Logic says that when a hockey team has a two-time all-state defenseman — like Stevenson does in senior Richard Chen — that player will only play defense.
That hasn’t been the case down the stretch this season for Chen and the Patriots, however. They have tried to maximize Chen’s effectiveness by moving him from defense to forward and vice versa, based on the situation and the opponent.
Chen said he’s been happy to move around — it’s part of the seniors’ collective mentality to do whatever they can to help the team, he said — but there have been times when his muscle memory betrays him while he’s playing forward.
“I’ll find myself playing the wrong position when I start switching,” Chen said. “When I’m forward, I’ll kind of play defense a little bit too much — and then I’ll realize that, ‘Oh, I’m playing the wrong position.’ It is difficult [to switch mentalities], but you’ve been doing it for so long, you kind of settle in and get used to it.”
On Feb. 12, Chen began Stevenson’s 4-3 loss to Glenbrook North at right wing. He spent the first period playing that position, then shifted back to defense with Stevenson trailing 2-1 to start the second.
Although the Patriots were losing when he switched to defense, they were able to create scoring chances in the first period against the No. 2 team in the Scholastic Hockey League. Chen stayed on defense during the second period — including on the Patriots’ power plays, where he’s very dangerous from the point — and Stevenson scored twice to take a 3-2 advantage into the third.
“His natural position is defense, and we put him back there to see if we could hold on,” Stevenson coach Jim Wood said.
Chen remained on defense in the third until Glenbrook North rallied with a pair of goals — the second of which came with 5:50 remaining in the game. Chen then moved back up front as the Patriots searched for goals, but they couldn’t score to tie the game.
Beyond just goal scoring, one of the purposes in having Chen play forward at times this season has been to energize the team.
“We did that to get some more energy up front,” Wood said. “He provides a lot of that. He’s a skilled kid. He can skate hard. He’s a smart player. He helps us up there quite a bit on the forecheck.”
Another reason Chen has moved around this season is that Stevenson has been shorthanded. Junior forward Bahri Kurapey, junior defenseman Daniel Levey and senior forward Kevin Zajac have all dealt with injuries of late.
The Patriots also had two players leave the team, Chen said, but Kurapey, Levey and Zajac all played in the Patriots’ loss to Glenbrook North. Chen said that game was the first time Stevenson was fully healthy all season, and the way the team competed against the Spartans was encouraging.
The Patriots performance on Feb. 12 figures to bode well heading into the state tournament, which begins for No. 12 Stevenson with a game against No. 21 Deerfield at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 26.
“If we play like we played tonight — stick together, stay out of trouble, keep our heads up … we’ll do great,” Chen said.
Eric Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
