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Serving the Town of Stamford, Connecticut
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Times Correspondent
STAMFORD — Local hockey star Drew McKenzie, who played much of his junior hockey in Stamford, has helped the Waterloo Black Hawks reach the finals of the USHL hockey championships in just his first year in the league.
McKenzie who played at New Canaan before attending the Taft School in Watertown, has been a hockey prodigy since he first took to the ice.
He played junior hockey in the Stamford area and played on the Seacoast Kings travel team for Terry Coners Rink after only his freshman year.
Waterloo coach P.K. O'Handley has coached the Hawks for six season and described McKenzie in glowing terms. McKenzie is scheduled to play at the University of Vermont next year and was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in last year's NHL draft.
"Drew has really helped our team to get to the finals," said O'Handley. "He has a very good all-around game and his presence on the ice is second to none. (Drew) is one of the finest young men I have ever had the opportunity to coach. He will be a heckuva defenseman at Vermont and in the NHL."
McKenzie scored four goals and added 14 assists on the year while compiling a plus-7 rating in the plus-minus category. He was given 103 penalty minutes in 57 games. In the playoffs, he has added five assists and a plus-3 rating.
Waterloo split the first two games of the five game series.
The Hawks won 4-3 in overtime in game one while being shut out 2-0 in game two.