Two Grayson Teens Winners in USA Ice Hockey National Championships

Two 14-year old Grayson boys, Cael Cernich and Brandon Reidy, were on the team that brought home the winning trophy from the USA Hockey Championships at the beginning of April. The team that brought home the win is the Atlanta Phoenix Bantam Majors, a travel ice hockey team that practices and plays at the IceForum in Duluth.

"These boys have been playing ice hockey for the past eight years, and after all of their hard work they have finally attained the highest achievement possible in USA Hockey," said head coach Bobby Cernich. "This has been achieved by only one other Georgia team...EVER. This is truly an outstanding achievement!"

Cernich said the team travelled a lot this season, playing as far south as Florida, north into Michigan, east to Raleigh and and even as far west as Colorado.

"We had a season record of 42-12-2," Cernich said. "Every Bantam team in the state of Georgia has the option of participating in the State tournament to determine which team will represent Georgia in the National Championships. In the end we had to defeat the Atlanta Fire, from Alpharetta in a best of three series. We ended up sweeping them out of the tournament by winning the first two games."

Cernich said there are only four rinks in the metro Atlanta area that play ice hockey, so players have to drive some distance to play on one of the four teams. Cael, a ninth-grader from Grayson High School and Brandon, an eighth-grader from Couch Middle School, are the only two Grayson players, but Cernich said most of the players on the team are from Gwinnett County. He said the two Grayson players actually began by playing roller hockey at the age of 5.

"Roller hockey players traditionally transfer very nicely into ice hockey players," Cernich said. "Both boys were on the same team back at SGAA, and are still on the same team to this date."

Cernich said his family's foray into ice hockey began when they moved to Grayson from Duluth.

"The new next door neighbor was an ice hockey player. His parents actually convinced us to give Cael a shot at ice hockey. The rest is history. Cael loved ice hockey from the first time he stepped on the ice," Cernich said. "Brandon's family is from New York, and their Father, Jim, had a small background in ice hockey. He knew he wanted Brandon to give ice hockey a shot as soon as Brandon was of required age to begin."

Cernich said ice hockey, although not really recognized in the South, is an "outstanding sport."

"Players are in terrific physical shape. They are constantly getting cardiovascular exercise, some of it in short sprints, and at other times in endurance," Cernich said, adding it also has some tremendous mental benefits. "These players must make decisions in a split second before somebody is hitting them. Hockey requires hand-eye coordination while skating with the puck. The list of benefits is extensive. Also, playing on a travel team has taught these boys to better manage their time in order to attend practice three times per week, and play games on most weekends from August through April, while maintaining high grades in school."

Cernich said he is not sure whether the boys will carry on to make professional ice hockey a career, although they probably believe that right now. 

"I do believe that every boy starts with the dream of using their favorite sport as their career, but being in the South where the hockey market is small compared to Northern states, I believe that the boys have grown used to the fact that they will do their best until their road officially ends," he said. "They understand the reality, but if asked they would tell you that they are definitely going to the National Hockey League."