Smooth
Skating

Seniors Eric Jackson and Craig Stoller are
keeping Country Dag's hockey team in the chase.

STEVE STEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

pursue a career in medicine.
Hockey isn't their only sport.
During the spring, Jackson and
Stoller play lacrosse for Coun-
try Day. Last year, the mid-
fielders helped the Yellow
Jackets win state and Midwest
championships.
Here's one more connection
between these two young men.
Both played AAA travel hock-
ey — the highest level — before
they began attending Country
Day.
Rick Rowden is in his fourth
season as Country Day's hock-
ey coach. Against the toughest
schedule the Yellow Jackets
have faced during Rowden's

tenure, Country Day was 5-8
overall and 1-4 in the MPHL
through 13 games this winter.
Last year, in Country Day's
first season in the MPHL, the
Yellow Jackets captured the
league crown with a 5-2-3 mark
and they were 13-8-2 overall.
This is Jackson's third year
on the team. He was an Hon-
orable Mention Class B-C-D
All-State and an All-MPHL se-
lection as a junior, when he had
19 goals and 13 assists. Jack-
son was the league's No. 2 scor-
er last season, with 11 goals
and five assists for 16 points in
10 games.
As a sophomore, Jackson

had 12 goals and eight assists
before missing half the season
because of a broken ankle he
suffered during a game.
Jackson attributes his out-
standing senior campaign to an
intense off-season conditioning
program and better concentra-
tion on the ice.
"I don't feel I played to my
ability the last two seasons. I
didn't take advantage of all my
opportunities," Jackson said.
"I'm doing better this year, but
I'm not totally happy."
Stoller says Jackson's biggest
asset is his deception.
"Because Eric hides his shot
so well, you never know where

Photos by Glenn Triest

11he term "stu-
dent-athlete" is
more than just a label
for Eric Jackson and
Craig Stoller.
The Detroit Coun-
try Day seniors are
fine hockey players,
but they don't just star on the
ice. They also are hits in the
classroom at a high school
which prides itself on its tough
academic standards.
Jackson, 17, a West Bloom-
field resident, is a perfect 4.0
student. In fact, he says he's
never had anything lower than
an "A" his entire life. He's been
accepted by Princeton and
Michigan, and he's waiting to
hear soon from Harvard.
The 6-foot, 175-pounder is a
high-scoring center on the
Country Day hockey team.
Through the Yellow Jackets'
first 13 games this season, in-
cluding one he missed because
of a knee injury, Jackson had
16 goals and 13 assists. In four
Michigan Prep Hockey League
(MPHL) games, he had 10
goals and three assists.
While Jackson specializes in
putting the puck in the net,
Stoller's job is to keep it out.
The 17-year-old Farmington
Hills resident has been Coun-
try Day's starting goalie since
he first joined the team as a
freshman.
A 5-9, 165-pounder, Stoller
owns a 3.3 grade-point average.
He's trying to decide among a
half-dozen college options.
Both Jackson and Stoller
would like to play hockey in col-
lege if it doesn't affect their
studies. They each want to

Country Day counts on Stoller and Jackson.

it's going," Stoller said.
"I've learned to skate with
my head up so I can see the en-
tire net," Jackson said. "I can
look one way and shoot in an-
other direction with confidence
because I feel I have an accu-
rate wrist shot."
Jackson's quickness also
causes problems for opposing
teams.
"If Eric gets ahead of a de-
fender, he's gone," Rowden
said. "He has the speed to go
coast-to-coast."
Last season, in a game
against Harper Woods Notre
Dame, Jackson scored both
Country Day goals in a 2-1 vic-
tory. The winner came with
just seven seconds remaining.
Against Port Huron in De-
cember, Jackson had five goals
and one assist in an 8-1
triumph.
And on Jan. 12, playing on a
bad knee, Jackson fired home
the clincher with 4:48 remain-
ing in a 5-4 win over arch-rival
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-
Kingswood.
That was the first time
Country Day's seniors had de-
feated Cranbrook-Kingswood.
Stoller has missed just one
game (or scrimmage, for that
matter) during his Country
Day career and that came ear-
lier this season when he was
sidelined by the flu for the win
over Port Huron.
"I guess luck has had some-
thing to do with Craig staying
healthy, but he also had a lot of
incentive the last three seasons
because we didn't have a back-

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