Heat on the Ice: Lake Zurich High School Hockey Team Looks to Maintain Winning Ways

In his first year as head hockey coach at , Dan Mergens has an infectious enthusiasm for his young team’s success this season.

“We’re playing really well. This team has a lot of talent,” said Mergens.

“They’re off to their best start ever,” he said, referring to the team starting out 10-1-1 through the Thanksgiving holiday.

After losing 8-0 to Maine East on Wednesday, their first game after winter break and one of their worst performances of the year, the Bears saw their season record fall to 10-6-3. That translates to a 0-5-2 record since that terrific start heading into turkey time. Is Mergens concerned?

“We got blown out by Maine East the other night, no doubt about it,” said Mergens. “But it was our first game after break, and we were pretty flat. We hadn’t played in exactly two weeks, and it showed. We just didn't execute very well."

Mergens opted to forgo scheduling any practices during the yuletide vacation, figuring that it might be beneficial to his players to have a complete break for a few weeks.

"You could tell that the Christmas break had taken its toll by the way they played against Maine East,” said Mergens.

Mergens has taken a very immersive approach to molding his team, which includes just three upperclassmen. This strategy has paid obvious dividends so far. With an intense preseason practice schedule and a busy seasonal schedule, the two-week layoff over the holidays seemed like a prudent decision.

“Last season, the team lost a lot of games,” said Mergens. “There were a lot of new players coming in this year, and a lot of players who were on the team last year who graduated. So we had a pretty intensive preseason that included 10 practices.”

Entering the season, Mergens saw his hard work pay off. And for high school students — for athletes at any level, for that matter — nothing beats winning.

Mergens explained that there has been a change to the way games are scheduled this season, which affects the structure of the conference.

“We played each team once by Thanksgiving,” said Mergens, “and based on how teams perform against each other determines the remainder of the schedule.”

The conference includes an upper and lower tier; because of their solid record, Lake Zurich is in the upper tier. And for the balance of their schedule, the Bears will be seeing a steady diet of other upper-tier teams.

“We’re playing an intense schedule right now,” said Mergens, “starting with Maine East last night. From this point forward it won’t be easy.”

Another bright spot to the season is the selection of four Lake Zurich players to the all-star game. Mergens also was selected to coach the all-star team — quite an honor for a first-year coach. The four players include team co-captain Niko Kakos, freshman Devin Panzeca, team captain Chris Radecki and goalie Sam Smith.

Mergens also cited defenseman Tim Hass, who is also a freshman, as one of his most up-and-coming young players.

Mergens, a 2003 graduate of Lake Zurich High School, teaches at North Chicago High School. He attributes his quick start with the Bears to a solid foundation of coaching fundamentals, having been schooled in the American Development Model philosophy when he coached the Rolling Meadows Renegades through that town’s park district program in 2009.

Last year, he coached the PREP team, which was made up of players from Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove and Prospect Heights — hence the acronym. That team made it to the Elite Eight last year.

Mergens said he has witnessed a steady increase in the popularity of youth hockey, especially since the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup after the 2009 season.

"I was seeing it before the Hawks won, but it’s really accelerated since then,” said Mergens.

Lake Zurich will have a busy schedule for the rest of the season. Tonight, they will take on Lake Forest, who they defeated 2-0 earlier in the season. On Saturday night, they will square off against Cary Grove, who beat them 4-3 right before Christmas break.

“These will all be important games from this point on,” said Mergens.