Oklahoma

Who are Oklahoma Warriors? NAHL team has brought high-level hockey back to OKC

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Who are Oklahoma Warriors? NAHL team has brought high-level hockey back to OKC

Blazers Ice Centre, on the east side of I-35 near the I-240 interchange, is an unassuming building. Thousands pass by it every day on their morning commutes, not realizing that some of the best 16 to 20-year-old hockey players in the nation, and from around the world, are inside skating up a sweat.

The Oklahoma Warriors of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) are the most interesting team you’ve probably never heard of.

“There’s a lot of people that still don’t know we’re here,” Warriors coach Nate Weossner said Wednesday after a morning practice.

Two seasons ago, the team’s inaugural year in Oklahoma City after relocating from Wichita Falls, Texas, the Warriors won the NAHL Robertson Cup. The Warriors were crowned champions of a 35-team league stretching from Anchorage to Amarillo and Shreveport, Louisiana, to Lewiston, Maine.

At 7 p.m. Friday, the Warriors, who wear orange and black, will open season No. 3 in Oklahoma City with a game against the Amarillo Wranglers at Blazers Ice Centre.

Oklahoma City has been a hockey desert since the Barons left town a decade ago, and the city hasn’t truly embraced hockey, been energized by it, since the CHL days. The Blazers were the biggest show in town, playing in front of raucous crowds at the Myriad.

Oklahoma City has since joined the big leagues with the Thunder and plenty of other entertainment options, but for fans who miss the Blazers, who want to see high-level hockey, the Oklahoma Warriors are hoping to fill that void, albeit on a more intimate scale.

“There’s beer, there’s fights, there’s everything we had with the Blazers, just a little bit younger,” said assistant coach Mick Berge, who grew up in Oklahoma City.

The NAHL is a Tier-II junior hockey league that’s been around for 50 years.

For the uninitiated, junior hockey isn’t what it sounds like.

“For people that aren’t in it, it is difficult to understand,” Weossner said. “Like, what are these guys? Because you look at ‘em and you’re going, ‘They’re pretty f—–’ good.”

More: How Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State football show found a home at Stillwater senior community

What is NAHL junior hockey?

We’re well acquainted with the path the best football players take from the preps to the pros. We know all about high school hoops, the AAU circuits, college basketball and professional leagues around the world. In baseball, some future big-leaguers turn pro after high school. Others go to college.

Hockey is different. Junior hockey is a level without a parallel in other sports.

“Nobody really understands what level we’re at,” Berge said. “I try to let them know how good this hockey is.”

The USHL is the top junior hockey league in the country. The NAHL, which the Warriors play in, is one tier below.

Think of junior hockey as a developmental level between high school and college. Most junior hockey players have graduated high school while others are still finishing up. Those still in school are likely taking their classes online.

A lot of college hockey players enter their freshman year at 21, having spent several years in junior hockey before aging out at age 20.

While the players are unpaid, the Warriors operate like a professional franchise. They scout players, sell sponsorships and make money off gate proceeds and concession and merchandise sales. George Chalos, a Utah-based attorney, owns the team.

Berge, whose parents moved from North Dakota to Oklahoma, lived the junior hockey life. After two years at Putnam City High School, Berge left home at 16 to pursue hockey.

He spent a year in Dallas and then three years in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he graduated high school and finished his junior hockey career.

From the USHL, Berge played four years at Minnesota State University in Mankato. Hockey is in his blood. His dad played at the University of North Dakota and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. His brother also coaches.

Weossner, the Warriors’ head coach and general manager, played junior hockey in Canada. Weossner, from Bemidji, Minnesota, played college hockey at Minnesota-Crookston.

Last season, 340 NAHL players committed to play college hockey. According to the NAHL, 77% of those players were Division-I commits.

“These guys are all capable of playing in the NCAA,” Weossner said, looking out onto the ice, where some of his players were getting in work after practice.

And after that?

