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The best in both worlds

Esky’s Silverstone earns all-state on and off the ice

Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Escanaba’s Ethan Silverstone looks for an opening to pass while being defended by Sault Ste. Marie’s Alex French Dec. 6 at Wells. Silverstone was recently named to the Division 2 all-state second team and all-state academic team.

ESCANABA — Playing through pain is one thing. Playing through pain and still putting up all-state numbers is another.

That’s what Escanaba senior forward Ethan Silverstone accomplished this past hockey season, as he was recently named to the Division 2 all-state team by the Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Association after playing the last 15 games of the season with a sprained right wrist.

“My initial reaction was I was very, very surprised,” Silverstone said about learning of the award. “When coach (Matt Hughes) texted me, I thought he was referring to something about football… I couldn’t believe it. I was pretty pumped.”

Silverstone led the Eskymos with 50 points this season, coming on 19 goals and 31 assists. He recorded a hat trick and a playmaker in a win over Sault Ste. Marie Dec. 6 and he had a five point-game two weeks later against Hancock, recording another hat trick and two assists. He also had five assists and two goals in a win over Negaunee Feb. 4.

“He had a good year for us,” Hughes said. “He was our captain and he was a leader. He set certain goals for himself at the beginning of the year. One of them was to get all-state accolades, and he was able to do that.”

But in a 3-2 overtime loss to Kingsford Jan. 7, Silverstone faced some adversity in the form of an injury.

“There was two minutes left in the game, and I shot and my wrist gave out on me. I sprained it really, really bad. I thought I broke it, so I went in (to the hospital) a couple times just to make sure I didn’t, and they just said it was a really bad sprain,” Silverstone explained. “They told me there was no way it was going to heal throughout hockey, so throughout the whole season I had to tape it super good and I had to adjust my shot. I couldn’t stick-handle as much, so it really weakened my game at that point, but I had a really good line with Karson and Kyle Krutina. We work really together and we were able to put some points up on the board.”

Esky’s top line did just that, as Kyle Krutina finished with 27 goals and 19 assists for 46 points, while Karson Krutina had 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points. Those three played a pivotal role in helping the young Eskymos finish 14-12 and regional runner-ups.

“We just work really together,” Silverstone said. “We work out together, we played football together and we hang out with each other all the time, so we know each other. We know where we’re going to be. I just think that really helped us out.

“I think about it every day — just not playing hockey with them anymore is awful, because it was such a big part of my life. We just worked really, really well together and were able to put the puck in the net quite a bit.”

Not only did Silverstone excel on the ice, he also excelled in the classroom. Silverstone and senior teammates Luke Labre and Grant LaMarche each earned all-state academic honors.

“They aren’t taking easy classes,” Hughes noted. “Some of them are college prep classes. They’re all members of the National Honor Society and they work very hard on their academics. Some of them play two or three sports, so they’re constantly involved. To keep their grade point average above 3.5 shows how they dedicated they are to athletics and school.”

Silverstone acknowledged it shows the amount of work he put in, while also noting he’s fully aware that coaches have their eyes on an athlete’s academics, too.

“It shows the amount of work that you put in, especially being a good student and an athlete,” he said. “It’s pretty cool. I always work hard to get my homework done and study for tests. I just try to do that aspect of it, as well as Luke and Grant. They always have, too.

“If you want coaches to see you, they really like the student-athlete part of it. They really want to know that you take school seriously, because it’s a big part of your game and your life.”

Silverstone, who was also an All-U.P. first team quarterback in football last fall, plans on attending Bay College in the fall. But he hasn’t ruled out an attempt at continuing his football career.

“I want to play football very, very bad,” he said. “Maybe hockey, but I really want to play football. Every single day I want to go back to playing football. As of right now, I’m going to Bay just to get my basic classes done. But after that (U.P.) All-Star game in June — if it still goes on — I’ll see how bad I miss it. Then, we’ll see.”

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