It’s the little team that could.
With its collection of determined players, the Barrie Blazers came off the 2023 season as champions of the Huronia District Soccer League.
Encouraged by their success, they jumped up a couple of levels to play in the Ontario Soccer League competing in the Regional Division against teams from Scarborough to Peterborough this past summer.
With its cadre of young men, largely in their 20s and 30s, many of whom had played on varsity and even professional circuits, didn’t they just kick butt. They went undefeated in 18 games with a record of 14 wins, four draws and no losses to secure the division title.
And at the recent end-of-year banquet, coach Eric Frohmann took home the Regional Division coach-of-the-year trophy, while Thomas Mickoski was honoured with the league MVP award. And Victor Frohmann took home the golden boot award, given to the league’s top scorer, after he notched 24 goals.
“The team spirit among all the guys was fantastic,” says coach Frohmann. “They really stuck together as a team. It was a lot of fun to watch.”
Mickoski had just returned to his Innisfil home after spending two years in Germany, one of them as a professional soccer player. Now 26, Mickoski had been involved in soccer on a competitive level for most of his life, playing soccer in Barrie, Richmond Hill and north Toronto.
Then he went off to St. John's University in New York City, where he played divisional soccer for two years. He then transferred to Seattle University playing in Division 1 of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), graduating in 2020 at the height of the pandemic after studying mechanical engineering.
Having played on the reserve team for Waldhof Mannheim in Germany, Mickoski returned in 2023, joining the competitive recreational Huronia District Soccer League.
In 2024, he joined the Barrie Blazers, which had jumped two divisions to play in the Regional Division.
“It was a super unexpected result,” he says of the undefeated season. “To end the season, it was great because we had three individual awards given to our team.”
Key to the team is manager Jeff Watson, who played with its predecessor more than 20 years ago. He makes all the arrangements with the leagues and fields to ensure the next generation can keep playing. And he’s enthused with the team’s recent success.
“I feel like we’ve developed an atmosphere as a team … that people want to play for … and I think that attracted a lot of players,” says Watson.
In fact, with the 2023 Huronia District win under their belts, when it came time to develop the 2024 team, the response was so good that it resulted in two teams. Frohmann’s team jumped into the Regional Division and the second team went on to win the Huronia District championships.
With the season over, Mickoski is finishing his second year in teacher’s college, preparing for a career as a high school teacher, but he remains very involved in soccer, playing in defence, refereeing and coaching.
“It’s something I think I’ll never give up,” says Mickoski.
Meanwhile, the question for his team for 2025 is whether they’ll stick with the same league for a second year or whether they’ll make another jump.
