Once a year, the girls’ hockey team goes out of town for a tournament. This year, the team traveled up to the North Shore. The team played in Silver Bay and Moose Lake. They went 0-2 for the weekend, but had other experiences with teammates, friends and playing their sport.
According to freshman Lucy Boyum team bonding is a benefit of travel tournaments.
“You create bonds with your teammates,” Boyum said. “You make connections and become closer teammates.”
Team bonding has not only impacted the team off the ice, but on the ice too. Head Coach Ryan St. Martin said team bonding also helps the team’s performance.
“Without team bonding people just play individually,” St. Martin said. “It’s hard to win that way. With more chemistry on the ice it makes it easier on the girls to play, we typically see improvement in (team chemistry) after these trips.”
According to freshman Ella Koethe, out of town tournaments are a great way to branch out on the team.
“We get to spend more time together,” Koethe said. “It helps us connect more and talk to people we might not have talked to before. Team bonding is one of my favorite parts of these tournaments.”
Typically the girls’ hockey team goes on these trips once a year. According to St. Martin, in previous years the team went to other places.
“We’ve always done the Moorhead trip at the beginning of the year, or at least somewhere new to start the year strong,” St. Martin said.
These tournaments help the team see new competition across the state. Koethe said the new teams bring a fun aspect of the game.
“We play new competition,” Koethe said. “It’s fun to see other teams in the state, we get a new comparison for our team.”
According to St. Martin, new competition is important for teams so they can learn new perspectives of play and improve themselves.
“We see other parts of the state, new strategies, players,” St. Martin said. “We have a good time as a group.”
Girls’ hockey plays next at 7:00 p.m. Dec. 14 vs. Northern tier.
