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the5urreal · 06-10-2021, 01:11 PM

Born in Moon Township, PA, Atticus Hale was destined to be a hockey player. His entire extended family was involved in hockey in some way with both his father and grandfather being coaches. This instilled a strong work ethic in Atticus and his blend of intelligence and instinct on the ice can be attributed to them and his drive to be a student of the game.

Atticus began playing hockey as soon as he was physically able to. He made a name for himself as a youngster in the PAHL where he was consistently the best player for every team he was on. Though he was never on the best team, he strove to make everyone on his team better even if that was at the detriment of his own personal statistics.

As a freshman at Moon Area High School, Atticus believed he belonged on the Varsity team but was ultimately assigned to the JV team. He viewed this as a challenge and ultimately dominated. As a sophomore, Atticus put his skills on full display leading the Varsity team with 87 points in just 20 games. He has since excelled as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U team and continues his career in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. Regardless of the team or situation, Atticus has made it his mission to improve everyone around him, not just himself.

[Image: 29b614baa360819af20cb16de4934092.jpg]

Atticus Hale - Team USA

At the age of 17, Atticus now sets his sights on the SMJHL where he can continue to make strides and improve his game. Though he continues to refine his skills as a playmaking forward with a pass first mentality, Atticus would like to work on his ability to get open for teammates. He also sees gaps in his defensive game and will look to improve in that area as well. He believes this will be a great formula to accomplish his goal of becoming a successful, or even great, player in the SHL.

"This is a question I get often. 'What type of player are you striving to be in the SMJHL and SHL?' I've come up with a kind of canned response; I'm primarily aiming to be a playmaker with exceptional vision and passing that's quick and good with the puck on his stick - always looking to find the open man to create great scoring chances. I don't want to skimp too much on my shooting abilities so I can put pucks in the net myself and do not want to be a defensive liability where I'm mostly concentrating on my stickchecking to keep the attackers off balance and gain/regain possession, so I'll be looking to improve there occasionally as well. I'm not the most physical player, but have been building my strength enough to not be easily knocked off the puck."

Atticus also spoke a bit about his peers and their interactions going into the draft.

"I have to say, being able to hang out with others in my draft class has been great. I'm more of an introvert, so those guys have really helped bring me out of my shell. It's been a lot of fun and I could see a lot of us keeping up with one another's careers. That's the kind of bonds that are being made."

He also spoke about the excitement of the recruiting process.

"There's nothing better than waking up in the morning or finishing a workout and finding a message from one of the SMJHL GMs. It's a rush. It definitely makes you feel like you're doing the right thing and fuels my motivation to be the best player I can be."

Atticus went on to sum up his aspirations with the SMJHL draft on the horizon.

"You know, I just want to help whatever team drafts me as much as I can. Growing up with a dad and grandpa as a coach, I've always naturally stepped into a teaching role everywhere I've gone. Maybe that leads to a leadership role on a team, who knows. All I can say for sure is that I'm going to push myself every day to be better and put the team in a position to succeed."

We'll surely be hearing more from Atticus Hale in the SMJHL's 60th Season. The SMJHL draft is this Sunday, June 13th at 1:00PM Eastern. Be sure to tune in to see where Atticus and others with SHL aspirations wind up!

806 words. First media as well, but since I don't think that stacks with 2x media (if it does, stack it!), I'll just use the 2x bonus this time and my first media bonus another time.

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