Juniors fight for spot on varsity hockey team

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Josh Long

Courtesy of Josh Long- "In my opinion if any of the juniors or sophomores were better they would be playing" Long added as the last season JV players hope to get some playing time on varsity this year.

The boys’ varsity hockey team is almost always made up of all seniors this year. There will be a handful of juniors that could be receiving time on the ice. Last season, the team was amazing without losing one conference game and look to do the same this season.

Last season, the boys started 8-0 going up against pretty easy conference and outside of conference foes. Their ninth game came against Holy Family, a very strong team that finished the season 19-5. The game started well with a goal from last year junior Matt Stanton off of a power play. That closed the first period with the Pony’s lead.

Playing against Holy Family gave the ponies a reality check that nothing is given, everything is earned. The team ended 21-1-1 and lost in the state quarter finals to Wayzata. This varsity playing time is what many this year juniors want.

Last year’s sophomores are now trying out for the hockey team again. Among these juniors fighting for playing time on the varsity ice is junior Josh Long. Long played plenty of junior varsity time as a sophomore, but this year is his chance to get into the varsity team.

“It’s hard to tell how many seniors there will be but they are all really skilled and have more experience than most of the juniors,” Long said. The team performed extremely well last year and Long added the hopes are, “To make it back to the tourney”, and that there is a strong possibility to do so. Long hopes he will receive some varsity minutes but, “Playing time will vary depending on how well I do but from the circumstance I’m guessing I would most likely get more time on JV and less on varsity.”

Long explained the reasons that mainly seniors start. Long said, “I’d say for the most part the seniors are better and have more experience rather than they play just because they are older. In my opinion if any of the juniors or sophomores were better they would be playing over the seniors.”

Junior David Vanort is among the juniors trying out and has high hopes to achieve some playing time on varsity. Vanort said, “They don’t give ice time to juniors because all the seniors have played together since peewees and have such good chemistry.”

Vanort added, ” The team’s expectations are to get to the section championship and hopefully go to state again for a second year in a row.”

The varsity hockey team is one of the hardest sport teams to make it into. There are practices sometimes before and after school, so players will have to be all in for making the team or there won’t be a chance to win a spot.

As for expectations of Vanort’s own success, he has a more laid back approach. He said, “I work as hard as I can to get at least one game on varsity this year.”

Another player vying for a spot on the team is junior Adam Knapp. Knapp has been playing hockey for several years now and made the junior varsity hockey team last season.

Knapp said, “I’m not really expecting to play varsity but just being on the team is an experience I’ll never forget.”

Knapp added, “The seniors are very talented and have been playing together for a long time.”  Knapp later explained, “The coaches have a lot of hard choices to make but the seniors this year are really a group of guys that don’t often come through a program.”

The odds are slim for most juniors to get some playing time on the varsity ice, but with hard work and effort they give themselves a solid chance. Most likely there will be one or two juniors on the team, and those numbers could reduce or increase depending on how the practices workout.