Hunter
Fejes, one of the front corners of Colorado College’s penalty-killing box,
closed in on Parker along the center-ice wall to dislodge the puck. From there,
he raised an upper hand that neither Parker nor another impromptu backchecker
could reach.
Fejes
finished the singlehanded turnover by swooping to the Chargers porch from the
left lane and depositing a backhanded icebreaker. Though it was only the 8:59
mark of his team’s second engagement of the season, the feat impelled him to
employ his best Alexander Ovechkin impression.
There
was no shortage of carbonated catharsis fueling Fejes’ leap at the glass along
the lower boards of the attacking zone. For the junior forward and Arizona (nee
Phoenix) Coyotes prospect, that Oct. 11 goal was his first since the 2013 WCHA
Final Five.
That’s
right. His eighth goal and 14th (and final) point in a promising rookie season
had come on March 21 of the previous calendar year. The interim had packed two
Memorial Days, two Independence Days, two Coyotes development camps, two Labor
Days, a conference change for the Tigers in 2013 and a coaching change for the program
in 2014.
“That
was a big relief,” Fejes confessed to Along the Boards in a phone interview this
week. “I don’t think I could have been any more excited. You could probably
tell by the celebration I had there.
“Everyone
enjoys doing that, so to get one after not scoring one for such a long time was
great.”
Fejes
has since polished a power-play conversion as the Tigers’ only tally in a 3-1
loss to mighty North Dakota on Oct. 17. He nearly had another goal that night,
though UND’s celestial stopper Zane McIntyre had an answer.
He
most recently assisted on both strikes in a 6-2 road loss to New Hampshire
eight nights later. With that, he has taken six games to quadruple his junior
output from his sophomore struggles, which yielded one solitary assist in 26
outings.
“It’s
really satisfying,” he said. “You can never be complacent with where you’re at.
Last year, obviously, I struggled offensively, so I made sure to come into this
year with a clear mindset, help this team, turn this bus around.”
“My
linemates,” he added. “I can’t do it without them. They’re giving me everything
I need.”
What
he needed at the dawn of 2014-15, though, was a fresh sheet and a clear head.
Whatever he would do with that would advance his drive to breathe easier and
skate more smoothly, both figuratively and literally.
“The best possible
thing I did”
A
foundation for regular top-six action was in place for Fejes on the heels of
his 14-point freshman campaign. On the heels of a barely sub-.500 campaign, the
Tigers were graduating four prolific seniors from their strike force — most
notably Rylan Schwartz, he of 100 career assists.
As
the program’s fourth-most productive returning forward, Fejes figured to assume
no small share of the rebuilding lift. In alignment with logic, he was certain
he would be up to that task.
Instead,
he found himself slogging through an unforeseen, individual rebuilding project
after taking a one-two slash from illness and injury.
“I
came into the season very healthy, thought I was in good shape,” he recalled. “And
then in the early part of the season, I ended up getting bronchitis, and that
kind of set me back. I wasn’t able to compete the way I could compete.”
So
much so that he brooked a 20-game pointless skid that spanned the season opener
through Jan. 17. He returned to the lower half of the depth chart whilst
failing to land more than two shots on goal in any of his first nine ventures.
Fejes
finally splashed his drought in the point column Jan. 24 amidst an uplifting
4-1 win over NCHC rival Miami. His homeward-bound feed to Charlie Taft spotted
the Tigers a 3-0 advantage at 15:45 of the first period, emboldening their path
to the end of a 10-game winless streak.
But
it would not be long before belated hope began to recede, at least for 2013-14.
Unable
to ignore the agonizing aftermath of what he recounted as a “slew foot” incident
that thrust him awkwardly into the boards, he made one appearance in a span of
nine games due to a high-ankle sprain.
“I
kind of just ended up trying to fight through things, but that was a hard one
to fight through,” he said. “I lost all the strength on my ankle. I felt like I
was re-tweaking it when I tried to fight through it. People have always told me
that it’s better to break your ankle than to get a high ankle sprain.
“There
was finally a point there when I said to myself, ‘This isn’t getting any
better, I’m not helping the team the way I should.’”
Forcing
his appetite for action aside, he approached then-head coach Scott Owens to deliver
the same declaration. He boldly confessed his belief that it would serve the
Tigers better for him to withdraw for a while.
“Obviously,
it was tough for me to do that, because I consider myself a competitor and
always want to be out there,” he said. “But at that point, it was the best
possible thing I did.”
Upon
scrapping his first comeback attempt after briefly skating in a Feb. 14 bout
with Western Michigan, Fejes sat out another five games until the March 8
regular-season finale. He joined the third line that night, then spent two of
three NCHC quarterfinal bouts accepting grunt work assignments on the fourth
troika.
Scratched
from the lineup altogether for the rubber match, in which North Dakota ended
CC’s abysmal 7-24-6 ride, Fejes had mixed feelings about the ensuing
seven-month wait for another shot.
“I
believe it was very hard for me to go off into the offseason like that, especially
after the season I had,” he said. “You wish you could have more success. But it
was probably the best scenario that happened because I was able to recover,
make sure to get healthy, reflect on why things didn’t go why I wanted them to
and just focus my mindset on next year.
“Confidence
was a huge thing. It’s the biggest thing to hockey, and maintaining that is the
hardest thing. So I believe it was for the best.”
Intangible reformation
The
temptation to tag Fejes with the “new-and-improved” label is tough to turn away
from
He
is roughly a full year removed from the respiratory residue and more than a
half-year beyond the swelling over his skate. He is seeing those long-awaited
top-six minutes, and using them to charge up a team-leading 29 shots at the
opposing cage.
Fejes
does not deny he has upgraded some aspects of his game, but he prefers to point
to unseen forces. Contemplation and mental rehearsal, he holds, keyed his
brewing bounce-back season this autumn.
“I
believe I have the skill set and all that stuff,” he said. “But I think the
biggest part was the battle side of it. I focus on my effort and attitude.
“I
figured if I could improve in those areas, then I would be good.”
More
than his triumphant return to his freshman form, the two added years of
adversity-induced appreciation make Fejes an indispensable cog for Colorado in
the inaugural year of the Mike Haviland era. Whereas the wounded Fejes, by his
own admission, was best out of the equation, the recovered version is bringing
exemplary commitment to a still-struggling program.
Since
finishing their sweep of the Chargers with the help of Fejes’ liberating
shortie, the Tigers have lost four straight. As October gives way to November,
a rare weekend free of game action comes at a welcome point after three
consecutive opposing runaways of four- or five-goal margins.
With
his proven capabilities at even strength and on both sides of the special
teams’ spectrum, Fejes figures to join the nucleus in CC’s search for
stability. Moreover, the Tigers will likely lean on him as a learned
upperclassman who knows how to weather on- and off-ice hardship.
“If
things aren’t going the way we want, if I’m not getting as many shifts as I
want, I can’t let any of that creep into my mind,” he said. “Once I do that, it’s
going to be detrimental.
“Like
I said, I’m just focusing on what I can control, just making sure I compete and
work hard every single day.”
This article
originally appeared on Along the Boards
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