Hockey: Simon Abbott helps Worthington Kilbourne Wolves establish foundation
Worthington Kilbourne hockey coach Bryan Cummings had known for a while that junior center Simon Abbott was going to be a key player for the Wolves.
In fact, Cummings had known since Abbott was in the sixth grade.
“He was playing AA travel hockey,” Cummings said. “I knew he was going to be one of our upcoming stars. So, I got to know him a little bit, went to a couple of his games and got to know his parents.”
Abbott has been a part of the foundation of Kilbourne’s return to varsity status last season.
“When he was an incoming freshman, he was eligible to play another year of travel hockey if he wanted,” Cummings said. “You’re talking about a pretty high-level player that had the opportunity to play on a high-level team. But he chose to come to us when we were still a j.v. program and really just getting things started. He wanted to be a part of what we were trying to do.”
Being on the ground floor of Kilbourne’s move back to varsity status was important to Abbott.
“I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” he said.
So, it was pretty meaningful when Abbott scored his 100th goal in Kilbourne’s 4-all tie with Watterson in CHC-Blue Division play Jan. 7. The milestone includes his first year when the team was still j.v., but he’s well on his way to 100 as a varsity player.
“I didn’t know until after the game – nobody had told me,” Abbott said. “When Nick (Siler) gave me the puck, that was pretty cool. (But) it caught me by surprise.”
Abbott had 37 goals and a team-leading 43 assists in the Wolves’ first year back as a varsity team. This year, he led the team with 28 goals and 21 assists through 21 games, giving him 107 career goals.
“He’s just grown physically throughout the years,” Cummings said. “He just never gives up. He keeps going no matter what the score. (He’s) a great all-around kid and a great athlete.”
The Wolves were 8-10-3 overall and 3-4-2 in league play before facing Watterson on Jan. 20, Toledo Whitmer on Jan. 21 and Columbus Academy on Jan. 23. Kilbourne trailed Gahanna by one point for first place in the CHC-Blue, and the title may come down to the last game of the regular season when the teams meet Feb. 5.
“We’ve had some injuries and we’ve had some sicknesses,” Cummings said. “We’ve had to move people in and out. We still don’t have ideally what we thought we’d have just because of some injuries.”
Kilbourne has been without defenseman Will Gundel, who tore an ACL during last baseball season, but he’s expected to be cleared before the end of the season. Forward Gavin Scott may miss the rest of the season with a fractured ankle.
Abbott and fellow junior Luke Walton have formed a formidable one-two punch for the Kilbourne offense. Walton had 27 goals and 11 assists over 19 games.
“We click pretty well on the ice,” Abbott said. “We’re pretty good friends on and off the ice, so I think the chemistry is just there. We always seem to find each other and we connect on pretty much every level.”
But even with all the goals scored, it’s Walton who gives Abbott the chance to do what he loves to do most on the ice.
“Obviously, I like scoring goals a lot – I think every hockey player likes scoring goals,” Abbott said. “But for me, I enjoy passing and just creating plays. Getting assists, in my opinion, is more fun than scoring. I just like making those crazy passes and the ones that set up big goals.”
mrich@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekRich
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Hockey: Abbott helps Worthington Kilbourne establish foundation
