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Three Kenston icers make their points
(by Steve Novak - December 30, 2009)
Three Kenston icers make their points
By STEVE NOVAK
Beginning in the early winter of 2002, Kyle Weninger, Colton Deeter and Greg Revak all wore the same uniforms. They were members of the same junior league hockey team, the Maple Leafs, for four years.
Then, all three began playing for Kenston's varsity when they were freshmen. All three play forward, the same position they played eight years ago as they enter their senior season. The three have logged more than 350 games together, playing on the same front line.
Kenston head coach Jim Revak said the statistics for the trio during high school show that each will exceed 200 points within the next few weeks. Points are calculated by adding the number of goals and assists.
"That has never happened before at Kenston," Revak said of the three 200-point careers. "I don't think it's too common anywhere else, either."
If there is one thing that is common, it's the way the three Kenston forwards play hockey together. Deeter gave of an example of how much each knows about the others' hockey skills.
"I'll tell you, I could probably throw a blind pass down the ice and it would wind up on the tape of Greg's stick," Deeter said. "It's strange, but we just know each others' game."
Weninger gave a very similar assessment of their knowledge of each other.
"It's easy to explain. Sometimes I don't even have to look down the ice," Weninger said. "I know Greg or Colton will be there. After all these years of playing, it's just chemistry."
Greg Revak agreed, saying that no matter what part of the ice he's on, he has a sense of where the other two are.
"Yeah, you just kind of get that feeling that you know where they're going to be," he said.
Deeter and Greg Revak have a history which goes back even farther. The two have been playing hockey together since they were 9 years old. It wasn't until Weninger moved from Mentor to Bainbridge Township in 2003 that all three of them wound up on the same junior league team.
Also, Deeter and Revak have played on the same off-season hockey team, Cleveland Prospects, for the past two years.
The pair have played together in "oh, five hundred (games), maybe?" Deeter said.
This is going to be the last season in high school for all three and they are making the best of it. Going into the Christmas break, the Bombers were 13-0 with victories over teams such as Solon, Chagrin Falls and Mentor.
Deeter explained why the team is successful.
"The main reason is hard work," he said. "But we're all more friends than we are teammates. We're all just more or less buddies who have known each other for a long time. Really, we take our games more as practice, because we don't want to get too keyed up about them."
For Kenston's three forwards, the end of hockey season is three months away. There is still enough time to enjoy the camaraderie that began when they were in the fifth grade. However, the three have at least stopped to consider that they most likely will be headed in different directions after graduation.
Greg Revak said Weninger would like to play football in college and Deeter may attend the University of Kentucky. Revak said he might want to stay with hockey and play in a junior men's league next year.
However, he said that even all of this doesn't rule out a future reunion for the trio.
"I'm sure we'll still see each other," Revak said. "Maybe we'll get together to play in the Kenston alumni game."
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