05/19/2006

Brains, brawn: Heineman among hopefuls

Stars kick off 2nd year with camp

The New Boston native, who will be among nearly 100 players slated to fill Centre ICE arena this weekend for the Traverse City North Stars' first tryout camp of the summer, is a whiz on the ice and in the classroom. The former is evidenced by Heineman's five-year run as a captain of the metro Detroit-based Honeybaked hockey program, while the latter is shown in his 3.7 GPA at New Boston Huron High School.

"There's a lot to like about Chris," said North Stars head coach/GM Scott Gardiner, who signed Heineman to a 2006-07 tender in early April. "He does so many things well, and has a real presence on the ice. We hope he can come in and contribute right away."

Heineman, a 5-11, 180-pound defenseman, registered seven goals and 48 assists to go along with 129 penalty minutes last season for the Midwest Elite Hockey League champion Honeybaked squad, leading his team to a 26-1-1 record in league action.

Heineman's defensive partner with Honeybaked for the past two seasons, Pat Moran, is also a North Stars tender, and will participate in the Stars' June 2-4 tryout camp at Plymouth's Compuware Arena. Both players were also selected in the Ontario Hockey League's recent draft.

Heineman and the other TC hopefuls, returning North Stars players, and the cream of the crop from a goalie camp, will play a series of scrimmages at Centre ICE over the course of the weekend, culminating with Sunday's Blue & White championship game. The 12:15 p.m. finale will feature the top players from the four-day camp.

Thursday's goalie camp featured 21 netminders, including a quartet of local backstops: Traverse City Central's Tyler Stricker, TC West's Dallas Kniss and GTHA standouts Benn Overholt and Spencer Sonneveldt.