Athlete Spotlight
If you happened to see a Squirt Division ice hockey game at the Augusta Ice Sports Center this past year, you probably saw two things: Logan Pogue scoring a goal and Ryan Burton preventing one.
Augusta Junior Lynx Logan Pogue, left, and Ryan Burton are in the Athlete Spotlight.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
You also probably saw something else - a victory for their team.
Over the course of the fall and winter season, Pogue and Burton led their team - the Coyotes - to a combined 11-6-6 record, and they did it in different ways.
Pogue, a left-handed forward, scored 42 goals over the season, including nine "hat tricks" - sports talk for scoring three goals in a game. Twice he scored five goals in a game, and along the way he added 10 assists.
"I'm proud of the way he's played," said Coach William Redd, who credits Pogue's hand speed and shooting ability for his ice hockey success.
Burton had 19 goals with seven assists, but his job on the ice was to stop scoring, something Redd says Burton did consistently.
"He's a team leader," Redd said.
It's a family thing. Burton is the son of former Augusta Lynx Coach Jim Burton, a longtime professional hockey player.
"They're the kind of kids you'd want on have on your team every season," said Redd, who coached the boys on their local team and the Augusta Junior Lynx travel team, which took on opponents around the Southeast during the 2004-05 season.
Burton, 9, lives in Evans, where he is a fourth-grader at Blue Ridge Elementary School.
Pogue, 10, lives in Martinez. He is a fourth-grader at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church School.
"They're both real good kids," their coach said.
Winning kids, too.