Cochrane’s Cody Boeckman still has five months of high school remaining.
But the 17-year-old Airdrie Thunder netminder is also preparing to lead his team into the Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) playoffs.
He has an 11W-3L-1T record in his first season with the Junior B club, with 2.92 goals against average and a .898 save percentage.
“It’s been a good experience here with Airdrie,” said Boeckman, who is from Golden, B.C. and moved to Cochrane when he was 13.
“There are a lot of good guys in this room. It’s a tight-knit group. It’s fun coming to the rink every night.”
The Grade 12 Cochrane High School student is one of the two youngest players on the Thunder this season, along with Harrison Harper, age 17. He played Bantam hockey in Cochrane for a year, then in Calgary for his second year.
Boeckman played Midget in Calgary’s northwest to begin last season before being called to play with the Three Hills Thrashers in the HJHL.
“I think it’s a pretty good league,” he said. “I was pretty impressed last year, after not being sure what to expect.”
He has been sharing time in net with Logan Marlow for the majority of this season, but said it is a friendly relationship and that the team goals come first.
“It goes both ways. As a goalie, you obviously want to play every game – that’s just the way it is,” Boeckman said.
“But I think we have a pretty healthy thing going on right now. As long as we’re winning, it will be good.”
“He’s doing well and he’s solid in the net,” said Thunder head coach Mike Carlsen.
“We’re glad to have him this year. He’s in that role where when he gets called upon, he’s getting us results. He’s technically sound, the guys like him, and he’s a real positive player.”
Boeckman describes his style as level-headed and, despite his age and competing against players up to four years older than him, that he tries to keep everything relaxed.
“I like to keep calm back there and try and calm down the whole defensive zone,” he said. “I try to control my rebounds and just give the team a chance to win – that’s my main goal every time I get out there.”
The Thunder’s final regular season game was a 5-5 tie against the Stettler Lightning, Feb. 3, (see page 26).
Airdrie will now open a best-of-three playoff series against the Mountainview Colts on Feb. 12..
“Hopefully we’ve got a good playoff push ahead this season,” Boeckman said.
“If we play like we can, we can be a really good team. It’s just a matter of everyone showing up, wanting to play and being ready to go. If we do that, I think we’ll have a good shot.”
