Undefeated For 9 in a Row, North Shore Storm Remains Ready to Go

This year marks Mike Hoff’s debut in the role of head coach of the North Shore Storm girls hockey team, he’s no stranger to coaching the sport. He served as an assis­tant coach for the team from 2007-2011 and, just last year, coached his son’s Peewee team.

A Silver Bay native and lifetime hockey lover, Hoff grew up playing for his home­town throughout his school years. He has passed his passion for the game to his chil­dren, all of whom are active hockey players today. His twins play at the Peewee level, and he has a son that competes in Bantams.

His daughter, Berke­ly Hoff, is a sopho­more this year and a standout goal scorer for the varsity team. According to mn­girlshockeyhub.com, Berkely has netted 13 goals this year and added 10 assists to her impressive stats.

As you can imagine, with so many young athletes in a family, the Hoffs are often on the go. “We don’t see each other as much,” said Hoff. “But we make it work. We enjoy the game of hockey. And if they like it, it’s pretty easy as a parent to say let’s go to the rink.”

The coach was on his way to the rink when I talked to him on Fri­day, December 20th. The team was geared up to take on North­ern Lakes at Rukavina Arena in Silver Bay. They were coming off of an overtime win against Sartell/Sauk Rapids the week be­fore, and, at that time, had a 8-1-1 record.

Despite this impres­sive winning season the team is experienc­ing so far, the coach believes they have the potential to elevate their game even fur­ther.

“We didn’t have the strongest of start, of course. We beat the teams, but we weren’t playing our best hock­ey. But I think we’re getting better every day as a team,” Hoff said. “The kids are starting to understand some of the systems that we have put in place and are buying in. And we’re seeing results from it, too. We’re beating some good hockey teams and it has been fun.”

The Storm has defi­nitely been playing some tough teams. The coach spoke of the game against Duluth, which the girls took 5-1. The game against Superior was won 5-2. “That’s probably the best team we’ve played all year and the best we’ve played as a team,” he recount­ed about the Superior Spartans.

He saw a difference in the team after they took on Cloquet, on the Lumberjacks ice, and took the W.

“I think a little bit of a turning point so far in the season was af­ter we played Cloquet to a 5-1 win and we scored 5 goals in the second period,” said the coach. “Ever since then they are playing pretty good hockey. A little more confi­dence and kids are understanding that we can beat a lot of these teams. That’s been nice to see.”

The Storm co-op, which includes play­ers from Two Harbors and Silver Bay, gained extra talent this sea­son with Duluth Mar­shall joining the team. According to Coach Hoff, they’ve been a welcome presence, seamlessly integrating into the team.

“We did receive 7 kids from Mar­shal which definitely helped create more depth on our teams,” said Hoff.

They are, according to the coach, “kids that just knew how to win. They bring that aspect to our team.” Two cap­tains on the team are from Marshall: senior Nina Thorson and ju­nior Sarah Stauber. Addison Bentler, a Two Harbors senior, is also a captain on the team. The fourth cap­tain, Marlee Hogen­son, also a senior, is on the injured list after extensive knee sur­gery. She is hoping to return before the end of the season.

All of the captains are great mentors to the younger players on the team.

“They’ve been showing them the way. They come to the rink, and they show up. They bring it every day and that’s what our younger kids need to see out of our lead­ers,” the coach said.

There are some very young talented play­ers in good numbers coming up, as well, in the program. The 10 U team is currently in the top 10. The 12U girls just traveled up to International Falls to play in a tournament where they took top place.

“The girls program is pretty healthy right now as far as numbers and that’s a good thing. If you have numbers, you should be able to compete,” said Hoff.

He believes that having balanced num­bers across age groups is key to building a strong, sustainable program — a philos­ophy reflected in the current success of the JV team.

“Our JV program is 8-2-1 in the season as well. They’ve been playing some really good hockey. Kids are playing where they belong. They’re not playing up from where they shouldn’t be play­ing. They’re getting good confidence play­ing hockey where they should be playing,” Hoff said.

It’s also a bit healthy to have some good competition within the team.

“We only graduate a goalie, defensem­an, and a forward,” the coach pointed out. “So, spots are tough to get, and it makes the people who want to get to a higher spot, or play in varsity, work that much harder. Ev­erybody gets better when there is competi­tive stuff like that hap­pening.”

Building a success­ful team requires tre­mendous dedication, and hockey demands a significant time com­mitment. For the North Shore Storm, this in­cludes long road trips to compete in distant arenas. Despite these challenges, the players are excelling academi­cally, with many earn­ing spots on the A and B Honor Rolls.

According to their coach, “The kids will be much better when they get out in the real world from having to prioritize. There will be a lot of life lessons that can be taught from being part of a co-op like this and part of the team. I think they’ll move mountains when they go out into the big world.”

It also takes a good coaching crew to form a successful team. The head coach is joined by Mike Guzzo, also from Silver Bay, and Callie Hoff, who came from Duluth Marshall. The JV team is coached by Rick Hogenson and Steve Graden.

The coaches have a lot of talks with the team about their goals for the season.

“We just want to get better every day and be playing our best hock­ey come early Feb­ruary when we start playoffs. That’s been our goal all year.”

The game against the Northern Lakes Lightning resulted in a win for the girls, bringing them another step closer to that goal.

Reese Costly opened the scoring early in the first. Fellow soph­omore Reagon Ho­genson and Stauber were there to assist. Thorson scored next with Hayden Bright, a sophomore, assisting.

Less than fifteen seconds later, Berkely Hoff added another, with the assists com­ing from Marshall’s two captains, Thorson and Stauber. That goal would seal the game, as goalie Alexa Har­rison delivered a stel­lar shutout with eight saves. The Storm un­leashed a relentless of­fensive effort, firing 40 shots on goal against Northern Lakes.

This victory brings the team to an impres­sive 9-1-1 record, with Minnesota River next on their schedule. The three-and-a-half-hour journey underscores Coach Hoff’s point about the significant time commitment hockey demands. Played the day after Christmas, the game against the Bulldogs promises to showcase the Storm’s talent, and I look forward to shar­ing how these gifted athletes performed in a future issue.