High school sports seem to go by in an instant for many student-athletes. Once they hit senior year, that time seems to speed up exponentially. This has been true for the seniors of the hockey team as they still look to improve in their final season of high school sports.
“As a senior, it’s almost like you have nothing to lose,” senior Jeremy Kader said. “You have to leave it all out there because there is no guarantee that you will get to play again. If you’re a senior you just have to leave it all out there like every game is your last.”
“Being a senior, I have to work harder,” senior Brett Smith said. “It’s not so much that I want to leave my mark, but I want to help my teammates so that they can leave their marks on the program in the years to come.”
Since it was the seniors’ last offseason, they put in a tremendous amount of work to get better in preparation for the season.
“We focus on off-season training off the ice and on ice. We also lift and do a lot of cardio to get into game shape,” senior Colin Ketterer said.
“I focused on improving my skating and getting as much time on the ice as possible. Getting enough practice time was my biggest focus of the offseason,” Kader said
“During the offseason, my biggest focus was on lifting to get ready for the season,” Smith said.
After putting in the work during the offseason the Patriots will still look to keep improving during the season and win games.
“I plan to build on what I’ve accomplished by just keep doing what I do. We have to trust the process in order to win,” Ketterer said.
“To improve this season, we need to have better teamwork and communication,” Smith said.
However, the Patriots are looking to keep their eyes on winning the state championship this season.
“The goal for us as a team is to win the state championship,” Ketterer said.
“Obviously the end goal is to win the state championship but our goal is to keep improving as a team. There’s always work to do to keep getting better,” Kader said.
The Patriots started off the season with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. They will look to power through the season as they get ready for the state tournament which begins in February.
