As his 100 per cent mark would indicate, Jett Toma understood the school assignment precisely.
The 17-year-old defenceman from St. Albert, Alta., wrote an essay last semester on one of the most impactful lessons of his life. Just a few years ago, he considered quitting hockey at age 14 because of nagging negativity from his U15 academy coach.
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Toma, instead, decided to persevere and try to overcome adversity, and the plucky youth later became a shining example for the Grade 12 language arts writing project that he aced this season while playing with the U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders.
Alberta Elite Hockey League. Submitted photo
With his staying power and his on-ice performance, Toma also earned recognition from the next level. The Lloydminster Bobcats signed him this spring as one of their Alberta Junior Hockey League prospects.
Toma’s mind was working overtime as he wrote his Bellerose Composite High School essay.
“I did a lot of writing,” Toma said. “I think I wrote 2,000 words, around that, because I could write about it forever. I just talked about how in hockey there’s lots of adversity and you just have to push through it, and all the different techniques (to do so).”
Now a strapping six-foot-two, 185-pound junior A prospect, Toma was almost forced out of the picture during his first U15 season, while playing in Alberta’s independent Hockey Super League.
“I had a coach who was pretty hard on me,” he remembered. “He never really gave me the chances to show him what I could actually do. He just put all of the, I guess you could say, better players out there — instead of me — for all of those important situations.
“I actually wanted to quit hockey at that point, because of how rude the coach was to me and how he treated me. He was just treating me really poorly. He would yell at me a foot away from my face. Even if I were to score on a shift, but then made a bad pass, he would just point out the bad thing I did that shift, and not say, ‘Nice goal,’ or anything. I was getting pretty tired of it.
“But I just said, I will never have him as a coach again and I’m doing this for myself, not for him, and he can think whatever he wants. I know what I’m capable of.”
Toma outlasted those tougher times and regained the love of the game as he made strides on his hockey trail.
“Back then (in minor hockey), it was hard, because I was younger,” he reflected recently. “But I understand it now, (coaches) do it for a reason. They do it to teach you. They only get mad if you keep making the same mistakes. But if you’re coachable, and you understand stuff well, then you’ll be good.”
In time, Toma learned that “confidence comes from trusting yourself,” he wrote. “I began believing in the plays I made, instead of being scared to make mistakes.”
Toma’s resilience served him well again after dislocating his left shoulder last summer while in camp with the BCHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders. He managed to return to game action in September during the Alberta Elite Hockey League U18 AAA pre-season, and cracked
St. Albert’s roster.
“Throughout the season, my shoulder popped out a few times, but I just pushed through and learned how to overcome it,” said Toma, who had played the previous two years with the Morinville-based 17U Titans in the Junior Prospects Hockey League. “I’m as good as new now. That’s all that matters.
“I loved it out there (this season with the Raiders). Our coach was great. Personally, I feel I developed a lot and it was a great experience, for sure, being around St. Albert more and it’s close (to home). Then, I had a couple of buddies on the team that I played with when I was younger. Everyone got held accountable for stuff and everyone put in a full effort, so it was a great year.”
Toma said that while he also enjoyed his JPHL experience, he wanted to move up to the provincial U18 AAA league this year because it offered more balanced and stronger competition from top to bottom, rather than just being between the upper-echelon teams.
Injuries dogged the Raiders all season, but Toma was a warrior as he played in 36 regular-season games and five each in the league playoffs and the Circle K Classic tournament in Calgary.
Overall, he assisted on 17 goals, including 14 in the regular season.
Three of those assists came during an October game in Lloydminster as St. Albert defeated the Lancers 6-5 in overtime. Toma’s best friend and fellow Bobcats’ prospect Jadon Fischer scored four goals, including the winner.
By the time the Raiders swept the Lancers 2-0 in their February playoff series, the Bobcats had built an extensive scouting report on St. Albert, a popular source of talent for Lloyd’s junior A team.
Since then, three graduates of this year’s Raiders — defencemen Toma and Kyle Jamieson and forward Fischer — have signed letters of intent with the Bobcats.
A fourth Raider, 2010-born forward Nolan Kelbert, also showed well at the Bobcats’ prospects camp in April and has been invited back to Lloydminster for the spring camp, scheduled for early June, as well.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Toma said about signing with the AJHL team. “Taking that step up to junior A, it’s a great achievement. I’ve just got to prove myself and get myself on the roster come fall.
“I’m not really going to any other (team’s) camps. I’m just focusing on Lloyd and really bearing down on that. If anything, I’m just working out every day and training for it.
“It’s a big step in my future, and opens up more doors. I’m ready to take the jump and go where the wind takes me, I guess I could say.”
