An MVP Season! Griffin Shaheen, Tom Peterson the best in Section 10

by Dick Sterling

Two Tupper Lake seniors have been honored by the Northern Athletic Conference for their excellence in high school athletics. Tom Peterson, the son of Rose and Cecil Peterson, and Griffin Shaheen, the son of Tina and Andy Shaheen, have been named the winners of very special awards for the 2023-24 winter high school sports season. Tom was recognized for his tremendous season on the basketball court and Griffin was honored for his outstanding season with the Tupper Lake ice hockey team.

Tom, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the Northern Athletic Conference East Division at the conclusion of the season, has now been announced as this year’s winner of the Joe Jukoski Award, which is presented annually, by Section 10 league officials, to the player who best demonstrates excellence both on and off the court. Tom was also nominated for the award last year.

Griffin was recognized for his incredible season as the Northern Athletic Conference Division II Most Valuable Player. In addition, the Tupper Lake senior has recently been notified that he will be the Tupper Lake Class of 2024 Salutatorian. In addition to his MVP Award, Griffin was also named an Athlete of Distinction Award winner.

Tom Peterson

Tom has been a three-time First Team All Northern, including his winning the MVP this season. He has scored 1,408 points in his varsity career, which is the most in school history. Tom’s Head Coach Brian Bennett, who has been coaching him since fifth grade, and who was named the NAC East Division Coach of the Year, said “Tom is the hardest worker I have ever coached, and a leader of the whole Tupper Lake basketball program.”

Other finalists for this year’s Jukoski Award were: Tanner Sullivan, of Harrisville, Ian VanWagner of Potsdam and Ryan Jones of Canton.

Tom scored 20 or more points in 16 of the Lumberjacks 23 games. He has averaged 24.2 points per game. On Dec. 12, he scored a season high 41 points against Brushton-Moira, he scored 38 in a 70-66 loss to Saranac Central and netted 32 in a game against Lisbon, in which he surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career. Peterson averaged 17.3 points per game as a sophomore and 21 points a game last year as a junior.

Tom said that his senior season has been nothing short of amazing. “I’m really happy with the way everything has gone. What is really amazing is the fact that the entire community is behind us. It lifts us all to see a big crowd, all cheering us on,” said the Lumberjack senior over the weekend.

He said that winning the Jukoski Award was very special. I was nominated last year, and hoped to win. This year I knew I had a decent shot, but any of the other guys who were nominated deserved it too. They all had very good seasons. I felt that it would be cool to win, but I was still surprised when they announced my name as this year’s winner,” said Tom.

The Jacks senior said that he is a year-round basketball player. “I’ve been playing since the fifth grade, including in the spring and fall. I just love the sport! In 11th and 12th grades I played with the Cap City Scrappers from Albany. I tried some other sports when I was little, but once I started playing basketball I knew it was for me.”

Tom said that even though he’s still undecided, “I am definitely playing college basketball. I’ve received a few D (Division) 3 offers and I may decide to play for a SUNYAC school. I would love to stay fairly close to home,” said Tom.

The Tupper Lake all time scoring leader said that playing with his current teammates has been a wonderful experience. “Playing with this group of guys has been great. We just love playing… we’re always playing basketball,” Tom pointed out that he and his teammate Mikey Corneau, who was named First Team All Northern, have been teammates for many years. “Mikey and I have been on the court together a lot. He had an incredible season… if we needed a three-pointer, we knew who to go to.”

Tom said that the team has scouted out Maple Hill, their first opponent in this year’s Class C state playoffs (the game was played last night), and we’re ready for them… we hope to just keep on playing as long as we can,” said young Peterson.

Griffin Shaheen

There was an indication that this freshman, Griffin Shaheen, just might be a bright spot for the future of Tupper Lake hockey when he first took to the ice during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. The Jacks only played four games, but this freshman scored five of the team’s 10 goals… it was just a sign of what was to come.

During his sophomore season Griffin scored 17 goals and dished off 14 assists for a 31-point season. Last year, his junior year, Shaheen upped his goal total to 27 goals. Other teams were certainly taking notice. He also handed out 18 assists to finish the season with 45 points. In each of those two seasons the Lumberjacks finished the season with identical records, 2-17-1.

When Griffin’s senior season started there was plenty of hope for a much improved team. The Jacks lost their first two league games, with their senior captain scoring just one goal and assisting on another… but then something happened. The Jacks discovered they could celebrate after the final horn had sounded. The Jacks put together a four-game winning streak, beating Malone, Saranac/Lake Placid, Thousand Islands and Canton. In the four games the Jacks outscored their opponents 20-14. Shaheen scored 11 of those goals and was credited with six assists. He had back-to-back hat tricks, and certainly cemented himself near, or at, the top of the Division II scoring race. Tupper won two of their next three games, making their streak six out of seven.

As the season progressed the Jacks certainly had their ups and downs, but they were certainly in nearly every single game, and Griffin Shaheen was right at the heart of their attack. On Jan. 19 he scored four goals against Plattsburgh, On Feb. 10 Griffin enjoyed a six-point game against Northeastern Clinton scoring three goals and picking up three assists in an 8-2 win, and then on Feb. 14, in a league game, the senior sharp-shooter scored four goals and dished out four assists in a rare eight-point outing as the Jacks won 8-5, with Shaheen figuring in on every single goal.

The Jacks finished the season with nine wins, making it their most successful season. Griffin topped Division II with 35 goals and 59 points, stretching his career totals to 84 goals and 140 points.

The Jacks gave St. Lawrence Central all they wanted in the playoffs, storming back from a three goal deficit to tie the score, only to see the Larries score late to win 5-3. Griffin scored two of the three goals and assisted on the other. St. Lawrence went on to claim the Division II championship.

For his efforts Shaheen was named the Northern Athletic Conference Division II Most Valuable Player. Griffin said over the weekend that he didn’t know for sure what to expect before the award was announced. “I was a little bit surprised, but I earned it,” said the Lumberjack captain and top forward in Section 10. “What was really nice was being a part of putting Tupper Lake back on the map in hockey. It’s been a long time, and this season we finally started to get some respect. It was a fun season. We really played well.”

Griffin has been playing hockey since he was four or five years old. He has been a member of the St. Lawrence Steel, out of Canton, for some time and gets in about 20 games a season.

In addition to Griffin’s expertise on the ice, he is also an all-star caliber baseball player, not to mention an excellent student. In fact, Griffin has been announced as the Class of 2024 Salutatorian. But right now he’s looking forward to the 2024 baseball season. Shaheen is an all star catcher for the Lumberjacks and also plays some shortstop and is in the pitching rotation. “Our baseball goal for this year is to win Sectionals, and then advance to the State Final Four in Class C,” said Griffin.

The talented student/athlete has plenty of choices to further his education, but Clarkson University, in Potsdam, is at the top of his list. “I hope to look into playing both hockey and baseball at some level at Clarkson. When asked which sport he prefers, Griffin stated that “it’s really about 50/50. I love playing both.”

Congratulation to Tupper Lake’s two very special seniors… Tom Peterson and Griffin Shaheen… champions in every sense of the word!