The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Palmer, Keider dynamic duo for Rails
By Tom Perkins, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: February 7, 2008
It always seems to turn into the David Palmer and Nikko Keider show.
Advertisement
For three years, the hockey duo have provided Lincoln with an offensive threat that has dazzled and thrilled their fans and frustrated their opposition, but this season — Palmer's senior and Keider's junior year — their combined ability is arguably unmatched in the Southeastern or Mega Conferences.
"I know I'm always going to get a solid effort out of them from start to finish," Lincoln head coach Mike Ferguson said. "I could probably leave them out there for the whole game and they would keep producing because they are so fit."
Not that it doesn't appear like they are always on the ice. A quick look at the last several seasons' box scores reveals the duo in some way contributes to a majority of the Splitters' goals, and it's often a combined effort. If Palmer gets a goal, Keider's name is likely listed with the assist, and vice versa.
"Whenever you have that kind of connection it's always good," Palmer said of his teammate and best friend. "I never really had a connection like that with someone and it's nice to have it on the ice and off."
What the connections yields on the ice sometimes looks like just plain luck. Palmer will be facing the boards and throw a pass into space behind him. It appears to be going to no one, but then Keider swoops in out of nowhere, scoops up the puck and is down the ice. Moments later, the siren is usually going off.
It could be argued that it's luck, but these type of plays happen all too frequently — each knows where the other is at all times.
"We've been playing together since we were freshman," Keider explained. "We know where each other are on the ice and where to throw the passes, so we don't have to look and we can leave the defense in the dust."
Even in the film sessions, Ferguson said, it is sometimes hard to believe their puck movement is by design.
"Even some of my assistant coaches will say 'Hey! He didn't even look when he made that pass! He got lucky!' and I'll rewind the tape and say 'No, he knows where Nikko is going! It's not blind passes!'"
Keider and Palmer bring a polished game, but each has their particular strengths, and this is what makes them so deadly when skating together.
"David is just absolutely Mr. Clutch," Ferguson said. "If we need a goal, he gets it. Whatever we need, he does. Everybody knows him now so he always has someone hanging on him, but he still manages to lead the teams in points."
Keider provided much the same assessment.
"David's slapshot is really good," he said. "He can pretty much put it anywhere in the net so we look for him when were down, because he usually puts in."
It's Keider that can be counted on for the most moves for the highlight reel.
"He moves fast and his hands are even faster," Palmer said.
Ferguson recalled a recent film session in which Keider's moves twice stunned the coaching staff. One on one against a Bishop Foley defenseman, he teased his opponent with the puck, then pulled it back as the player took the bait. Keider then pulled his own body aside as the defenseman awkwardly fell forward in an attempt to play a body that was already moving down the ice.
During a game with Crestwood, Keider split two defenders who slammed into one another as he moved in for a goal.
"We kept rewinding the film and we were all like 'Holy Crap! He made those defenseman collide!'" Ferguson recalled.
Keider's stats are all up this season from last year, largely because of a full recovery mentally and physically from an injury suffered when he took a hit from behind during the last game of his freshman year.
"I like that I'm able to score more this year. I was coming off the injury and I was really timid, which I think that was the main problem," Keider said.
"He leads the team in hits this season," Ferguson added. "He has hit some big guys and he takes them out."
Palmer's game has also benefited from gaining a little size. Ferguson said that during Palmer's freshman and sophomore years the bigger guys could sometimes push him off the puck, but this is no longer the case.
Despite always having a shadow, Palmer scored his 100th career goal Saturday night and is first on the school's all-time goals, assists and points list. As of now, he has 173 points.
Keider's 76 career points put him at third in the category and Ferguson expects he will be second in every stat by the season's end.
Together with the addition of Jared Pfeiffer, who has proven himself capable among the best, Ferguson doesn't believe there are many who can stop his top line.
"I'd put that line up against anybody," he said. "There may be better lines in the state but these guys are going to hold their own."
Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for the View/Courier. He can be reached at trperkins@gmail.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
