The management of the
Tulsa Rampage
are pleased to announce that Jason Zawacki has advanced to the Junior A
level. Zawacki, who played both forward and defense for the Rampage
moved to the Restigouche Tigers of the Maritime Junior A League in
Canada where he proved to be an asset with the team in his first weekend
of play there.
After coming to the team late in
the season, Zawacki secured three goals and five assists for a total of
eight points in only nine games. His work ethic and skill level
impressed head coach, Chad MacLeod who began working toward advancing
him almost immediately after joining the team. "Jason is the type of
player who works hard every shift he's out there," MacLeod says "that,
combined with the talent level he has, makes it clear that he really
does have the ability to play at higher levels." Zawacki had a few
brief stints with Junior A teams in the NAHL this season prior to coming
to the Rampage which didn't affect MacLeod's opinion of his ability to
stick at the higher level. "Each team looks for different things to fit
the puzzle piece they're trying to fill" he says "just because a player
doesn't fit one team's need, doesn't mean he isn't qualified to play at
that level. Jason is definitely ready to play Junior A, he just needed
to find the right puzzle to fit in to, which is what we worked to do."
While working to advance him to
Junior A, MacLeod also worked to secure NCAA opportunities for Zawacki
for next season as well. Those efforts paid off with an offer from an
NCAA Division III team for the upcoming season that the team is waiting
to announce. "Coach MacLeod works to secure the offers from collegiate
level teams but we don't make announcements of those advancements until
the players have passed through the admission process as well," General
Manager Julie Wilson says "Jason has the verbal offer from the coach and
is in the final stages of enrolling the school. We're looking forward
to announcing that when his application is through the final
processing." In the meantime, MacLeod is back to work looking for
offers for his others players as well.
Julie Wilson
Tulsa Rampage
