2022 | Ohio | BOYS

St. Francis DeSales | Stallions | BOYS

AJ is one of the most talented amateur hockey players I’ve been around. This was my first year with the team, but it was obvious walking in that AJ was the star of the team. Last year, he led the team in scoring playing as a defenseman. This year, we switched him to Center and again led the team in scoring.

His fellow players voted AJ as captain of the team, but after a rough first month that involved a couple of minor issues, AJ voluntarily relinquished his role as Captain and demoted himself to Assistant. His own character and integrity would not allow him to continue to hold the role of Captain until he had a chance to prove his worthiness again. Even more impressive is that he owned up to his role in the situation and discussed it with the team on his terms.

Being the biggest offensive threat on our team, AJ was slotted as first line Center and the lead of PP1. However, AJ worked hard and was willing to take on any role to help the team. When needed, AJ would switch between Center and Defense and he also became one of our top penalty-killers.

While the season didn’t go exactly as he had planned, his own character and talent allowed him to have an All-Conference season and made him more prepared to take over as the leader of our team again next year. It is for these reasons that we are nominating him as our Hobey Baker Character Award winner.