2016 | Massachusetts | BOYS

Weymouth High School | Wildcats | BOYS

I have had the pleasure of knowing and coaching Brendan Burns at Weymouth High School for the last four years.  In that time, Brendan has proved to be a solid goaltender, reliable teammate, responsible student-athlete and strong leader.  Brendan has been on the varsity hockey roster for his entire four year career at Weymouth High.  He made the team as a small freshman and with a senior starter out for the first ten games; Brendan certainly made the most of his early starts.  With a very competitive Bay State Carey schedule to start the season, Brendan was able to rise to the challenge and keep his team above the .500 mark.  With the return of the senior starter, Brendan played an important role in qualifying his team for the state tournament.  Since that season, Brendan has proved time and time again that he can be relied on as a goaltender.  He earned the starting position as a junior as well as being voted by his teammates to be a captain for his junior season of which he was voted again for his senior season.  After his junior season, Brendan was also voted by the coaches as the team’s Most Valuable Player.  Brendan leads by example by competing to his highest level, working hard to improve his personal game as well as pushing his teammates to make their games better.  He is a quiet leader who will never brag, who will celebrate a victory with his team and always deflect credit elsewhere.  
Brendan’s leadership is one of his strongest qualities as a hockey player that certainly carries over to his work as a student.  Not only is Brendan an above average goaltender, he is a more than exceptional student with a limitless future.  At Weymouth High, Brendan currently has a 3.7 GPA.  His personal curriculum has included AP classes in History, Psychology and Physics during his junior year and AP Statistics and Government Politics in his senior year.  At school Brendan is part of the DECA Club that enhances learning through leadership and entrepreneurial ship.  In January, he and a partner competed in the first event in Weymouth High’s history.  As part of the event, Brendan and his partner were responsible for developing a financial plan, performing a presentation of their ideas and also took a business test.  After placing third in the Business Finance Category, Brendan and his partner earned a spot to compete in the State competition in March.  With hard work and dedication to his academics and with a beyond satisfactory balance of school, his part time job and hockey, Brendan was accepted to his number one choice school and will study Business with a concentration in Sports Management at Bentley University in the fall of 2016.
Brendan is also an active member of the Weymouth community.  In the spring of 2015, Brendan was accepted into the National Honor Society.  As a member of the National Honor Society, Brendan participated in a town wide fundraiser called the “Weycatholon” to help all of the town’s elementary schools.  During the fundraiser, Brendan was responsible for organizing and coordinating teams for field day events for Weymouth youngsters.  He also participated in the Weymouth F.A.C.E. (Family and Community Engagement) program at school.  For this program, with his love for hockey as a driving force, Brendan organized a booth to allow Weymouth elementary students to take shots on a goalie as well as educated them on the high school’s hockey program.  In addition to this organization, Brendan again took his love for hockey and incorporated it into his Senior Capstone project.  For his project, Brendan organized a skills night for players in the Weymouth Youth Hockey program.  At this skills session, kids were able to go and talk to Brendan and get one on one help from the varsity’s starting goaltender.  At the end of the skills session, young players were able to listen to Brendan as he spoke about how much hard work it takes to become a varsity hockey player at the high school.  
There is so much that can be said about Brendan on and off the ice, but probably the best quality about him is how he deals with his flaws.  As a hockey coach, we see flaws in players all the time and at the high school level, sometimes those flaws have been going on for so long they may be unfixable.  But for Brendan, he will work harder than anyone else; he will study film and listen to coaches and is always willing to try new things to improve his game.  He takes to heart any coaching that is given to him and uses it as an opportunity to get better.  He takes constructive criticism like a mature adult, asks questions to get other people’s thoughts and he uses all that information to make himself better.  Rather than coming up with excuses, Brendan is proactive and wastes no time in trying to make improvements.  
As a first year head varsity coach and a whole new coaching staff joining the Weymouth High hockey team, the first thing I told the new coaches was that we have a solid backbone and its Brendan Burns.  Brendan took the time over the summer attending countless hours of lifting and pushing his teammates to get to all off season lifts and skates.  Brendan is a true leader and a true team player.  He recognizes that he is an important piece of a larger team and takes every opportunity to help, encourage or give credit to another teammate.  Brendan has been the heart and soul of Weymouth hockey for the last four years and has set an immensely high bar for future players in terms of dedication, determination, work ethic and leadership both on and off the ice.  Through the last four years, Brendan has shown what it looks like to be a model student-athlete and not because he is the best goaltender or because he is the best student, but because he strives to be and works hard to be as good as he can be and beyond.  Any failure Brendan has, he uses to drive himself; any flaw Brendan has, he learns from and works to make it better.  It has been said numerous times this year by myself and by my coaches that if we had a team full of Brendans we would be unstoppable just based on effort and determination alone.  It would be hard for me to believe that current and past teachers of Brendan’s did not at one point say if they had a classroom full of Brendans, they would have the best class in the school.  Brendan is deserving of the highest award, but to think of all my players that deserve awards, if the award is being given because of character on and off the ice, there is no question as to whom it would be awarded.