The Varsity Hockey team has started off their season rough, yet the team hopes success is not far. Starting the season with a handful of losses motivated the team captains, Trey Louis and Ryan Siler,  to push their teammates to their greatest potential. “Captains of the team are leading by example and setting the culture of the program,” said Jason Caster, present Varsity Hockey coach. 

In preparation for future games, commitment is extremely important, according to coach Caster. The team skates an average of four times a week unless a game is scheduled for Wednesday. Every Monday and Wednesday the team participates in workouts with strength coach Mike Carbott. Once the workouts have finished, the team makes way for the rink. Mondays call for conditioning and skills where players can be found wearing a weight vest to strengthen targeted areas for half the duration of practice. The other portion of practice is focused on small groups working on various skills. “Defense and forwards will split up and work on their respective position skills with their position coach. On Wednesdays, a goalie coach comes out and we implement the game plan for the upcoming opponents and fine-tune our systems and special teams. Thursday, we put everything together and have a walk-thru style practice putting the entire week together,” said Coach Caster.

Due to the season starting off uneasy, motivation is key in moving forward. “We have very good leadership this year and the team knows the main goal is growth and we saw that from one game to the next,” claims Caster. The past Kenowa game resulted in a loss surprisingly quickly, yet the team responded the night after trailing Rockford 3-2 going into the 3rd period before running out of energy. Senior Captain, Trey Louis, stated that although the schedule moving forward may be tough, new teammates have brought youth. “We have a tough schedule, and we have a lot of our upperclassmen gone yet the guys are really young and they work hard in practice. I think we will be alright in the end,” said Louis. Looking forward, Caster exclaims how growth is a foreseeable achievement, and how fans play a major role in confidence levels. With this team being much smaller in numbers and younger from previous years, a brother-like bond has been formed between players very early on. “The atmosphere has changed a lot as the years have gone on. The energy is more positive and there is a lot less singling out. This team feels more like a family than it has ever in the past,” said Louis.  “The players bring a great attitude into the rink every day and do what they can to make themselves a little bit better each day.”