His hair was blowing in the wind on the mid-April weekend that Lloyd hosted about 80 prospects at the Hub arena complex. Going into that camp, Toma’s confidence was high because he had already signed with the Bobcats.
“Yeah, it’s definitely like a lock on my feelings. It makes me feel not as many butterflies in my stomach. But I still have to put in the work, obviously.”
With a year of U18 AAA under his belt, Toma believes he’s that much more prepared for junior A hockey.
“Yeah, especially with the speed and everything, (U18) was definitely quicker than when I played JPHL. And just getting prepared with all the bigger guys and all the training programs we did, it definitely helped me put on some weight and some muscle, and I’m still doing that moving forward.”
Toma grew up as a fan of the Washington Capitals, so it’s fitting that one of his NHL role models is former Caps defenceman John Carlson, now of the Anaheim Ducks.
“I’ve really been a big Caps fan my whole life,” he said. “I like watching them. I think I’ve got five (Caps) jerseys. Every time I grew out of one, I’d get a new one. I’ve got pillows and everything.
“I like to follow John Carlson. I feel he’s a pretty good all-around, consistent D-man and he’s got the size like me. He’s very good defensively, and he can create offence when he needs to. But yeah, I usually mimic my game after him.”
Toma copied Capitals star Alex Ovechkin in sporting bright yellow laces in his skates, at least when he was younger.
“Most guys just make fun of you for it now,” Toma said with a chuckle. “I really wouldn’t do it anymore, anyways.”
At the same time, he still practises unique personal routines on game days, much like most hockey players.
“I always like to have my headphones with me, because sometimes I just like to listen to my own music,” he said. “I always have them on when I’m going to the rink, right before a game, which is a pretty common one.
“And then, I usually wear the same socks for warm-up. That’s one, for sure. There’s always a certain pair of dress socks I put on, even if I don’t wear them to the rink. I feel it gives me luck and all that, because my grandpa gave them to me. They’re Christmas dress socks. They’ve got trees on them. They’ve got some colour to them. Before games, during the season, I’d wear them.”
Hoping to wear the distinctive orange, black and white colours of the Bobcats next season, Toma is getting ready now, stepping up his off-season training. At home, he eats as many as five meals per day. He also packs healthy lunches for school.
“The amount I’ve got to eat right after (workouts), it’s quite a lot,” said Toma, turning 18 in October. “It’s just what you’ve got to do to get to the next level, so that’s all that matters.”
During the past season, he grew an inch and gained about 20 pounds while working out with his teammates at the Absolute Human Performance gym, along with his personal training.
“When I get the opportunity, I definitely use my body quite a bit,” Toma said about his defensive style. “I don’t chase hits to make people go, ‘Oh, he can hit well.’ I just do it when I get the opportunity.
“I really focus around my skating ability and, in my opinion and lots of other people’s opinion, my first-pass mentality is probably the best part of my game. I can always make that first pass, whether it’s breakout or when we get in the zone.”
Bobcats’ prospect Fischer, who averaged a point per game with St. Albert this year, witnessed Toma’s tools in action since their childhood, and recently with the U18 AAA Raiders. Notably, they complemented each other during last October’s overtime victory in Lloyd, where the duo combined for seven points.
“Jett was the quarterback on the power play, and then I was playing on the right flank there,” Fischer said. “It’s just nice playing with someone that you’re familiar with, kind of knowing his movements and how he moves the puck around. He can always find those spots to be in where he can get you that puck.”
That natural chemistry between Toma and Fischer — each an only child in their respective families — extends to off the ice.
“A great friendship,” concurred Fischer, who turns 18 in September as the AJHL season begins. “Our families are family friends, so that’s always nice. They’ve got a cabin (along British Columbia’s Shuswap Lake), so we go there in the summers and hang out and go on the boat. Yeah, it’s been great.”
While vacationing in B.C. for most of the summer, Toma rotates between hockey training and recreational pursuits like surfing.
“I have a gym membership out there, and my trainer from here just gives me a workout plan, and I do that every day,” he said. “There’s a road that goes up a mountain and I run halfway up that for my cardio. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s worth it when you’re done. You can certainly feel it in the legs, and the elevation out there is a little more than here, so it’s a little harder to breathe. But yeah, it’s good.
“And then, I just spend the day on the lake when I’m done everything. I’m big into surfing. We’ve got a surfboat and all that stuff. I’m usually doing that, and fishing. Then, I usually have a buddy or two out for a week, so it’s fun.
“I’m on the ice out there quite a bit, and then I come back (home) before I go to Lloyd.”
Making waves on and off the ice, Toma has written a compelling story worth telling.
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