By By ADAM FISHER / Niles Daily Star
Niles' senior Carl Seitz takes a shot at the pros this week. A slapshot.
Seitz is part of an elite group of hockey players from around the country selected to go to Boston for a week-long tryout for professional and college hockey teams.
The tryout, called Hockey Night in Boston, is a showcase for players who tried out and made regional teams. Scouts from NHL teams, IHL teams, colleges and junior league teams will be on hand to watch.
Seitz left for Boston on Saturday and will be there until Aug. 17. In that time, his team will play 10 games, he said.
Seitz made the team by going to a tryout in Ann Arbor about a month ago. He said there were 16 teams at the tryout, and enough players were selected to make two teams to send to Boston.
Though he attends Niles High School, Seitz plays hockey for Marian High School in South Bend, Ind. Players who have no teams at their schools are allowed to play for other high schools.
But Seitz began playing hockey long before he hit high school. When he first wore a pair of skates, he couldn't even lace them on his own. He was three years old when he learned to skate.
He joined his first team when he was four.
He's been playing ever since. Last summer, he made Team Indiana, a group of the best 18 players in the state that went to a national tournament in Chicago.
Now that he has a chance to get looked at by some Division I colleges, he excited about the opportunity Hockey Night offers him.
Seitz said, if he had his choice, he would play hockey for Ohio State. But hockey players take a different rout to college than most prep athletes, he said.
High school players generally play for a Junior League team before playing for a Division I school. After graduation, then, Seitz will have to tryout again for another team.
That's why he's thankful he's going to Boston. He said he's already getting a jump on the competition.
If he makes a Junior League team, Seitz would spend about two years preparing for the next level before heading to college. Seitz said he's been scouted by eight junior teams this summer from all over the country.
While he said he'd love to jump right to a big-name college team, Seitz knows he'll probably have to work at the entry level to get to Ohio State.