The North Shore Storm boy’s hockey team are facing a number of challenges in this young season and are meeting them head-on. Coach Shawn Lundgren said, “We are a very young team with only three seniors. We have twenty skaters and three goalies and we play a JV schedule from that roster. Complicating that is the fact that two of the twenty skaters are injured so most of our skaters play one period of junior varsity.”
“Early in the season, we played (and tied) South St. Paul and the game went into overtime. We played the following day, played a strong first period, and then we clearly ran out of gas. That said, the advantage of the small roster is that our young players are getting tons of experience.”
Captains for the Storm are senior Grayson Peterson and junior Jake Stadler. Goalies for the team are junior Zac Bentler and senior Chase Mallory.
Last week, the Storm beat Ely 3-2 before dropping a 5-1 decision at Hayward. Lundgren added, “We just didn’t have the same energy. Young players have to learn the importance of being mentally prepared.” The Storm plays at Riverside Arena in Moose Lake this Saturday at 7:00 pm before facing Cambridge on Thursday, December 22nd in Two Harbors, JV at 4:00 pm and Varsity at 6:00 pm. The Storm will also play in the Proctor tournament along with Superior, Ely, Osseo, New Prague and Moose Lake the week after the Christmas holiday. “The advantage of that is that we get a lot of hockey in a short period and it will get them ready for the conference schedule which starts in earnest in January.”
Junior Jake Stadler is a co-caprain along with senior Grayson Peterson. Stadler said, “We are a young team with some good, hard working kids. We have had some injuries and illness, but the best part is we have a good bunch of guys and we like each other. I think we will be okay and we will be competitive.”
Lundgren says the highlight of the season has been that his team is very coachable, willing to learn, and they get along well. “We have made a lot of progress so far this season.”
