Site Editor posted on January 21, 2012 18:19
Jonathan Ruiz scored his 100th goal as a member of the Williamstown High School Varsity Ice Hockey Club against Black Horse back in November and has since added 19 more goals. We unfortunately were not aware of this back in November, but are aware now and we congratulate Jonny on this remarkable achievement. In addition to his goal record, Ruiz has also compiled 66 assists in his four seasons with the Braves. Having had his older brother Tom precede him did not seem to put any added pressure on Jonny as he has continued to improve his all around game as he also kills penalties as well.
As a freshman Ruiz scored 16 goals on a very young Williamstown team that won just 8 games that year. His sophomore season had his team win 10 games and Jonny scored 30 goals that year. Last year Ruiz scored 45 goals and was our Tier 1 player of the year. This season he’s averaging two goals a game and has his team at 11-5-2 and in third place. With the tournament approaching they are a threat to defending champ Cherokee. We asked Ruiz what the record meant and he said “helping my team win is especially important and it means a lot that my goal scoring ability contributes to that.”
With some very talented players in the league, some are offered to play with junior teams and asked to forego playing high school hockey, after his junior year last season Ruiz was pursued by some junior teams and also considered transferring to St Augustine but in the end decided to finish his senior year at Williamstown. Jonny said, “I did consider transferring and had some other options but I started at middle school with my teammates and friends and wanted to finish out my senior year, this is it for us”.
That to me says a lot about the kid, like him or not, the first lesson you learn as a young man, or at least what I learned from my parents is always finish what you start. Some people might say coming back for a senior year with nothing left to prove, could be a mistake, I don’t, if opportunity was there last year, I’m sure it will be there this year. And so Jonny, what are your goals after this year? “I’m hoping the junior team is still interested and playing juniors can lead to a college education.” Sounds like a good plan. We wish him well…
Written by Mike Costantino