A new girls’ hockey co-op for SPA brings two things to the community: a buzz of excitement and a hunger for victory. Three years. Three co-ops. Change can be hard but as the SPA Girls Hockey leaves Phoenix Hockey after a 4-20-1 record and joins the Blake Bears, the players focus on the excitement of something new. Joining this team, a co-op of Independent Schools Blake, Providence, and Minnehaha, means switching from the Double-A league to the Single-A league. Players predict it will be a better fit for competition. To many girls in the program, the decision to form a new co-op was a significant but exciting adjustment.
Junior Ella Bond has played as a center on Phoenix for the past two years. “I think that a lot of athletes at Blake and other schools we are combining with are really good,” she said.
Bond enjoyed spending time with her teammates in previous seasons, including carpools, team pasta dinners, and bus rides to away games.
“There are a lot of people that I became friends with that I would have never met if it weren’t for hockey. A lot of them were older than me, so it was kind of cool to be able to communicate with them since they were like role models,” she said. Even though the Blake Bears co-op means playing with new people, which can be scary, she is optimistic about making lasting connections.
7th grader and defender Yi Salonek is new to high school hockey and is also one of the youngest players in the program. Despite expressing nervousness about the upcoming season, she feels fortunate to even have a team at all.
“Without the co-op, we would only have around eight players since there is a very small girls’ hockey community at SPA,” she said.
Salonek also predicts that the co-op will be a positive change, with one of the only downsides being having to adjust to a new social dynamic.
“There might be a little bit of cliqueness with the other teams in the beginning,” she said. “All the girls are really welcoming though, so I don’t think it will be a big problem.”
Coach Kristi King of the Blake Bears is excited for SPA to join their co-op.
She knows that entering a new team can be difficult, but recognizes the resilience of young athletes.
“We have great kids who are disciplined and ready to achieve their goals,” she said. “Having kids that are focused on doing well in school, performing at the rink, and trying to make a difference outside of both is a fun combination.”
King doesn’t predict too many difficulties with the new co-op, and she has already seen players meshing well in the pre-season.
“A great part of hockey is that it teaches kids valuable life lessons that can impact the trajectory of their life in many ways,” she said. “We should be so grateful that we can pull from a couple of different communities to form a successful bond and achieve some really great things together.” King believes that one of the benefits of the new co-op is that it’s a way to teach players how to deal with changes.
The players, as well as the head coach of the program, think that the upcoming co-op will be beneficial for creating a competitive environment while maintaining a tight-knit community. Though a new team can come with challenges, the girls are hopeful of what the Blake Bears can become. Their first game is on Nov. 9 at the Dick Vraa Ice Arena against Osseo.
