aspect is they are experienced hockey players. Malik plays at a high travel level and Miller plays in the vaunted Comcast Triple A program, as does Nixon.
“It’s great because they both have speed and they keep up with the play,” Nixon said. “Miller’s a triple A player and Dano has good hands. I [had] practiced with them before. They seemed like good players, so I was OK with it when he wanted to put them on my line.”
Nixon began playing at age 5 at the Ice Land in-house league, and a romance ignited.
He steadily progressed through the travel ranks, going from Mite A to Mite B; up to Squirt Triple A, Pee Wee Triple A and Bantam Triple A. He is now playing for the Jersey Shore Whalers U-18 Triple A team along with Robbinsville’s high-scoring Josh Rosenbaum.
He just moved to center last year after playing wing throughout his career, and has continued his stellar scoring pace.
As a freshman, Nixon had five goals and five assists and was tied as the fourth leading scorer on a 3-10-2 team. One year later, he helped Steinert improve to 8-11-1, as he was third on the team in goals (11) and points (18) while finishing tied for third in assists (7).
Last year Steinert reached .500 (9-9-3) as Nixon led the Spartans in goals (19) and points (34) and was tied for the lead in assists (15). Over that time, he has evolved from a winger to the man in the middle.
“Last year on my travel team I moved to center and it worked out pretty well so I’m continuing with that,” Nixon said. “It wasn’t a bad adjustment. You have more responsibilities at center. While the wings have their own spots, you basically play the entire ice. I love playing center. I didn’t really enjoy wing, that’s why I switched.”
Weiss feels that Nixon’s natural attributes make him a strong center, as he has the ability to make things happen in different ways.
“He’s a stick handler and he’s got moves around the net,” the coach said. “He’s not a big slap shot guy. He’s more a make-a-move-around-a-defenseman guy. He can walk around one-on-one against just about anybody. He’ll make a move and his hands are fantastic when he gets in close.”
His ability to anticipate is pretty good too, thanks to good vision on the ice. Nixon attributes that to knowledgeable coaches.
Not to be overlooked this season is the addition of Nixon’s freshmen linemates. Were they not on the team, his talents may have gone to waste.
“You’ve got to have kids who can skate with the same amount of speed,” Weiss said. “We’ve got some skilled players but they can’t keep up with him, and he would end up being a one-man show, so fortunately I’ve got the two new kids that can skate with him.”
It actually works both ways.
“He’s helping them,” Weiss said. “He’s bringing them along.”
Nixon, in fact, brings most of his teammates along—he is a captain with strong leadership skills.
“He doesn’t say a lot in the locker room but he leads by example,” Weiss said. “He never quits. He keeps plugging and keeps hustling.”
Unfortunately, Mercer County ice hockey is not plugging along very well these days. There are three co-op teams consisting of seven schools, including a combined Hamilton and Nottingham team.
“I worry about it,” Nixon said. “It seems like it’s getting worse every year. This league, all the good players are leaving for other schools and no talent is really coming in. I’ve tried to promote it, but nobody really seems interested and I don’t know a lot of younger hockey players coming up.”
There was talk that Steinert was going to merge with Bordentown, which Nixon said he would not have minded.
If anything does happen, he will be gone by then, as he hopes to play at the next level.
“I’m looking at colleges but next year I want to take a year off and play junior hockey,” Nixon said. “I’m 5-9, 150 pounds, so I want to try and develop and get bigger and better. I need to bulk up a little bit.”
Much like he has bulked up his scoring total each year with Steinert.
Jared Nixon skates with the puck during an 8-3 loss to Lawrence on Jan. 4, 2016. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
