The Alliston Hornets have been buzzing along this season, surging to first place with the help of three hard-working Innisfil players.

Hornets coach Darrin Shannon credits the players — Brett Eeles, Thomas Fairs and Kyle McPherson — with a large part of the Junior C team’s early success.

Eeles of Churchill and Faris of Cookstown play right and left wing respectively on a line that has put a lot of pucks in the net. Eeles is the league’s top scorer with 19 goals and five assists and Faris is ranked sixth with four goals and 13 assists.

According to Shannon, their styles of play are a good match. He describes Eeles as having a real knack for scoring while Faris is always around the puck and contributes a large number of assists. It’s the kind of dynamic that makes for good results.

“There’s chemistry on all four lines,” said Eeles, “Everyone is putting goals on the board. There are no weak links.” He also added there are no stand out stars on the team, though being the top scorer might qualify as being a stand-out player.

Faris echoes Eeles on the depth of the team. “Everyone has a good work ethic. Everyone out there wants to win every game.”

At 20 years old, both players are in their final year with the team though they could play an additional year as an overager. As one of the older teams in the league, their age—and maturity—is another advantage they have over other teams.

“Having an older team helps,” said Shannon, “they understand how the game is played better.”

Another advantage he cites is the experience older players bring when making decisions on the ice.

He says it doesn’t necessarily come with age but being able to make a decision that is best for the team but maybe not the best for the player goes along way to making a strong team, a quality he says both Eeles and Faris have.

“They bring a maturity with them to the team. They come to play hard everyday. It’s a compliment to them and to the team.”

Kyle McPherson is the third player of the trio but unfortunately after a strong start to the season—three goals and five assists in six games— suffered an injury and only returned to the ice for a single practice before the match up with the Kings.

“When the team is racking up points and I’m in the stands, it’s very frustrating,” said McPherson.
Shannon believes in playing an aggressive game of hockey.

“I like to force a more aggressive game, and make them (their opponents) make mistakes,” he said.

Fortunately for Eeles, Faris and McPherson their style of play fits well into his formula. Shannon noted that all three can play a physical game and each has strong fore-checking skills.

“He’s more physical and aggressive than we had originally thought,” he said, referring to Eeles who is in his second season with the Hornets. “He’s getting in on the fore check and being aggressive plus scoring.”

McPherson, when not injured, is also a guy who can score some goals, according to Shannon. “He has a nose to put the puck in the net. For whatever reason, he gets it in there.”

Despite a disappointing 5-1 loss last Friday to the Penetang Kings, which ended an 11-game winning streak for the Hornets, the team is still firing on all cylinders and Eeles described their season as ‘almost perfect.’

“I think we’ll go to the very end,” he said. So far, they’re off to a good start.

The two-time defending Ontario Junior C champions Kings were the team to beat, but despite having defeated the Kings early in the season the Hornets were unable to rise to the occasion.

“Penetang had a great run (the last two seasons),” said Shannon prior to the game, “They’ve raised the bar and the challenge we’ve had all summer is what do we do to catch up?”

What they’ve been doing so far seems to be working. While Friday night’s game has upped the ante between the two teams, the Hornets remain at the top of the league with plenty of opportunities left to redeem themselves.

“They’ll want to redeem themselves after we beat them (earlier in the season),” said Shannon before the match up, “but they beat us in playoffs last year and we want to redeem that.”

The rivalry promises to continue throughout the season and what Shannon is concentrating on is keeping the team strong. “So far this year they’ve played very well. The challenge is to keep getting better.”

Shannon’s focus, and what has made them so successful so far this year, is getting the players working as a team.

“I try to get across the importance of being a team as opposed to individuals. Eventually, they start to see it’s better to win as a team since at the end of the day when we lose, it’s as a team.”