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How Reece Cordray passed a friend, mentor to become Verona’s all-time scorer

By Jack Miller; Verona Press, 02/14/23, 2:15PM CST

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Cordray has 198 career points for Wildcats

Reece Cordray grew up looking up to Charlie Parker.

Parker – a 2014 Verona grad – would spend summers hanging out with a young Cordray.

Nearly a decade later, the two are intertwined in Verona boys hockey history. Cordray – now a senior forward at Verona – recently surpassed his mentor and friend as the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer.

Cordray became Verona’s all-time points leader during a win over University School of Milwaukee on Jan. 31. Cordray has scored 16 points since then and now sits with 198 career points. Parker’s 179 points was a program career best for nearly nine years.

“It (scoring record) feels really good,” Cordray said after a 7-0 win over Waukesha on Feb. 10. “I passed my mentor Charlie Parker. I just have a lot of people to thank, my linemates all four years, coaches obviously. None of it would be possible without them.”

Parker – who’s helping out on Verona’s coaching staff this season – wasn’t able to attend the Jan. 31 game against University School, but kept a watchful eye on the game’s box score.

“I knew he was close and I was watching the box score,” Parker said. “When I saw what happened and saw that he had beaten it…I gave him a call. I was just fired up for him. It was fun to see. I’m happy he was able to do that. It’s cool that it's someone I know. It makes it that much more fun for me.”

Longtime friends

Parker said in his junior and senior years of high school he would look after Cordray in the summertime.

“I was driving him around to things he wanted to do,” Parker said. “We were doing stuff together. We would skate together. This is when he was probably 9 or 10 years old. I would go train in the summer and I would bring him out. We would skate together, play golf together. We basically just hung out all summer and did just normal stuff I would do and stuff he would do.”

Parker recalls being impressed by Cordray’s hockey skills early on.

“It's funny because I remember when we were back skating together he always had a great shot,” Parker said. “Even when he was young, he always had a great shot. He had an ability to pick corners and find the back of the net.”

Dynamic from the start

Fast forward some eight or nine years later and Cordray still has his great shot to go along with a whole bag of skills and tricks.

“Reece has been dynamic from the start,” Verona head coach Joel Marshall said. “He’s a natural playmaker and goal scorer all in one. His speed is probably unmatched from what I’ve seen from teams we’ve played this year. He’s hard to contain.”

Cordray was an instant impact player for Verona, scoring 26 points as a freshman (11 goals, 15 assists), helping the Wildcats to the Division 1 state championship.

“Reece and I have talked a lot over his four years of playing high school,” Parker said. “Right from the start he was on a trajectory to beat that record…That wasn’t an ultimate goal of his, but that’s something he wanted to do. It was something I wanted him to do as well.”

Breakout season

Cordray said he started to think more about the all-time points record after a breakout junior campaign.

“After last year, I had a lot of points playing with Anthony (Heinrichs) and Easton (Simpson),” Cordray said. “I just knew I needed another season like that and I would have it.”

Cordray scored a team-leading 55 points in the regular season last year. That came after he recorded 26 points in both his freshman and sophomore regular seasons.

Elite line

This season, Cordray has formed one of the state’s best lines with seniors Conrad Moline and Jack Marske. Moline has 55 points (27 goals, 28 assists) this season, while Marske has collected 45 points (22 goals, 23 assists). Those are good for second and third best on the team behind Cordray’s team-leading 72 points (29 goals, 43 assists).

The line of Cordray, Moline and Marske lead the state in plus/minus. Cordray is a state-leading plus 43, while Moline is a plus 42. Marske is third in the state as a plus 33.

“It’s great playing with two other players of that skill level and caliber,” Cordray said. “We work well together. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

Marshall said Verona’s star-filled line all play hockey at a high level year-round outside of the high school season.

“They understand the game well, know how to read plays,” Marshall said. “Us coaches kind of hold them to a different standard if they want to play at a different level after high school. There’s a little bit of a different standard there. We try to keep them from getting too cute, too pretty. But they take pride in the plus/minus. They get scored on in any game, they’re not happy. It’s just that competitive nature in those guys that push each other to do better. It’s fun to watch as a coach.”

Cordray is tied for fifth in the state in assists with 43 on the season.

“I got Jack and Conrad and they’re both really good shooters and goal scorers,” Cordray said. “I feel like I’ve had more chances to pass this year than in past seasons.”

Proven pieces

Moline also was a key contributor on Verona’s 2019-2020 state championship team, scoring 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) as a freshman.

“They (Moline and Cordray) were on that state championship team and played integral roles four years ago,” Marshall said. “They want to get back to that spot.”

The journey back to the state tournament begins on Thursday, Feb. 16, for top-seeded Verona when they take on Aquinas or Reedsburg in a regional final.

“We have to keep working hard in practice and keep treating every game like it’s our last,” Cordray said. “If we play our best, I like our chances against anybody.”