Have you met Jared Steege? Well, if you’re not already familiar with the North Bay Battalion centre, then you’re about to get to know him a little bit better.
There seems to be a vacancy in the Battalion’s top-six this coming season, and if you ask those close to the team, Steege is one of the prime candidates to fill that role.
Come September, we will find out if they are right.
“They made it pretty clear that they really want me to be one of those key guys this year and that they’re going to need me to step up in a big way,” Steege said enthusiastically.
“I can’t wait to get started.”
With the likes of offensive team leaders Barclay Goodrow, Ben Thomson and Matt MacLeod all gone for the 2014-15 campaign, the Battalion are in need of someone to step up and take the offensive reins the way their veteran leadership did last year.
Thanks to that void, Steege is about to get one of the best shots of his young hockey career.
To give credit to the graduating Troops, team management and players alike acknowledge that replacing the likes of Goodrow, Thomson and MacLeod is impossible; their championship run and pro contracts a testament to their unique qualities both on and off the ice.
But the fact remains, if the Battalion are going to one-up their inaugural performance in North Bay, someone is going to have to step up and take the offensive reins. Although the team did draft an older offensive talent in Swede Hampus Olsson earlier this month in the CHL import draft, the team’s crop of young offensive leaders will soon be called on.
Steege, who finds himself amidst that pool of potential top-six forwards, managed five goals and seven assists through 48 games last year. But as Battalion hockey operations assistant, Matt Rabideau, explains, the experience Steege gained from playing under some of the top-class players in the league was invaluable.
“Sometimes these guys come from teams where they’re called on every night and then when they make the jump to the OHL, sometimes they’re scratched and that can take a bit of transition too,” Rabideau explains. “When Jared was called on, he was ready to go, and that’s the biggest thing.
“Coming into his second year, we’re obviously going to count on Jared for some offense and the more ice time he gets, he’s going to play with a lot more confidence.”
Rabideau calls it the cycle of generating continued success: rookies put in their time, prove their work ethic and, perhaps most importantly, learn from the success of the elder athletes. OHL ice time must be earned, not given, after all.
Whatever you think of Steege’s rookie performance, he’s one player who’s not daunted by an ambitious challenge.
“I like being focused on to be a key guy and I like being leaned on to contribute,” Steege said without hesitation. “I like having that pressure; I find it helps my game and helps me put pressure on myself to become a key player, and that’s what I want to be.”
To make that transition, Steege is putting in some serious work in his hometown of Cobden, Ont., this summer. Relentlessly following a CrossFit off-ice regiment while working with former Buffalo Sabres draft pick Tony Iob for power skating and on-ice work, Steege feels he’s doing everything he can to tackle the opportunity.
“It’s easier to teach and coach when somebody wants it; Jared wants it,” Iob said of Steege’s drive. “He wants to be a top-six player in the OHL and he knows it’s going to take a lot of work, and he’s really putting that in.
“He has that hunger,” Iob added.
The 5’ 11”, 192 pound forward has always been a high-output player and looks to pickup where he left off prior to his rookie campaign. Two seasons ago, his 37 goals and 33 assists through 40 games with the Arnprior Packers of the EOJHL caught the eye of Battalion brass, and for right reason.
And now, with the possibility of an expanded role and more ice time when the season kicks off, Steege fancies himself a 40-plus point getter for the Battalion, something the team would gladly welcome.
To give you an idea of the massive potential upside to his game, Steege calls attention to the Battalion’s regular season finale against Ottawa when Coach Stan Butler gave Steege the shot of playing on the team’s top line with Goodrow and Thomson.
The result: two goals and one assist, a team-high point output that evening.
“Just playing one full game with those guys, I learned so much out on the ice,” Steege explains. “Just things like what you have to do to become a key player out there and what you have to do to be effective offensively.
“Even in the room, seeing what they do to prepare for games, I just took it all in last year and I’m hoping to put it on the table this year,” he continued.
Steege was passed up in last month’s NHL Entry Draft, in his first year of eligibility. But another one of the lessons he says he learned from Goodrow, for example, is to continue playing your game and let your performance do the talking; the rewards will come.
As for the rest, there’s no doubt that the Battalion have the talent and depth to achieve a high level of success again.
But it’s going to take players like Steege to embrace their new role and lead the way.
Jared Steege photo courtesy CHL IMAGES