“They wanna play in the NHL,” Weossner said.

He didn’t back down from the lofty goal. Only 45 players with NAHL ties have been selected in the last nine NHL drafts, according to the NAHL.

“We want guys who want to play in the NHL,” Weossner said. “Now, are they all going to make the National Hockey League? No. But will some of them? Maybe. And we want guys who want that. We want guys that are intentional, that come with a compete level that is driven toward that goal.”

Weossner pushes his guys.

“Let’s not be casual,” he said during a lull in practice. “We’re not a casual team.”

Weossner shares a motto with his team: “We’re gonna figure out how we’re going to do something rather than worry about why we can’t.”

“We want people that are intentional, and we want guys that are gonna drive our game plan and drive their goal setting,” Weossner said. “And if we have those types of guys, the hockey takes care of itself.”

More: Mussatto: Don’t call it a trap game. OU football is not good enough to overlook Tulane.

Who are the Oklahoma Warriors?

The Warriors have a 25-man roster. One player is from Oklahoma. One is from Russia. Three are Slovakian.

The rest are from places you might guess. Like Watertown, Massachusetts, the hometown of Warriors captain Ollie Chessler.

This is Chessler’s second season with the Warriors.

“It’s obviously a lot different being from the East Coast and moving down here, but it’s been awesome,” Chessler said.

Chessler, like a lot of Warriors, lives with a host family.

“These families open up their homes, open up their hearts to have us,” Chessler said. “It’s an awesome experience all around.

“Those people are the lifeblood of our team,” Weossner added. “It’s an unreal experience for both them and the players. You’re bringing somebody into your home and you basically become part of their family. A lot of these guys will carry that relationship for a long, long time.”

This will be Chessler’s last season with the Warriors. He’s committed to play at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

Chessler has enjoyed his time in Oklahoma City. He’s been to Thunder games and even an OU football game.

“Obviously there’s a bunch of people who don’t know that there’s a hockey team here, but I think as we keep getting better and we keep winning games and putting a good product on the ice, the word is getting out,” Chessler said.

Berge has taken it upon himself to get the word out.

The Warriors are the only NAHL team in Oklahoma. They play in the South Division, which also includes teams from Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas.

“We’ll have scouts in this barn a lot,” said Berge, who expects capacity crowds of a couple thousand fans. “A lot of colleges come to watch to recruit these kids, professional scouts will be here, NHL scouts will be here to watch. It’s just a different dynamic compared to any other sport, so it’s very hard to explain until you get in the door and see it.”

Berge invited legendary Blazers coach Doug Sauter to do the ceremonial puck drop before the season opener Friday.

Having grown up here, coaching the Warriors has taken on extra meaning for Berge.

“It’s my dream,” he said.

When the Warriors are on the ice, Blazers Ice Centre is filled with dreams.

“To watch them know how hard it is, discover how difficult it is, really learn what it’s like to compete and watching them go through that process” Weossner said, “it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

Source link

Click to comment

Oklahoma

Despite More Changes, Oklahoma’s Offensive Line Must ‘Fix What We Need to Fix’

Published

9 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Press Room

Despite More Changes, Oklahoma’s Offensive Line Must ‘Fix What We Need to Fix’

How many offensive linemen started at the same position in both of Oklahoma’s games so far this season?

As the slogan goes, there’s only one.

Right guard Febechi Nwaiwu is the Sooners’ only o-lineman who started at the same position against Houston that he did against Temple. Each of the other four positions have had a different starter.

Expect more changes when No. 15-ranked OU takes the field on Saturday afternoon against Tulane.

Bill Bedenbaugh has shifted his personnel here and there almost entirely out of necessity so far.

Jacob Sexton started at left tackle in the opener, but quickly moved to left guard and then started there in the second game. Michael Tarquin started at right tackle against the Owls, but shifted to left tackle and then started there against the Cougars. Branson Hickman started at center in Week 1, but got hurt and was replaced that game by Geirean Hatchett, then in the next game by Joshua Bates. After Spencer Brown replaced Tarquin at right tackle early in the opener, Jake Taylor stepped in last week.

