Portland, ME – This time last year North Broward Prep was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off for Portland.

And, waiting and waiting…

North Broward Prep, a college-prep school based in Coconut Creek, Florida, waited nearly four hours before returning to terminal because a December nor’easter pounded the eastern seaboard of the United States practically bringing travel to screeching halt.

The Eagles led by former NHL tough guy Peter Worrell, never made it north, but made the best of the situation by turning it into a positive, winning the school’s second state championship in three years.

“Everything that happens can be a life lesson and obviously not everything is going to work out as planned,” said Worrell. “You have to make sure you make the most out of every opportunity that you have because when things don’t work out are you going to pout or find another way.”

“Our veteran took it upon themselves to make sure they were going to play as many games as possible and they were able to help us get to where we wanted to go.”

Worrell, who spent seven years in the NHL with Florida and Colorado, recording 1554 minutes in penalties in 391 NHL games, has been the head coach of the program in southern Florida for the last six years, only missing the Florida State Championship game once in that span.

His goal when he took over the program was to expose kid of South Florida to colleges, universities and other junior programs across the county.

His other goal was to expose NCAA programs to players from Florida.

“There are a lot of good young players in the state of Florida,” he said. “It just a matter of time before Florida begins to get a little more recognition.

The Maine High School Hockey Invitational as well as several other well-known tournaments across the United States and Canada gives him that opportunity.

“We were very disappointed to miss last year,” he said. “We had an older team and we’re excited to come here and market them for the next chapter of their lives.”

“For our players, we want to give them the best possible opportunity to advance in the game. Fortunately, we were able to win our state championship and move onto Nationals – a tournament that encompasses winners from state championship games from across the county – which helped those players move on from there, but that was never a guarantee (to win the state title game). We’re glad to be here because we never want to take those moments for granted to get that exposure year after year.”

Worrell pointed that hockey is small in the overall context of what he’s trying to build in South Florida. While winning a successful program is important, it’s the not the end all, be all, of the program’s success.

“We want to teach the players how to play the game, how to be men,” he said. “We want to do the best for every kid that we have. We talk about kids moving on to the next level, but for me there are so many next levels. It could be playing at club level all the way to the NHL. Every player is different and we want everyone on the team to move as far as they possibly can.”

North Broward has a 2-1-0 so far in the Invitational with two more games remaining on Thursday at Biddeford Ice Arena against Brewer and Hebron Academy’s JV squad.

The Eagles only loss came against the Portland Jr. Pirates’ (Junior B) MET team by a 9-1 score at Portland Ice Arena on Wednesday.

“(Jr. Pirates) were a much better than we were,” said Worrell. “I’m not surprised by the outcome. At the end of the day I’m proud of how my kids competed until the end.”