USHL plucks 2 from area

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Ryan Hartman and Jack Rowe are preparing to take the next step in their burgeoning hockey careers and are moving on to play in the United States Hockey League.

Hartman, a 15-year-old right wing, has earned a spot in the Team USA national development program and will move to Ann Arbor, Mich., with his mother, Kim. Hartman, whose family lived in East Dundee until this year, will be a sophomore at Pioneer High School in the Ann Arbor area.

Rowe, a right wing from Cary, will remain at Cary-Grove for his junior year, but will play a few games with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids Roughriders, who selected him in the third round of the draft this spring. He plans to move and play full-time in the USHL during his senior year.

Hartman played several seasons with the Chicago Mission, a Triple-A program and one of the best teams in the nation at that age group. He also committed to Division I Miami (Ohio), where he eventually will play on an athletic scholarship.

“This is exciting and overwhelming at the same time,” Hartman said. “I’m ready, that’s why I made the decision to do this. I’m excited to go up there and start training.”

Hartman was invited to the 40-player Team USA camp this spring and was picked in the top 20. Team USA also plays in the USHL. The Hartman family made a difficult decision, but one that can aid their sons’ hockey careers. Kim, Ryan and Tanner, a third-grader who also plays hockey, will move to Ann Arbor, while husband Craig will stay in Palatine.

The family is renting its house in East Dundee and has moved to Palatine.

“Ryan has had a wonderful year in every aspect,” Kim said. “I’m relocating with the kids because it was a better family decision.”

Rowe wasn’t ready to leave home on a full-time basis, but since he is on the Roughriders’ affiliate list, he can play six games with the team this season. He will join the team on some weekends and play a handful of games while playing with Team Illinois the rest of the time.

Rowe played for Team Illinois, a Triple-A squad this season, and was selected to the Team USA Under 17 hockey team, which will compete in the Five Nations Tournament next month in Switzerland. About 180 players were invited, and the top 20 were picked to the team. That selection also helped Rowe gain exposure.

“Since that camp I’ve had about 15 D-I coaches call me,” Rowe said. “I’m not going to move this year. I plan on moving my senior year.”

Rowe has played at the Triple-A level since he was in fourth grade.   

Woodstock prediction race: The Woodstock boys and girls cross country teams will host a prediction race, called the Race for the Start, at 6 p.m. Aug. 9 at Emricson Park.

Fees to register for the race are $15, and proceeds will be split between the cross country teams and research of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare cancer that touched the Woodstock community this year. Hope Fuller, a seventh-grader whose brother, J.D., was a junior on the Blue Streaks’ cross country team last season, was afflicted with the cancer and died this spring.

The race is open to runners of all ages. The three male and three female runners closest to predicting their correct time will win gift certificates.

Registration forms are available online at woodstockcrosscountry.wikispaces.com and can be mailed to: Debbie Beattie, 1226 Muriel St., Woodstock, IL 60098. Checks should be made payable to Woodstock Cross Country.

Marian’s Cavitt wins competition: Marian Central running back Corey Cavitt, who will be a senior this fall, set a bench press record in the United Powerlifting Association Illinois Championships by pressing 381 pounds.

He competed in the 16-17 age division at 220 pounds.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.