Meanwhile, the Sooner offense has been among the worst teams in the nation at converting third downs (131st, per this week’s NCAA statistics). OU rushed for 220 yards against Temple but only managed 75 against Houston, its lowest output in three years. Quarterback Jackson Arnold was sacked three times in each game, which ranks 109th in the nation. The Sooners are also 100th or worse in total offense, passing offense, time of possession and first downs.

The wide receivers are enduring an injury epidemic. The running backs have not been explosive. Arnold has been inconsistent at best.

But the offensive line has been in the crosshairs since all five of Bedenbaugh’s starters last season departed. With five experienced newcomers via the transfer portal, four young returnees trying to break out and five true freshmen hoping to make an early impact, the group has been striving for consistency and chemistry since spring practice opened.

“I think it’s a group thing,” Bates said. “We showed flashes here and there but we need to be as a group together through everything this season. Game to game, we need to have a 1-0 mentality. Every single week we need to come out with that same mindset. How you play offensive line at the University of Oklahoma, it’s a group thing. It’s never an individual at this position. You have to fire on all cylinders as a group, as a team and as a unit especially.”

Bates, a redshirt freshman, has played 78 snaps this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Most of those came last week as he replaced Hatchett, the Washington transfer who has been lost for the season after surgery to repair a torn biceps muscle. Bates posted an overall PFF grade of 55.9, which included 57.2 run blocking and 65.3 pass blocking.

It figures to be Bates again this week, unless Hickman, the SMU transfer, has recovered from his week one ankle injury. Hickman played just 10 snaps against Temple before going down.

Sexton and Nwaiwu lead the OU offense with 120 snaps each, per PFF, and Sexton, a junior, has posted grades of 62.7 overall, 57.9 on run blocks and 76.7 on pass blocks. Nwaiwu, a transfer from North Texas, has an overall grade of 57.7, with a 53.9 on runs and 64.8 on passes.

Tarquin, a USC transfer via Florida, has played 113 total snaps, fourth on the team, and has been terrific across the board: 78.2 overall, 74.0 on runs, 79.6 on passes.

Brown, a Michigan State transfer, got 57 snaps in the opener but didn’t play last week. His PFF numbers are 62.2 overall, 60.5 run and 61.9 pass.

Last week it was redshirt freshman Logan Howland who came in to play left tackle after Taylor went down and Tarquin went to right tackle, and after getting 16 snaps in the opener he got 39 last week. So far this season, Howland has graded out at 67.7 overall, 62.4 in the run game and 76.8 in the pass game.

Taylor, a third-year sophomore, returned from a preseason injury last week and played 23 snaps at right tackle — and, according to PFF, posted a 62.3 overall grade, 54.9 run blocking grade and team-high 79.9 pass blocking grade. But Taylor left the Houston game late in the first half with yet another injury, and his status for this week remains unclear.

And that’s what Bedenbaugh has had to work with through the first two weeks of the season.

“Injuries happen in sports,” Howland said. “We got to be a next-man-up kind of thing.”

Oklahoma currently has more offensive tackles (seven) playing in the NFL than any other college team. That’s the standard that Bedenbaugh has set, and this group is fighting a variety of adversities to try to live up to it.

“The offensive line here is a standard,” Howland said. “We have to live up to that standard every day. You see guys in the NFL doing well right now and we have to replicate them and try to get where they’re at.”

Chemistry doesn’t just happen because the o-line coach wants it to. It has to be organic — but it has to happen if an offense wants to reach its potential.

“We’re tight,” Bates said. “We’re a group that, we all hang out together. We love each other. We’ve gone through these summer workouts with Schmitty. We’ve done all the winter stuff. We feel like we’ve bled, we’ve sweat, we bleed together. And that’s something that, over the last couple of years, we’ve struggled with. And I think this year, this group is tight. But, you know, I think it comes to getting on the field and being able to execute at a high level.

