Spartan Hockey works to win
On Friday night at 7:30 p.m Saint Paul Academy’s Boys Varsity Hockey Team played Highland Park and won 4-1 which is a barnburner. After a nervous start, the first period ended goalless tied 0-0. SPA started the second period strong scoring a goal in the 12:36 minute but Highland responded by netting a goal ending the period tied 1-1. In the third period, SPA shone, scoring 3 goals in a matter of 8 minutes. SPA deserved this win, outshooting Highland 49-18.
Although winning is a key part of sports it isn’t everything, a quote by Lionel Messi (a famous soccer player), “ There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.” This statement is true because although sports do teach you qualities such as sportsmanship, hard work, and dedication, most importantly they teach you teamwork which is the biggest part of sports. SPA Junior Jake Hosszu agrees with this saying, “We are like a family because we spend so much time together. We are always with each other whether it is at school, the rink, or any one of the guys’ houses. We are family because of the bonds we’ve created with all the other guys in the room.” This goes to show how much sports can benefit a person, it gives you friends or people you can view as a family, these bonds can last a lifetime.
SPA Junior Quinn Appert supports this by saying, “We spend a lot of time together. When we win we spend more time together, and when we lose we practice hard together so we can win.” Like any family, the SPA hockey team works through the tough times so they can get back up and win for themselves and their enthusiastic fans. This is the nature of sports. For the Spartans, their season started off downhill losing 4 out of their 5 first games, but hard work and perseverance led them to win 3 out of their last 5 games and tie one. Jake Hosszu said, “The locker room is a lot different after wins rather than losses. After wins, we always like to have a dance party in the locker room. After losses, we are usually pretty upset and each guy handles it differently.” Every player and team wants to win but only one can do so, the only thing you can do is keep working to be your best self. The close-knit family of this hockey team wouldn't be possible without all the fans, on Friday night there were close to 50 home fans and 30 away fans. Quinn Appert said, “The fans are Awesome, every night they are there supporting us”. The fans support the team when they win giving them further motivation to be their best and cheer them on when they lose so they can pick up their heads and win the next game.