Metro South hockey creates team culture

ANNIE ZHANG THE RUBICON

With a record of 7-9-0 and tough competitors in both the South Suburban conference and [3AA] section, Metro-South hockey is preparing for their upcoming postseason sectional games in their inaugural season playing together. The co-op team is combined with Burnsville, Faribault, Faribault Bethlehem Academy, DeLaSalle, and St. Agnes.

“Our conference and section all have teams in them that we compete very well with, which keeps things very interesting and fun,” freshman Ella Bond said.

During the team’s training, a challenging learning curve of working with new players from six different schools came to light. However, competing at such a high level requires players to overcome these oppositions.

“I think our biggest challenge was mixing all the schools to create a new co-op [...],” junior Charlotte Goings said.

To bond, the girls tried a few different strategies: teaching all of the new members a Burnsville player’s tradition and learning to enjoy one another’s presence before games and practices.

“To get to know each other, we have been doing stuff off [the] ice like team dinners at the rink,” senior Greta Magnuson said.

During the holiday break, the team mixed typical dry-land conditioning with seasonal fun like sledding and secret Santa.

As postseason sectional games approach, the team is putting in extra work to prepare for their opponents. According to Bond, an average practice starts “[...] at 4 pm, so the SPA girls usually get to the rink around 3:30. [The] coach always has a “practice plan” that says what we are doing in practice that day.” conference

Generally, “most days have things like some shooting drill to warm up, 3-0 weave, 3-2 weave, neutral zone, power play and penalty kill,” she said.

AFTER THE PUCK.