“We’re just gonna keep working. You can’t sit here and say, ‘This happened, this happened.’ This sport, it’s week-by-week, man. You’ve got to take every week the same way. Come together, fix what we need to fix and get after it.”

Source link

Oklahoma

Tulane Green Wave vs. Oklahoma Sooners Defensive Players to Watch

Published

16 hours ago

September 12, 2024

Press Room

Tulane Green Wave vs. Oklahoma Sooners Defensive Players to Watch

The parallels are getting a little too close to home for Saturday’s game between the Tulane Green Wave and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Three years ago the two schools were set to meet in New Orleans, only to move the game to Norman, Okla., when Hurricane Ida came to the Crescent City during game week.

Now, it’s Hurricane Francine rolling through the city. At least this time the game was already scheduled to be played in Norman, the conclusion of a three-game contract between the two schools that had never met before the deal.

Defense has the potential to define this game. While the Oklahoma (2-0) offense was sluggish against Houston, its defense was not. The Sooners held the Cougars to 12 points.

Tulane (1-1) gave up 34 points in a loss to Kansas State. But, in the first half the Green Wave defense held down an exceptional quarterback and pitched a shutout in its season opener. Tulane also has a pass rush that hasn’t been fully unleased yet.

Here are the defensive players to watch for both teams entering Saturday’s game.

DL Patrick Jenkins

It’s time. Two games is enough without a sack for the all-conference performer. This game is the perfect chance for Jenkins to make an impact.

He has seven tackles this season. But he can wreak plenty of havoc. For his three-year career he has 80 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He’ll be playing on Sundays one day. For now, the Green Wave needs him to crash the backfield on Saturday.

LB Tyler Grubbs

The veteran linebacker hasn’t had that “game” yet, but it’s early. He has nine tackles and a half-tackle for loss. He’ll be partly responsible for helping to defend the Sooners in the shallow parts of the field.

The three-time All-Conference USA and two-time All-Louisiana linebacker for La Tech had 77 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss three sacks and a fumble recovery for the Green Wave last season. His best games have come against opponents like this.

S Kevin Adams III

Guess who’s leading the Green Wave in tackles for loss? It’s the sophomore from Destrehan, La., who has 1.5 on the season. One has to admire the fact that Tulane has spread its 13 TFLs out among nearly a dozen players.

Adams has just four tackles so far. Last year he only played in four games, and he finished with six tackles. But if he keeps stifling players in the backfield like this, the Green Wave are going to appreciate his development even more.

LB Danny Stutsman

Right now the Sooners’ defense is well ahead of its offense, and Stutsman is a huge reason why. The preseason All-America selection is already second in the SEC with his 10.5 tackles per game and first (third nationally) with 7.5 solo tackles. He’s led OU in tackles each of the last two seasons (125 in 2022 and 104 last season) and is coming off a 15-tackle performance against Houston.

In other words, someone — or perhaps more than one someone — is going to have to block this guy.

DL Gracen Halton

Halton, a junior, is one of those players you don’t hear about much but seems to always make critical plays. Take the Houston game. He only made two tackles.

The first was an 11-yard sack in the third quarter. The second was a five-yard stuff on a Houston run play with 1:42 left in the game. The stuff resulted in a safety.

Proof that one doesn’t have to have a lot of tackles to make an impact.

DB Billy Bowman Jr.

It’s safe to say that Bowman is one of the top defensive backs in the country. Last year he was a first-team All-Big 12 honoree after he ranked third in the nation with six interceptions, with an NCAA-best and school-record three returned for touchdowns (238 INT return yards).

It’s hard to find a defensive back with that kind of big-play ability. Bowman has seven tackles and one for a loss in two games. But no interceptions. This is not the week to tempt him.

Source link