Ice sheds off the floor as the blades of the skates travel around and out of the tight intersections. Players to tussle with one another, competing for the puck, right before the electrifying crowd stands up in roar for the home team as they complete the ultimate goal. Senior Noah Marsh spoke about his thoughts on the upcoming state JV tournament.

“I feel ready for it, a little nervous because our team has been up and down,” Marsh said. “But with how we have been playing recently. I feel like we have a chance during the state tournament, just have to show up with our full power.

Marsh spoke about the different teams he has played hockey for.

I have only been playing hockey for 5 years, maybe 6,” Marsh said. “I started with a house league, parks and rec, and 1 year of travel. I stopped for 2 years and then returned in my junior year of high school to play with the Icemen.”

Junior Cole Finney described personal experiences from the season.

“We went to a tournament in Owensboro and we lost in the final, and although we lost, we learned a lot from that because it was our first real loss of the season,” Finney said. “Coming out of that game, we learned and took a lot away from it, and now we are a lot more prepared for the state tournament because we have had adversity earlier in the season.”

Senior Calijah Kenny shared how training for hockey is different from other sports.

“It takes a lot of training to get into the sport off and on the ice,” Kenny said. “The fast pace and knowing where to be and when to be can be difficult to comprehend when you’re doing it for the first time.”

Marsh described what he believes are the challenging aspects of hockey.

“The most difficult part is the skating and the speed,” Marsh said. “Hockey goes a lot faster than a lot of other sports and also the hitting, it’s like football you always have to get back up.

Kenny spoke about the ways the team prepares for games.

“We prepare before going into games by focusing on the importance of the game, and not getting off-topic and talking about the games,” Kenny said.

Marsh explained more about the preparation process.

“We have two practices, this one on Monday and one on Thursday,” Marsh said. “For Thursday practices sometimes we will watch a film for the upcoming game. So the team we’ll play against but then before a game, we will all stretch and all go to the locker room and get ready in there as a whole team.”