FreshmanHeather Lindsay and her senior brother Derek are playing together on the same time for the first and most likely only time this season. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Brother part of Bay hockey tradition, sister part of future
Derek, a senior captain, scored 40 goals last season
Younger sister Heather part of very talented frosh class
By Zachary Dzurick
Sports
Published Dec. 15, 2004

Bay senior Derek Lindsay was part of an incredible line last year with seniors Jim Datko and Pat Wise. Lindsay had 40 goals and 37 assists and he wasn't even the line leader. The Rockets won their second straight Baron Cup II and played Blue division power St. Ignatius right down to the final seconds in a playoff game.

Eleven seniors graduated from that team. Youth and inexperience now crowd the team as 10 freshmen make up half of the roster. Lindsay has gone from a part of the machinery to having become one of the engines that drive the machine as a captain with fellow seniors Cam Gibbins and Danny Wise. It has not been a easy change for Lindsay.

"It has been pretty difficult," Lindsay admits. "Before there were always older people around. Last year we had 11 seniors. Now I am the guy everyone looks up to and I have had to change my role a bit being a captain this year. I have always known it was there in me but had always to dig deep for it. Now I have to show it."

Lindsay has had to become a big brother to the young freshmen on the team. That is something he is used too as he is actually a big brother to one of the freshmen, Heather Lindsay. That's right - his sister is on the team.

"I have been getting a lot of grief for it because she has been scoring some goals," Derek said. "This is the first year we have ever played together and it will probably be the only year. So it has been a lot of fun."

Heather has been waiting a long time for this opportunity.

"I have always looked forward to playing with him," Heather said. "We have played hockey outside and when we were little we used to play up in his room and it was fun to make up really cool plays. Now we get to do them on the ice."

Heather has gone from a fan of the team to having an important role as she has been switching off the second and third lines.

"I went to most of their games," Heather said. "It is different because I have always played with guys my age and now I am playing with seniors and juniors so it is a change but not that big of a change."

She admitted she was worried how some of the guys would take to having a girl on the team but the program has experience with a female teammate and the transition has been seamless.

"I was pretty nervous," Heather said. " I have only played with one of them before. I didn't know how they would take to a girl. I feel like I fit in and I am part of the team. It is really helpful that my brother is the captain. It is cool because if I do something wrong he tells me and I listen to him better than I would someone else."

Does Lindsay worry about protecting his sister on the ice?

"On the ice, she is just another player," Derek said. "She is still my sister and she always will be but being older I have to watch out for everyone. She is pretty strong and can hold up herself most of the time so I don't have to worry about her."

Heather said her parents used to worry about her on the ice but most of that has faded.

"They were nervous when I was first starting hitting in peewee but I go out there and get hit and take it, and then I hit back," Heather said.

Being so young, the team did not fare well in the SWC tournament against some very talented teams, but both Derek and head coach Terry Chadwick believe in the freshmen. While last year's senior class was the most successful class in the history of the Bay program, Lindsay believes his sister's class could rival it.

"That first tournament we played some really good teams," Derek said. "We are young. We are working on our goalie situation. We are working on the all of the freshmen, they just need to get that experience. The freshmen we have are very good and very talented. A lot of people think they are better than the senior class that graduated last year. A lot of people think they will rival them. They are just young and inexperienced."

Chadwick agrees.

"What I saw was all of the freshmen competed and played and that was the most important thing and we never gave up," Chadwick said of the SWC tournament. "We are inexperienced in goal but they will get better and better. They are working hard. They are sticking together. We started 0-4 but I know we will win our share of games. They are deeper in talent than the class that left. So the opportunity is there. They just have to stick together and fight to make it."

Chadwick said only experience and hard work will return the program to the peak it reached last year.

"It is just getting used to playing high school," Chadwick said. "We have 10 freshmen out of 20. They are 14 playing 17 and 18 year olds. They are good enough to play and they can all compete and they will all help us win. It is just getting used to the faster pace and bigger players. We are lucky in that group we have 7 or 8 of them that are really good solid hockey players and Heather is one of them. It will be interesting to see which ones do step out and be the leaders of the class. Right now they are just evenly talented."

Chadwick credits Derek and the other captains for their leadership with the young players.

"It is a great challenge for Derek and Cam Gibbons and Danny Wise," Chadwick said. "With 11 players graduated there is a lot of leadership missing. Derek has done a good job as has Cam and Danny. At a smaller school like Bay you always have freshmen playing. We have a great tradition of the older players helping the younger ones."

Derek said that being a captain is a lot like being the older brother.

"It is kind of the same thing with all of the freshmen it is like being a big brother thing," Derek said. "You need to show them how to play to in high school."

Chadwick said the success and respect the program earned last year drives him and the other coaches to retool the team to a point where they can be successful again.

"Absolutely, it drives us," Chadwick said. "There is a tradition and the kids want it and they want to do it again. It makes it fun and challenging and it is something we all want to try and do."

Heather said her class understands that tradition.

"We feel the pressure a lot because we are half of the team," Heather said. "We need to fill some really big shoes."

Both Derek and Chadwick are enjoying the challenge.

"It has been fun," Derek said. "All teams have tough years and tough games. You just have to work hard to get through it."

"It is exciting," Chadwick said. "One of the rewarding parts of coaching is you see the kids come in as 14 year olds and they are boys or in Heather's case a young girl. Then they leave as young men or a young lady. That is exciting anyway and when you have this many freshmen at once, it is fun to watch them grow."