Girls hockey starts the season with determination

On Wed. Nov. 2, the outdoor temperature reached 60 degrees while girls hockey held tryouts inside the Minnetonka Ice Arena.

After one-week-long tryouts, a varsity and junior varsity roster was finalized, and the season preparation began. The Royals’ practices include drills to enhance technique and offense before the season’s quick start.

“We’re working hard to improve our shooting and scoring this year; from here on out we’ll be focusing on puck handling and shooting,” said Chris Erickson, head coach.

With 10 seniors, the Royals are anticipating a strong season supported by their leadership and improvement.

“I think we’ve got a really good group of seniors so it’ll be exciting to see them finish up their high school career and we’re looking forward to a great season,” Erickson said.

For captain Stella Haberman, senior, her last year as a Royal is bittersweet.

“This season I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun with these girls that I’ve grown up playing with, getting prepared to play in college and just enjoying my last season here at HHS. I want to go out on a strong season,” Haberman said.

The new season also provides new opportunities to developing players of the past years.

“We’re expecting big seasons from [juniors] Kylie Hanley, Annika Patterson, and [seniors] Haberman and Kate Glover. [Juniors] Kallie Kuemichel and Amanda Olson have really impressed us the first couple days [at tryouts] so we’re expecting them to step up and play a lot more than they have and be more apart of the offense,” Erickson said.

Currently they have three college commits on their varsity team: Hanley, committed to University of Minnesota – Duluth, Haberman, committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Glover, committed to Harvard.

As the season kicks off, Annika Carlander, senior, hopes to fulfill her role as an upperclassman during her last year on the team.

“I hope people remember me as a strong person and leader,” said Carlander. “I hope people look up to me as an important goal-tender in the program.”

The Royals’ season opener was on Thurs. Nov. 10 against Orono at 7p.m.

The Royals beat the Spartans 3-0, and hope to use their confidence in their games ahead.

“It’s good to get [the first game] over with so now we can focus on what we need to work on. We have a couple of young girls that were thrown into the mix and there’s just a few things we need to tweek. The effort is there it’s just we made a few too many mistakes,” Erickson said.

Although there’s still work to be done, Glover remains optimistic about their strong start.

“I’m looking forward to everyone settling into their spots. Our team is a good mix of seniors, juniors, and younger girls, so I’m excited to see us all mesh together,” Glover said.