At 9:30 in the morning, Jan 28, the girls hockey team defeated White Bear Lake, 8-3, at Hockey Day MN. This is the team’s third time playing at Hockey Day MN., the most recent time being in 2017, and the first time for the players. The pressure and excitement were high and the girls were left happy and satisfied by their win.

Hockey Day is important for the hockey community and the people outside of it. It has been going on since 2007 and is an event that high schools, colleges and even the Wild play at. Different communities host Hockey Day with outside hockey games filmed on live television.

“It is a great tradition in Minnesota, especially for hockey lovers. It has been going on for a while. It is just like a big celebration. It is super fun. My family and I try to go every year. There is just like, a bunch of events and stuff to do,” senior Hunter Reardon said.

While people go there to celebrate hockey, and what it means to them and connect with other hockey fans, Hockey Day is not solely about the sport. It is an opportunity for foundations and small businesses.

“It’s not just about hockey and games, it’s about other organizations, like Sophie’s Squad, and a bunch of other vendors come out to promote their businesses,” sophomore Hailey Olson said.

The team found out they were going to play at Hockey Day last summer and have been excited and preparing for it ever since. It pushed them to do their best.

Reardon was incredibly excited about playing at hockey day and the idea of it was a driving force for the team and something to look forward to when things in life were getting hard or bad.

In their games before Hockey Day, the girls were dominating their opponents and worked incredibly hard, building up their strength and skill.

“We’re actually doing really well. We won 16-0 in our conference and we’re conference champs,” Olson said.

After practicing, preparing, and working hard in their conference, all their hard work paid off. Hockey Day did live up to their hopes and expectations as they won the game, 8-3.

“It was really good. I think we had a lot of energy coming into the game and once we got out there, it was like, we did what we know how to do,” junior Brooke Nelson said.

Even though they started the game 0-1, they made up for it. They started scoring goals and did not stop.

“I think we just were too excited, and we just kind of got a little frazzled. And after [White Bear Lake] scored that [goal], we just went off and scored. We just kept scoring,” Olson said.

Besides practicing and working hard, there was another contributing factor to their game and their win: their energy.

Nelson feels her team is driven by their energy and they “get a buzz from having so much energy and I think it is so important.”

Overall, doing so well and winning was such a huge accomplishment for them. It was a crazy, wonderful thing that the team worked very hard for.

“It was like ‘I cannot believe this is happening right now.’ Like, you know? It was one of those moments where, like, is this real? Someone pinch me,” Reardon said.

Now that the team has played and won at Hockey Day, they are ready to switch their focus. While being a little bit nervous, they feel ready, confident and capable to do well in sectionals and start the next chapter in their season and lives.