Goaltender’s improvement a key to Houston's hockey success

HOUSTON — The Houston Hawks skated into the 2015-16 season boasting veteran depth, a cast of talent that helped the Hawks hoist the championship trophy the year before. But Houston’s hockey class of 2015 did leave one major void. Goaltender Aaron Allred, who led Houston to the 2015 3A state title with a 36-save shutout during a 3-0 win over Monroe Catholic, graduated. The loss of Allred left some big leg pads to fill, and an even bigger opportunity for longtime reserve Caleb Beauvais.

Now after season’s worth of remarkable improvement, Beauvais is a big reason why the Hawks have a chance to defend their title. Beauvais, in his fourth year with the Hawks, will help lead Houston onto the ice when the Hawks face Monroe in the 3A state title match Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“From the beginning of the season to now, he’s made some huge strides,” Houston head coach Mike Styers said of Beauvais, who spent the majority of his first three years with the Hawks as a reserve.

With Beauvais between the pipes, Houston has rebounded from a rocky start to win 10 of its last 11 games. Throughout the final stretch of the season, Styers has said a portio n of that credit is due to the overall improvement of Beauvais.

“Since Christmas, he’s really come around,” Styers said. “He’s a lot more consistent, lot smoother in net, lot more confident.”

Styers said Beauvais spent additional time on the ice during the holiday break, and continues to put in extra work in practice, working to improve. Houston goalie coach Chad Jones has spent a great deal of time working with Beauvais, Styers said. Beauvais also had the chance to work with renowned goaltending coach Scott Johnson.

Beauvais said there was a different feeling heading into his senior season.

“It was kind of unreal. Going into the year, I knew that I had to step up,” Beauvais said. “It was kind of a undertaking. It was a little nerve-racking at the start.”

Beauvais said he was able to learn by watching Allred last season, and wanted to help Houston continue its success on the ice.

“I learned quite a bit,” Beauvais said. “I wanted to pick up where he left off.”

Beauvasis said, this year, the help of Jones and Johnson has played a big role in his overall improvement. Beauvais said in practice, Jones has helped break down the game for him, better understand angles and positioning, and has continued to show him things he needed to work on.

The results have allowed Beauvais to become a goaltender that can help Houston defend its title. After allowing just a goal in a two-game series against Hutchison at the end of the regular season, Beauvais helped the Hawks finish 3-1 in the Greatland Conference tournament, and earn their fourth straight trip to the 3A state title game.

Beauvais and the Hawks now face an undefeated Monroe team that blanked Houston 5-0 in the Greatland title game.

Styers said he doesn’t pin the loss on goaltending.

“We didn’t have a great game. The biggest problem, there were nine penalties,” Styers said. “You can’t have that.”

Styers said three of Monroe’s five goals came on the power play.

The Hawks are 0-3 against Monroe this season. The tightest game was a 1-0 loss during the second meeting of the series.

“I think we’ve played Monroe enough to know what we need to do. To me, the biggest thing is stay out of the penalty box,” Styers said.

Styers said Monroe certainly sports a solid squad this year, with two or three of the top scoring players in the league, and very good goaltending. The overall depth among the two teams is about the same, Styers said.

Styers said discipline and work will be key factors, along with goaltending for the Hawks on Saturday.

“We got the kids to work hard, learn our system, run the systems and put on a lot of pressure,” Styers said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.