Team USA Gold inspires JB Baker and The St. James Hockey Academy
Coach JB Baker just looks and sounds like a hockey guy. In this case, looks are not deceiving because Coach Baker’s happy place is on the ice. Like the kids he is coaching now, Baker grew up playing hockey in the area.
However, he had a nomadic hockey career, playing for junior teams across the country. Eventually, he settled in playing four years at Division III Nichols College. After a year of minor league hockey, he had to move on to the next chapter in his life.
He found The St. James Academy through his wife, who was coaching a team. Now, his goal is to turn The St. James Academy hockey program into a regional powerhouse. The academy team’s inaugural season will be next year, and Coach Baker said the goal is to build a program that can compete in the region.
Unlike basketball and football, high school hockey is not as well established in the region. Coach Baker told me, “High school hockey in this area is still growing. It is still very raw”. For that reason, The St. James Academy will be playing an independent schedule in their first season. Baker hopes they will be able to join a power conference in the near future though.
Baker is not your stereotypical screaming hockey coach. He wants practice to be fun, and does that by doing things like allowing the players to pick what drills they want to do. However, there is one thing that is non-negotiable for him, and that is competitiveness.
He discussed how much he values competitiveness throughout my time with him. A player can have all the skill in the world, but to play for Coach Baker, they need to compete. When asked about what he wants in a player, he said, “What I look for in a player is someone who really wants to compete and someone who works hard”.
While we were at the arena, you could see a few players getting in extra skating work. One of those players was Robbie Mauger. He has experience with Coach Baker and has enjoyed his time with him. Mauger added that he “Shows up and helps us get better”.
Mauger was very inspired by the success of USA Hockey at the Olympics. He said the US’s triumph in Milan “Inspires my work ethic”. Mauger wants to be like his favorite players, the Hughes brothers. For his part, Coach Baker said America’s success will “Grow the game and create a buzz around the sport”.
One thing a lot of the Team USA players had in common was their path to the NHL. Most of the players came through the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. The USNTDP has become a giant in American hockey. While Baker said it is impossible to compete with them, a goal of his is to send a player into that program.
However, Baker’s goal is not to compete with them. Rather, it is to turn The St. James Academy into a regional giant and put high school hockey on the map in the region. Baker said that, “We want to highlight kids in this area and grow hockey in the region”.
Right now, club hockey is king in this area. These clubs have 40-50 game seasons, competing with teams across the region. The St. James Academy is part of this wave, and Baker coaches club teams here. Mauger plays for The St. James club teams and Baker’s goal is to feed a lot of these players into the academy. The goal is to have the best players in the region play for The St. James Academy hockey program.
Building an academy for hockey is less straightforward than it is for other sports. That is due to the underdeveloped nature of high school hockey in the region. There are high level football and basketball programs littered across the DMV, but that is not the case for hockey. It is not like Minnesota, where there is a rich history of high school hockey.
JB Baker is trying to change that though. He wants The St. James Academy to be at the forefront of the high school hockey revolution in the DMV. Between Alex Ovechkin’s long career growing the game in the region and the success of Team USA at the Olympics, the opportunity is there. Now, it is all about taking advantage, which is what JB Baker and The St. James Academy plan to do.