A year after trying to start up the hockey program again, Central doesn’t have a team for the winter sports season. One of the standouts, junior Aaron Brickman, didn’t want to take a season off and decided to join the hockey team at DeSmet. Although he is playing hockey again at a high school level, an injury set him back just before the New Year.
“I’ve been playing hockey ever since I was little and started playing goalie when I was 5,” Brickman said.
Over the summer, Brickman played goalie on a select team called the Chesterfield Falcons and won the national title. On his select team, he splits time as goalie, but still enjoyed the entire experience.
“Winning nationals last year was the best time of my life so far,” Brickman said.
Brickman’s DeSmet team carries a 13-8 (at the date of publication) record in a conference filled with strong teams such as Chaminade, SLUH and CBC, who has won 12 state championships. Brickman has appeared in three games, posting a 2-1 record with one shutout and an save percentage of 87.
“Playing for DeSmet is actually cool because there are more fans, and it’s actually worth playing for in front of lots of fans,” Brickman said. “There were some times when there were more fans at our hockey games than Central fans at their football games.”
Although Brickman has tasted success at the select and high school level, an accidental injury left him with a concussion in December.
“I was playing in Chicago with my club team when my own defenseman blind sided me by kneeing me in the head, where I fell to the ice and hit my head again,” Brickman said.
This concussion made it hard for Brickman to go to school, so he stayed home for two weeks at the end of the semester. Brickman’s condition was so serious that he had to miss most of the finals.
“The teachers were really nice about me being gone,” Brickman said. “Some teachers shortened their finals for me or let me take them this semester.”
Mr. Ken Greathouse specifically allowed him to take his honors chemistry final at the beginning of second semester.
“Although Greathouse sometimes makes friendly jokes about my concussion, he was really nice about letting me take the final when I felt like I was in a good enough condition to take it,” Brickman said.
Despite this setback, Brickman still desires to get back on the ice before the high school season ends.
“I’m starting rehab soon,” Brickman said. “Even though I still have some symptoms, I really want to
play again.”
Brickman takes his job seriously and doesn’t want his career to end too soon.
“As a goalie, I am the last line of defense and can single handedly decide the outcome of a game,” Brickman said.
