As the boys hockey season came to an end with a 1-0 loss in the section quarterfinals to the Wayzata Trojans, 10 seniors completed their competitive hockey careers that night. But for Matt Hines and Josh Kuehmichel, seniors, Junior Hockey is next.

Junior Hockey is generally for players between the ages of 16-20 years old. Junior Hockey is split into different regions throughout the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., the top tier is represented by the United State Hockey League (USHSL), the second-highest tier is the North American Hockey League (NAHL), and the third-highest tier is split between several different leagues.

Travis Boyd, an alumni of the HHS boys hockey team, was drafted by the Washington Capitals of the NHL in 2011 and now plays for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Boyd played Junior Hockey for the U.S. National Development Program, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., after he graduated early from HHS.

Hines and Kuehmichel are a defenseman and a goalie, respectively.

“The minute I get there I am competing for the starting job,” Kuehmichel said. “It is a huge role for a young player like me to step up and play goalie and lead by example.”

Both Kuehmichel and Hines were captains on the varsity team this year. Kuehmichel posted a .910 save percentage during the regular season. Hines led the team in penalty minutes with 39 and started almost every game.

As the captains begin their Junior Hockey careers, they will each be heading to different places. Hines will be playing for the Minnesota Magicians in the NAHL, which is based out of Richfield, Minnesota. Kuehmichel, will be playing for the Brookings Blizzard in the NAHL, which is out of Brookings, South Dakota.

Junior Hockey is usually played during your first and second years out of high school. When choosing to play Juniors, both Hines and Kuehmichel are opting to take the year off from college.

“At first I was a little scared of taking a whole year off of school,” Kuehmichel said. “But it is my dream to play Division I hockey, and it is really hard to go straight from high school hockey to college hockey, so I am playing Juniors. Also, colleges look for mature players and they will find that out of my time in Junior hockey.”

Both players are looking forward to the next step in their hockey careers, and are looking to exceed Juniors and try to go to the next step which is College Hockey. Kuehmichael, does not know what college he would be interested in, but Hines, would be interested in Minnesota, Mankato.

“I’ll try to be the hardest working guy out there, and I will always try to lead by example”, Hines said.