AVRIL KING
Social Media Manager
It seems as though everyone at Fredonia has their favorite Jeff Meredith story. Since he has been the Men’s Hockey coach for 30 years, there are many stories to choose from. The best tales, however, come from his team.
Senior Jamie Young’s favorite story dates back to last season. After a rough match against Brockport, the Blue Devils clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time in two years.
“After games we win, the team has a tradition where we choose the ‘player of the game’ to hammer the game puck into a wooden board we always bring with us,” said Young, one of the team’s three captains. “That night, we chose Coach to hammer the puck in for us because of what that moment meant to not only the veteran players who had missed the playoffs for two straight years, but also how much effort and love Coach had put into the team to get us to where we were at at that point. Coach hammering the puck into the board with all the boys cheering him on was a pretty cool experience to be a part of.”
Assistant coach Michael Lysyj shares the same favorite night as Young, but a different memory.
During the game against Brockport, Meredith got so caught up in the excitement that he bit his tongue.
“When the final buzzer went, we kind of embraced with a hug or a handshake, and he smiled and just had all of this blood in his teeth,” said Lysyj. “That was a great moment for us. To clinch a playoff spot and just to see the excitement and he was kind of battling through the bleeding a bit.”
Originally from Rochester, Meredith first got into coaching hockey because of his college coach, E.J. MacGuire.
“I wasn’t a very good player, so it wasn’t because of my athletic ability,” said Meredith.
MacGuire, who is being inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in November, helped direct Meredith on his path to becoming a coach. Encouraging him to go to graduate school, MacGuire connected Meredith with the hockey coach at Ohio State and helped him get a graduate assistant position.
Later, he went to Hamilton College to be Coach Phil Grady’s assistant.
“I learned so much from Phil,” said Meredith. “Not just hockey, but people and organization and discipline. But that’s kind of how I got into it and never in my wildest dreams, when I was a college student, would I ever have looked forward and thought, ‘hey, you know what? Someday you’ll be coaching college hockey,’ let alone 30 years in the same spot.”
Today, hockey is only a part of Meredith’s focus with the team. According to his players, communication and getting to know each member of the team is also very important to him.
“His engagement with his players does not stop when we leave the ice,” said Young. “Coach Meredith cares so deeply about his players not only on the ice, but also off. Everyday, he is talking to us about school work, family members, other sports and really everything going on in our lives showing how committed he is to each of us.”
Even today, he is still connected with Fredonia hockey alumni.
“Just the relationships that we’ve developed over the years, you know, I know their kids names, I know what their kids are doing, and to me, that’s fun. That’s unique,” he said.
Another captain, senior Oskar Gerhardson, could not imagine Fredonia’s hockey team without Meredith.
“[He] cares greatly about the program, the Fredonia community and his players. I firmly believe the program would miss the passion he brings to it,” he said.
This closeness and passion within the team makes Meredith hopeful for a successful season. Looking forward to the games ahead, Meredith and his team are feeling optimistic.
“Not many people understand that since my freshman year in 2014-2015, we have been going through somewhat of a rebuilding process,” said Young. “All of that work and retooling of our team over the past couple seasons are coming to a head this year with the right amount of veteran experience and leadership plus new talent that has come in. While we were only ranked fifth in the SUNYAC pre-season poll, I expect us [to] mightily out perform that. We have the experience, talent, and desire that says we can — we just need to execute.”
Meredith said that his team lives by two mottos. First, “chop wood, carry water,” and the second, “every game’s a ship.”
Although Meredith admitted to not entirely knowing what “chop wood, carry water” meant, he firmly believes in the second mantra.
“If you go into all 25 games like it’s a championship, and you just treat it like that, by the time you get to the championship, you’ve played that game 25 times over, so it’s not a big deal to you,” he said.
Meredith has a veteran group of players that he believes are committed and “hungry for a championship.” He hopes that the team’s leadership and fighting spirit will bring them the results they desire.