hockey season
The hockey season was such a success this with 15 wins out of 18 games. This is a big success considering this is the smallest team in the state with only 14 players. As Coach Moe van der Slays said, “For having the smallest team in the state, it was great to end the year in third place overall. We ended the season with a 15 – 3 record and couldn’t be prouder of what these players accomplished.”
The team loved playing hockey and had a blast being on the team. They were all excited to make it to semifinals, especially with how small their team was this year. After asking the team what their favorite memory was this year, most said it was beating Park City. “My best memory of this season was beating Park City Red. They were beating all the teams they played and they have been known to be the best team for many seasons. It was the quarterfinals for playoffs and we knew if we won it would make playoffs a lot easier and we wouldn’t be placed in the losers bracket. We had to play a lot in our own end and play good defense all game. When our chance came we took it and got the first goal. They later scored to tie it 1-1 and it went to a shootout that lasted 10 rounds. We ended up winning even though they had 75 shots and we had around 10,” stated Jack Cunningham.
The Juan Diego hockey team is different from other hockey teams, it is a much smaller team. With that smaller team it makes it so that you are closer with each other and think of each other as a family. Being able to represent Juan Diego and get a closer bond with people in the Juan Diego community. They have a team of skill levels, with players that just started to players that have been playing for a while. Since on a non-school team you have people of around the same skill levels, on the Juan Diego team you have people of all levels. They have this bond with each other and being able to help each other out on the ice when one of them needs it.
