Team Awards (As voted on by the team):
Most Valuable Player: Noah Adams
Offensive Player of the Year: Kole Jusczak
Defensive Player of the Year: Kole Jusczak
Most Improved Player: Connor Clark
Hustle Award: Gabe Gonyea
Dragon Award: Andrew Blake and Austin Pavelka
Teammate Award: Zach Amundson
Eye Opener Award: Connor Clark and Nathan Kleppe
Conference Awards:
All Conference: Noah Adams and Kole Jusczak
All Conference Honorable Mention: Mitchell Hansmann
Noah Adams was nominated for Conference MVP.
Pine City was nominated for Conference Coach of the Year.
A few thoughts from Coach Allen on the season wrap up:
This season was another step forward for our program. When looking back at all of the hard work that has been done up to this point, I am proud of our players, our coaches, and our parents/families for their support, energy, and time. We took another step forward this year in our competitiveness, both inside and outside of our program. We want to build this program the correct way, and we know and understand that it does not happen overnight. We have a lot of basketball players at a lot of different grade levels that are buying into what we are selling and we are having more and more success both in terms of participation and wins.
Going into the MLWR game, we felt we had a really good shot to win that game. We didn't see it as an "upset" game because we felt that our section was very even in a lot of the spots, a lot of really good teams playing really good basketball and we felt we were one of them. Playing them to a ten point loss was hard, it was one of the hardest losses of my coaching career. Those seniors have been with me from the beginning, they have put in a lot of hard work, and it is hard to imagine coming back next year without them. There was a lot of tears shed that night.
After the game, we talked about how far we have come but how we need to continue to push forward. I thanked the seniors for everything they had done for us as a program, for believing in me and my coaching staff as well as each other. It was one of the hardest talks I have ever given, like I said, there were a lot of tears shed that night by everyone.
Andrew Blake played so consistent for us this year; I have been prepping him for this role from the second I met him when he was a sophomore. He was a great leader for us this year, a senior captain, and took on that role. He did everything that was asked of him and always put the team first.
Austin Pavelka also took on a leadership role when he was voted as a captain this year. This is a kid who has worked so hard to evolve his game. He cut his turnovers down by 67 from his junior to his senior year. That is unheard of. He did everything that was asked by him and also always put the team first. He has grown, both as a person and a basketball player, more then anyone in my three years at Pine City.
Nate "The Gazelle" Scheid came to basketball later in his career, playing for the first time as a junior. A guy who would do anything to help the team get better. He stepped up to the plate big time this year and was ready at a moments notice.
Zach Amundson had more to do with our teams success this year then anyone talked about. He was the epitome of a team first player and a teammate. Played some big minutes for us in some games and was the unsung leader of our varsity team.
Dan Compton dealt with some health issues down the stretch for us, but he was a guy who gave you everything he had every second he was on the court. He was always willing to get up and talk to the guys and understood that the team always came first.
HuiYao Guan was a very hard worker for us who enjoyed being apart of the team and the program and it was very evident when you watched him play. Was a guy who talked a lot during games, always invested and involved in the game.
HuiHuang Guan had one of the loudest moments of the 13-14 season when he scored a bucket against Ogilvie on Senior/Parent Night; it erupted. He was always willing to do the little things to help out whenever he could.
Maria Smith, Kelsey Fulweiler, and Chandler Valvoda are the three senior managers that we will be loosing this year. Chandler has been with me from the beginning, being my manager for three years. Kelsey and Maria joined him their junior years and ran the summer program and league for the program. The amount of hours that have been put in by these three individuals often goes unnoticed, but this program would not run the way it does without the help of our managers and the path that they paved for future managers.
When re-looking at what I wrote about all the seniors, this group really bought into the idea of "team first". They understood the idea of roles, and understood the best ways they could help the team and did those things. Everyone is a big part of the team and the program. These individuals did a great job of creating that atmosphere of family for future classes that will come though Pine City.
Another difference to this year was our amazing crowds this year, not only at home games but we traveled well. The families and friends of these young men were great this year and we thank them all so much for the support and help. We also began to see more and more community members and our youth coming out to support us, and it means so much to the boys to see them there. It is very much our goal to make this program a community program that Pine City can rally around and support. It was wonderful to see the leaps and bounds that were taken this year in regards to that, the boys, on several occasions, spoke of how loved they felt and that they were able to share it with everyone.
One of the best parts for me this year was the conversations and support from my previous players from the last two years. We talk all the time about how we are a family in the boys basketball program and graduation does not graduate you from our family. It is great to really see that coming true and previous players wanting to stay interested in how everything is going. We truly have a family atmosphere and there is a mutual level of love and respect that we see everyday between the players, the coaches, and both of those groups with one another. It makes it fun and worth it everyday to work with these young men. I love it.
I am so proud and happy to have the wonderful coaching staff that I do. My JV coach, Jeff Brever, is second to none and does more dirty work then anyone should as my assistant and right-hand man. Jeff Hussong does an amazing job with the C-squad having to be an in-facto head coach with those guys. This year we did have extra help from our 7th and 8th grade coaches, David Jackson and Jason Rademacher, who volunteered their time to work with the higher levels after their seasons were done. They were at every practice and game moving forward on their own time. It really shows how dedicated and on the same page we are and how excited we all are about where this program is going.
I think moving forward we return a nice core group of upperclassman with a strong group of underclassmen below them. We will continue to have more and more competition at every level which will in turn make us better moving forward. Our numbers have gone up every year for offseason activities which really speaks to how much these guys want to improve and love being around each other. Our goal is to always give as many opportunities as possible to our guys and they are really running with it. We will be hosting Summer League again at the High School two nights a week while also having open gym four mornings a week throughout June and July. We have also started the tradition of playing in a few tournaments over the summer and also going to a Varsity Team Camp. We have purchased some 94fifty basketballs for this upcoming offseason. These are basketballs with computer sensors in them that wirelessly connect to smart devices. They will tell you any tangible movement that you can do with a basketball and keep track of your records. We are excited to add these to our arsenal of basketball equipment that grows every year.
The success that we have had is because of the hard work that has been put in by guys over the years. To continue this trend, the hard work and time will need to be continued to be put in; and I very much trust that it will be.
