Despite early season losses to perennial hockey powerhouses Edina and Minnetonka, freshman McCabe Dvorak said he believes it is good for the team to play such a hard schedule.

“We really just take all of the good things we can from every game, regardless of the outcome, and keep playing,” Dvorak said. “Even when we lose this team has been growing so much each game.”

According to head coach Colin Hohman, stronger opponents bring out the best in his team.

“Pretty much every time we have played a really good team this year, we have played right up to their level,” Hohman said. “We haven’t always gotten the results we wanted, but we really do step it up when we play elite programs.”

Dvorak said it is especially beneficial for Park to be matched up against section 6AA rivals, such as Edina and Wayzata, during the regular season.

“It helps to play section teams early because we know what we need to do to win this game so we can get seeded higher than them and then either get a home section game,” Dvorak said. “If we beat them once, we know we can beat them again.”

However, according to Dvorak the team is not currently focused on their postseason matchups.

“We really know that every game matters, both for section seeding and just for our team momentum, so we are taking it one day at a time at this point,” Dvorak said.

According to Dvorak, their victories against teams like Lakeville South and Wayzatas don’t change how they views matchups against weaker opponents.

“We don’t think about it like ‘oh we’re going to win’, or think it will be easy because we have beaten a couple of better teams earlier in the season,” Dvorak said. “We treat all the teams the same; if we are playing Edina or Kennedy we just have to play how we play.”

Dvorak said the key to postseason success for Park lies in their management of powerplay opportunities.

“The powerplay is really our most important piece at this point,” Dvorak said. “If we can get that power play going, we know we can beat just about any team.”

According to Hohman, Park has a good chance of having more success this season if they can become more consistent.

“We have shown that we can really play at the highest level, so the challenge now is getting these boys to play at that high level every time we get on the ice,” Hohman said.

According to Dvorak, he has his sights set on playing Edina in the section playoffs.

“My goal for this team is to at least get to the section final, and hopefully get to play Edina at Mariucci Arena,” Dvorak said. “I really do think we could beat them this time and make it to the state tournament.”