By Nate Thompson
LocalSportsJournal.com

NORTON SHORES – The consensus amongst players and coaches at Mona Shores High School is that Habetler brothers, TJ, Isaac and Eli, share the same last name, each call Tom and Sarah dad and mom, and possess an undying passion for hockey. 

And that’s where the similarities end.   

“You got TJ and he’s 2 years out of high school and he’s super serious,” said Mona Shores head coach Chris Benedict, with his perspective on the three brothers. “TJ is the goalie and now on our staff here. Then there’s Isaac, who’s the jokester, and a defenseman. Eli is the quiet one and he’s the forward.”

One thing is for certain, all three have made a huge impact on the Sailors’ program, but in different ways. For example, TJ, 19, shined between the pipes for three seasons for the Sailors, and after graduating in 2021, was encouraged by Benedict to join his coaching staff. 

“I was the assistant captain during my senior year, and I just love the sport,” TJ said. “Hockey is my life, so I still wanted to be a part of a team. I reached out to Coach Benny (Benedict) and asked if I could be a team manager. He said, ‘You’re not going to be a manager. Forget that. I want you to coach.’”

He gladly accepted and has been splitting time between taking classes at Muskegon Community College and being the Sailors’ goalie coach. 

“I’ll graduate in May and I plan on going to Michigan State in the fall,” said TJ, who plans on majoring in education with a focus on an administrative role such as a principal or athletic director. 

Benedict said he thought it was tough the first year for TJ, as he was giving orders in practices to players he was once teammates with, including his brother Isaac, who is 17 months younger. 

“It was weird the first couple of weeks, but I look at it like a leadership role and I think the guys realize that I’m only trying to make them better. I think after a while, I had the respect of the guys.” 

“If he didn’t have their respect that first year, he definitely does now,” added Benedict. “That’s just TJ. He’s thrown around the idea of one day being a teacher and he’s definitely a teacher at practice. He’s a great communicater and has been a natural fit (as a coach). He’s done a nice job.”

Isaac has been playing under Benedict since his freshman season, but he initially started as a forward. 

“We were lacking defense at tryouts a couple years ago and Isaac was one that came forward with the idea of making the switch,” Benedict said. “And once he moved back to defense, that really accelerated his game.”  

Benedict said Isaac is a “super smooth” skater, has a “cannon for a shot,” but his No. 1 attribute, which also was echoed by his siblings, is his outstanding vision on the ice.

“He’s a facilitator out there,” TJ said of his younger brother. “The way he moves the puck, he knows where guys are going to be before they’re there.” 

And while Isaac takes pride in pulling ultimate pranks on his teammates (he once filled a teammates’ stick with water, so it felt like a 20-pound weight), they each learned to be gritty by playing street hockey when they were kids. They were introduced to the sport not by their parents, but by cousins and grandparents who also loved the game.  

“We had some injuries like scraped knees and stuff like that, but we loved it,” Isaac said. “I think we all started playing pretty young, like 4 years-old in the Mini Mites rec league.”

Added TJ, “On the surface, we act differently, but we do have the same passions, likes and wants. The way we communicate and go about our ways may be different, but we each push each other. We’ll get home at the end of the day and sit there and rat each other out on what we did wrong. It’s really constructive criticism and I think it’s been beneficial to us to have a different perspective. It’s all brotherly love.”

As much as he hates to admit it, Isaac said Eli, 14, has the chance to become the most talented of the three, and Isaac takes partial credit for pushing him to reach his potential. Isaac even stood up for him during a summer league game, which nearly led to some fisticuffs on the ice.  

“He took a cheap shot from another kid in the corner and I just blacked out,” Isaac said. “I wanted to get revenge on the kid, but looking back at it now, I regret it. Now, I let him fight his own battles. And if he gets hurt from a big hit, I’ll tell him to suck it up.”

Although he admitted the physicality of varsity hockey has been eye-opening, Eli has held his own, being a playmaking forward on one of the Sailors’ top two lines and on one of their power play units. 

“Eli’s been around the program, so it’s really been a natural fit,” Benedict said. “He’s super skilled, he’s got a motor on him that doesn’t quit and his hockey IQ is through the roof.” 

“The main thing I’m trying to do is get the momentum going,” Eli added. “I’m just out there trying to have fun, push my teammates and bring a positive energy.” 

Although ravaged by injuries this season, including to their top two goalies of Carter Dethloff and Oliver McDonald, the Sailors are slowly starting to get healthy and enter the home stretch of their schedule with an 11-8 record.  And all three Habetler brothers voiced their optimism that this Sailors squad can open a lot of eyes in the postseason. 

“I do think we have a chance to make a run,” Isaac said. “The last couple of years, we had an easier schedule, but we were burnt out by the time the playoffs started and we would lose early. This year, we’ve had a tougher schedule and have had to battle through a lot of injuries, but I think that will only make us stronger as a team.”