Weber has cherished his role on the bench

Shortly after he felt his right knee buckle after collapsing to the turf covering a kick return this past fall, AJ Weber knew his football season was done. He worried about the hockey season.

He remembers the doctor telling him the damage to his knee was so severe he wouldn’t be able to play his senior season. Weber, who played on the varsity as a sophomore and junior, struggled with the news. He thought about his teammates and the guys he’d played youth ice hockey with since elementary school. Their senior season was going to be something special. In an instant, on a non-contact injury on a football field in September, he was done.

“It was tough, really tough,” Weber said of accepting the news.

Doctors repaired the damaged knee. What Weber didn’t know was that NPHS coach Brad Drazan wanted Weber on the ice hockey team, able to skate or not. Drazan saw a role for the senior centerman, a guy who’ll do the dirty work fighting for pucks, creating mayhem in front of the opposing goal and killing penalties without much fanfare.

“AJ is the kind of kid you want around. He’s hard to play against. He gave 110% on every shift. He’d do whatever needed to be done for the team,” Drazan said. “You always knew what you’d get from AJ.”

Drazan asked Weber if he...

To see more on this story pick up the February 20, 2025 print edition of The New Prague Times.