Playing their first season in the USPHL, the Metro Jets have not missed a beat.
Entering December, the team had reeled off 11 straight wins to take over first place in the Great Lakes Conference in the league’s Premier Division.
Winning has certainly become a yearly trend for the Jets, a franchise playing its 30th season in 2018-19, the longest of any junior hockey program in Michigan.
“Thus far, we have been relatively happy with how we started,” said Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville. “We had a whirlwind first month of the season with our program. From a showcase, a competitive schedule, to the opportunity in China to represent the U.S. in an international tournament, our players went through the ringer early and came out on top. Since then, we have been able to focus on our model of development and the league continues to give us the best platform for exposure, night in and night out.”
In the early part of the 2018-19 schedule, the Jets participated in two USPHL showcase events in Chicago and Boston – going 6-1-1 in the eight games combined.
“We had a 48-hour turnaround from our trip in China and I was impressed how our guys competed given the circumstances in the first showcase,” Quenneville said. “We were fortunate to draw a difficult schedule against competitive programs and they were good tests for our group. We are typically a second-half team that works to get better every week. We are hoping to continue the trend within our division and at the next showcase, which is equally difficult from a competition perspective. It’s great to be part of a model that focuses solely on exposing players, and we aren’t even halfway through the season and have participated in two showcases.”
Individually, the Jets have had a few standout performers in forward Jhuwon Davis and goaltender Fredrik Meurling. Both 1998 birth years in their last season of junior eligibility, the duo has given the Jets a chance to win on a nightly basis.
“They have been steady for us since the start of the season,” said Quenneville. “Jhuwon is exactly what people see in him. He’s passionate about the team, his game and his development – a true leader on the ice that brings variables to your lineup that teams wish they had. Freddy has done a great job consistently and has helped create another strong goaltending pair with Brian Tallieu yet again this year. When we play teams, they have to face either of guys who are capable of stealing a game even when we are off one night. Everyone notices his size, but his skill set and control in a game are very impressive.”
Davis, whose overtime goal clinched the national championship last season for the Jets, scored another OT winner on Nov. 10 as the Jets downed the Wooster Oilers in their annual Hockey Fights Cancer “Pink In The Rink” game at Fraser Hockeyland. He was averaging better than a point per game (24 points in 18 games) at the end of November.
And Meurling, a Swedish import who has adjusted to the North American game quite handily with a 9-1-0 mark, a 1.58 GAA and a .948 save percentage, has played the bulk of games as of late with Tallieu out with a lower-body injury.
Moving forward, the Jets are looking to close out the calendar year on a positive note.
“It’s important for our group to continue our progress and build off our short-term success,” said Quenneville. “You can never take a night off with our schedule and heading into the midway point, it’s important for us to raise our standard of play every week.”
