The Jr. Trappers New “Rocky”

No, Dan Zawacki isn’t a distant relative of Sylvester Stallone, nor does he have a background in boxing. The newly added forward of the North Bay Jr. Trappers simply hails from the rocky mountain state of Colorado.

He is one of three players from “The Centennial State” on the Trapper’s roster this season. Zawacki, Brendan Galley and Kane Hurley all hail from the Boulder Jr. Bisons hockey program.

They join two other Yankees in the Jr. Trappers line-up; defenseman Ty Smith is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and newly added forward, Hartwell Marable comes from the same Midget program in Ohio as last years starting goaltender Jeff Michael.

Zawacki started his Trapper career off with a bang less than three weeks ago when he scored two goals in his first game against the Temiscaming Royals. The speedy sniper potted the first two goals of the game leading the team to a 5-3 victory.

“I was totally surprised when I scored two goals in my first home game, I felt like I could do anything out there,” said Zawacki.

After that game Jr. Trappers head coach Ian Swalucynski described his newly acquired forward as “a high-speed, in-your-face kid that’s got good offensive touch,” and Zawacki couldn’t agree more.

“That’s what I base my game on; getting in guy’s faces, being physical and trying to move my feet as fast as I can. I try to put a body on somebody and get the puck,” said the 5’10” winger.

After Monday night’s game, Zawacki had 8 points in just 6 games (5G, 3A) and when asked what the secret to his early success with the team was, he was quick to point at the talent around him.

“My line, I am playing with Jon Aubertin and Brendan Galley, two of the top players on this team,” said the forward. “They both have speed and I have speed, we all click together, it just seems to be a natural chemistry thing we have,” added Zawacki.

Swalucynski thinks it was the addition of Zawacki to that line that sparked the play of Aubertin.

“He’s elevated Aubertin’s speed and both of them are flying together,” said the bench boss. “Danny’s got lots of skill and grit and he’s one of those guys that loves to have the puck; he makes smart plays, smart decisions and he never costs us anything,” boasted Swalucynski.

Unfortunately for North Bay fans, the coach doesn’t think they will get to see Zawacki beyond the end of this season.

“He wants to go the major junior route; basically we told him here you are right beside the OHL and the QMJHL and in Colorado you’re not. There’s already been teams watching and calling us about him so I can’t see him being here beyond this year,” said Swalucynski. “We are all about moving kids on and if he becomes a successful major junior player then great, we did our job,” added the coach.

With the loss of the top 7 scorers from last year’s team there was already going to be pressure on any new forwards to produce. Zawacki has stared that pressure straight in the face taking on former NOJHL scoring champion Dustin Fummerton’s number 21 jersey and with 1.3 points per game he doing a pretty good job of filling that jersey.

Having played last year in Midget AAA with the Colorado Thunderbirds and starting this season with the Bisons, this is definitely the furthest the 18 year old has every been from home.

“It took me a whole day of travelling to get up here,” said the young forward who noted although it was not his Thanksgiving this past weekend he was still able to get a great meal courtesy of line mate Brendan Galley’s family.

Zawacki and the Jr. Trappers (8-4-0) will be back in action this weekend with two games. On Saturday night they will travel to face the Blind River Beavers (4-4-4) at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to host the Soo Eagles (6-2-0) on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m.