It was 49 seconds into overtime when the HHS boys hockey team won 2-1 against the number one single A team, Hermantown high school.

“We were on the power play and Nate Nelsen took a wrist shot from the blue line. Noah Bragg screened the goalie and the puck found the back of the net,” said Matt Hines, senior captain.

The team has been having these kind of close games for the majority of their season so far having five of their 16 games go into overtime.

Since 2010, they have not won more than 11 games in the season. With only 12 games left to play including sections, they have already won 11 games. At a record of 11-5-1 they are already on track to beat their record from 2009 which was 11-14-1.  The most successful season before that, was in 2007 with a record of 22-4-1.

Since they have won a total of 11 games, they are in the process of a more successful season than they have had since the 2009 season and before that, 2007.

Hines has led the team to many successes so far this season. He believes that the team is motivated by positivity.

“[We] work hard in practice, [we] work hard in games, [we] make smart plays in games and [I] have a positive attitude to lead the team,” Hines said.

Despite the few losses that were mostly all lost in overtime, the team is still working hard in games has that positive attitude.  They are now ahead of their impressive record in 2009 which was the best season they had had in a long time. Hines is happy about the record but still thinks there is room for improvement.

“[The record] could be better, I mean we have had a couple heartbreakers, but thats hockey so we’re happy right now,” Hines said.

Josh Kuehmichel, senior captain, also thinks the past few games could have been won, but is optimistic, as well.

“We lost some games in the past week that we thought we should have won, but we got to just keep moving forward. I think the fact that we all believe that we can win these big games is why we are doing better. We didn’t really think we could win the conference games, until last year when we beat Tonka twice,” Kuehmichel said.

Kuehmichel thinks the team works hard at practice and it is the amount of hard work and belief in each other that leads them to win games.

“We all have good chemistry with each other and we all have these big goals that we want to accomplish, so that helps,” Kuehmichel said.

As the goalie, Kuehmichel relies on his team as well to keep the puck on the opposite side of the ice, far away from the goal he is defending.

“It boosts my confidence to know that I have my team in front of me having a ton of effort and scoring goals so that I’m not the only one doing my job,” Kuehmichel said.

Corey Peterson, head coach, started coaching the team just last season and has made a positive influence on the team.

“The potential is endless with this bunch of guys. They have the talent and they can go as far they want to,” Peterson said. “I came in wide-eyed, not knowing what to expect. Now that I know the team, It’s a much easier relationship with them now.”