Essex’s Olivia Miller-Johnson has most of the tools and skills an attacking participant needs to shine. Fluid skating capability? Matched along with her size, she’s one hard cowl.
Vision? Scanning the ice, she’ll hit you in stride. Slap shot? Please close your eyes and hope the growing screamer off her blade hits a full-frame part or the endboards.
“Offensively, she’s the complete bundle,” said John Maddalena, Miller-Johnson’s teacher.
Such traits paired with on-ice manufacturing and crew fulfillment — 25 dreams, 21 assists, and the Division I championship — and Miller-Johnson rightfully earned this 12 months’ Burlington Free Press’ Miss Hockey title, an honor passed out annually in view that 2002 to the nation’s top player. Then toss within the senior’s off-ice dedication to movie evaluation — additionally on the advantage of her teammates — and it became a slam-dunk choice for Miller-Johnson to emerge as the fourth Essex player named “Miss Hockey.”
“M.J. Goes the more step, and I don’t assume many people recognize that,” Maddalena said. “She becomes willing to take the time to assist other people, and that is something you do not always see. She makes sure all of us feel covered. “She spent hours watching a video.” Miller-Johnson said she’d as a substitute not admit the entire hours clocked on reviewing movies — “we’ve quite a few performances that we run through at Essex” — but the 4-12 months standout saw its fee. “I like to break down what I’m doing because I usually want to get better, but it truly is a non-public purpose of mine. I’m now not completed,” Miller-Johnson said.
We need your assist assistance. ngton Free Press is devoted to bringing you precise neighborhood sports insurance. Sign up these days to stay current on what’s happening in the university and extreme faculty sports and get unlimited entry to greater subscriber-simplest content material.
To that give up, Miller-Johnson did something new this winter. After writing diagrams of Essex faceoffs and posting them at the locker room wall closing season, Miller-Johnson decided to make a binder this year for teammates to flip through and soak up the facts to be better prepared. “I wanted something to be greater everlasting,” Miller-Johnson stated.
I think it’s essential for each person to understand the sport, and it’s not amusing if you don’t.” Maddalena said Miller-Johnson’s considerable movie overview caught an inclination in how leaders rival BFA-St. The Albans played faceoffs. She then made the necessary adjustments.
“We observed their middle wouldn’t square up, so they had an advantage in the draw. M.J. Observed that, and he or she wouldn’t put her stick down till her opponent squared up,” Maddalena said. “That made a massive distinction in the last couple of games. “She wants to win; she goes to do something she can — she’s a real pupil of the sport.”
