AS Men's Hockey - Coach Ron Fogerty

It was a return visit to the club for Coach Fogerty to update members on what is turning out to be another winning season for his hokey team. Rod Hokenson did a masterful job introducing him today and, I for one, was amazed at the knowledge Rod has about AC hockey in general let alone what he shared with us about Ron! You can tell Rod closely follows the game.

 

Ron, he said, was hired by Jeff Docking and arrived in Adrian some 7 years ago to start a hockey program at Adrian College. Ron who is originally from Sarnia, Ontario Canada,  was formerly assistant hockey coach at Bowling Green University for 5 years. He credits the residents in Adrian with being extremely friendly since he and his wife, Monica, and their 3 children moved here. The “town has really embraced our program”, Ron said. He admitted that things got a little easier after his 4^th season here in terms of recruiting. He said he was very thankful to his players who’d graduated with helping identify players Ron might want to talk with to possibly enroll at AC and join the team. Many of his players have come from Canada.

 

Ron should be quite proud of his overall record while at Adrian of 165-21-10! During the 2008 season Ron and the entire team went to Finland thanks to private donations. They’ve been to Switzerland and Italy as well! His team will soon play outside at Fifth Third Field in Ann Arbor. Ron mentioned that he was very proud of everyone on his team stressing to them that while a winning team is important, getting a solid education and eventually a degree was as important. Ron said that 18 of his 24 roster hold a 3.0 while every freshman player had over a 3.4!

 

He really wants to win a national championship he said. The team came close to that 3 years ago by losing by a score of 4 to 3. A large number of his team have aspirations to play professional hockey. So far 9 players for AC who have graduated are playing professionally in the double B, A, and double A levels. Two players are now on the east coast coaching hockey. Ron said that he’s told his players “I’d rather have you own a hockey team than to play on one”! Others on his team are giving back to the community – one person in particular was helped out at the Hope Community Center over the past Thanksgiving and even was involved in a sweater drive. Others have even taught youngsters learn the sport.

 

Ron closed by letting members know how much he appreciates the community’s continued support by offering free tickets (2@) to the game this coming Saturday by simply calling Betsy Merillat at 265-5161 and identifying yourself as an Adrian Rotarian to reserve them!