Dave Zak was a standout defenseman with the Golden Eagles who was awarded second team honors on the 1997-1998 SUNYAC All-Conference Team.
Dave was recently selected to head up a high school team in Michigan, who I know will appreciate his hard-nosed style of play.
Here are some snippets from a news article that ran on mlive.com...
When the Bullock Creek-Meridian Knights lace up their skates Friday Nov. 13, it will mark the culmination of two years of work to bring an ice hockey team to Bullock Creek and Sanford Meridian High Schools.
Nearly two years ago, the Bullock Creek Meridian Hockey Association (BCMHA) was formed with the purpose of bringing a new hockey team to Midland County.
“Two years ago, I was sitting with three other hockey parents at New Years,” said BCMHA president Anne Vayre. “We were talking about how great it would be to have a hockey team… It’s been a great marriage. We started out last year as a club team, and played house league and tournaments. And this June, we were officially added into the MHSAA.”
A non-profit organization, the BCMHA has taken responsibility for funding the team, which is 100% pay-to-play. The Knights’ equipment, practice times, referees, and coaches are all provided by the BCMHA.
“As a non-profit, we are totally separate from the schools, but we have the blessing of the board,” Vayre said. “We have an annual golf outing, we actually had two this year. It’s a relatively small group, 17-18 kids. We do a lot of individual dinner nights, we have gate fees, but each parent and family is also individually responsible for doing their part.”
To lead the Knights in their inaugural season, the BCMHA and Bullock Creek High School have looked to former Midland High assistant coach Dave Zak.
Zak grew up playing hockey in his native Midland, even suiting up for the Chemics for a season before playing junior hockey with the Saginaw Gears and Gaylord Grizzlies. His collegiate career took him to the State University College at Brockport (New York), before returning to the area where he joined the Chemics coaching staff, a position he held for ten years, until receiving his first head coaching post with the Knights last spring.
“It’s definitely been a lot of work,” he said. “We’ve put in a lot of hours. The association has been very helpful and very good to work with. They’ve done a lot of the legwork, as far as schedules, ice time, and getting the paperwork taken care of. As a team, we’ve had a lot of meetings and a lot of hours working out the logistics.”
To read the rest of the article, go here:
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-7416793055648031363/the-knights-bring-prep-hockey-to-bullock-creek-and-sanford-meridian/
