“I can remember as early as when I was three years old when I first put on skates. My dad was out there holding me by the hips [teaching me] how to do this, how to do that. At that point, he was coaching in the ECHL,” said Shane Haviland ’24.
“It’s just really cool to grow up with a dad who’s that involved in professional hockey. I would say the best memory I have with him is when he won the Stanley Cup in 2010. That was so cool. I can’t even believe I was a little, tiny part of that,” Shane thought as he recalled one of the best memories he shares with his father, Mike Haviland ’90.
Mike and Shane Haviland have had two different careers while playing hockey at Elmira. Mike, who now is an assistant coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets, sits 12th all-time in scoring, one of the most productive players the program has ever seen. Shane, while equally skilled, won’t finish with the same production as his father, but hopes to leave the same impact, while wearing the same No. 19, and playing on the same ice.
As far as that lasting impact, Shane just wants his impact to be “a guy who went out and worked hard every night. He wore 19 with pride, and it really meant something to him to win for the community. That’s how I’d like to be remembered here. It has nothing to do with points, I just want the community to be able to come up to me and be like ‘Hey, you’re Shane!'”
Shane admitted he pressure to meet the standards that were set for him 34 years ago, especially when people know that Mike is in town. “He’ll come back and watch a few of my games, and you can tell his presence is felt around here. People who are part of the booster club, people who are involved with the team, they know my dad, they know his name, and now me wearing his number, I just try to do anything I can to make him proud. I feel like that was the biggest thing I wanted to live up to. It really has nothing to do with points, I know my dad was a pretty prolific scorer here. I just want to make him proud that I can wear the same jersey number as him.”
While Mike was more of a goal scorer, Shane likes to think of himself more as a distributor. The New Jersey-born forward said, “I would say definitely vision. Passing is definitely my strength. I learned that from a pretty young age. I would say it’s pretty hereditary, I’ve always been able to see the ice and make plays when necessary. I’m not going to shoot it a ton, that’s just not my game. I would say vision, hockey IQ, and passing is the strongest aspect of my game.”
Shane wouldn’t consider shooting a huge part of his game, but after converting on almost 18% of his shots on goal in 27 games last season, more confidence in that area could lead to a bigger output in goal scoring. “Yeah, I think in an increased role, with being on the power play, I’m definitely going to have to step up and shoot more. Our first two games didn’t go how we planned, so I’m definitely going to have to take more shots and be more selfish at times. I said passing is the main aspect of my game but somebody has to shoot.”
When thinking back to his recruiting process, the younger Haviland shared that was always his decision on where he would be playing next, but Mike played “a huge role. Obviously it came down to my decision at the end of the day. I just thought it would be so cool to play where my dad played. [It helped that] there was a good team camaraderie and knowing how respected well-known my dad is around here, I thought that would be so cool to wear the same number as him. I would definitely say he played a pretty big role in me coming here.”
As much as Shane wants to make his father proud by wearing the same number at the same school, he shared that the comparisons to his dad can wear on him, “Yeah, just because of how prolific he was here. When people start comparing me to him, it’s kind of tough because he was an All-American here. At the end of the day, I just try to play my own game and do what makes me successful on the ice. He was a great player here. He’s one of the highest scorers in the program. It’s definitely tough being compared to your dad. I don’t know if people expected the same things out of me, but it’s definitely in the back of your mind when you’re wearing the same number as him, you definitely feel that.”
