Game On Magazine 2017 Game On Magazine - Regular Season Edition | Page 40

PROFILE
HUNTER
P L O S Z AY
This Will Not
Be the End
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by James Carey Lauder
STONEWALL -- FOR HUNTER
PLOSZAY , the 21-year-old
Stonewall Jets goaltender,
the second half of the 2017-
18 season might be the
most important stretch
of his hockey career.
Now in his fourth season
with the Jets, Ploszay could
very well be looking at the
end of his competitive hockey
career. Although he’d very
much like to play somewhere
next season, there doesn’t
seem to be a lot of demand
for a 5-foot-7 goaltender no
matter how good he is.
After all, Ploszay was
last year’s Manitoba Major
Junior Hockey League most
outstanding goaltender. The
young man is outstanding.
With one championship, a
runner up last year, one playoff
MVP award and a league MOG
award already to his name,
Ploszay and his Stonewall Jets
have accomplished a lot. But
obviously, in his final season,
Ploszay wants to accomplish
a little more before it’s over.
“I want to repeat what we
did two years ago,” he said
bluntly. “I want to come
from the middle of the pack
in the standings and get the
job done in the playoffs.
“We have a solid core with
Chase Faulkner and Devin
Muir and some really good
rookies who are coming
along. The second half of the
season is upon us and we
have to pull up our socks, get
focused, and get on a run.”
This season, Ploszay has been
sharing the goaltending duties
with Curtis Beck, a 19-year-
old second-year goalie who
Ploszay believes is becoming
a very good netminder. Still,
with 18 games under his belt
and a record of 9-8-1 with a
2.60 goals against average and
a .921 save percentage (the
best of his career) Ploszay
also believes there is plenty
4 0 | G AME ON | R EGU L A R SEASON ED ITION 2018
room for improvement in
both his and his team’s
play. Heading into the 2018
MMJHL Showcase back in
mid-January, the Jets were
17-12-1, fourth in the league.
“We’ve lost a few really
tight, one goal games and that
stings,” Ploszay admitted.
“However, we have rebuilt the
defensive core of our team
and our rookie players are
really starting to catch on. I
think we’ll finish strong.”
Ploszay has been a bit of an
enigma during his career. He’s
an outstanding netminder and
hockey people throughout the
province know it, but because
he’s small (he was certainly
smaller as a 14-year-old), he’s
never had the opportunities
that bigger goalies have been
offered. Still, his numbers
are such that some college
coach, somewhere, needs a
reliable puck stopper. He’s also
a tremendous drummer and
would like to take his musical
aspirations as far as he can.