South’s Girls Varsity Ice Hockey team is starting off their season well and have high expectations for the rest of the season according to Madison Ryszewski’19.

“We’ve won every game this season except for one,” Ryszewski said, “I think that it’s a good year, there are some good teams that are going to be hard to play against, but I think that we can win.”

The girls won their state’s tournament last year and are looking forward to trying to win again this year according to head coach, John Weidenbach. The girls are working very this season to win according to Weidenbach.

“We practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday for an hour each day except for an hour and a half on Friday,” Weidenbach said.

Throughout the season the girls play 24 games according to Weidenbach.

“We did really well last season, we won states, and we are hoping to win again this year,” Kelsey Francis‘20 said.

There are some new tough teams that the team is playing against this year like the Livingston United team that the team is hoping to beat according to Francis.

“I just think that it’s a good year, there are some good teams that are going to be hard to play against, but I think that we can win,” Ryszewski said.

This year, there are seven new players and they lost eight players but the team has really come together and became very strong according to Weidenbach. The team has many bonding activities so everyone gets along very well and are all friends according to Francis.

“Basically the entire team is like a big friend group, we all hang out, do stuff together and have fun,” Ryszewski said. “There’s always been a lot of team bonding. It’s always put together really well. The coaches are good and fun.”

According to Francis, Coach Weidenbach really pushes them to get better and help them succeed.

The girls have many hours of practices through the week to train for their games according to Ryszewski.

“We usually should have a game like once a week. A lot of games are scheduled on Thursdays and Saturdays but it just depends on our ice time and other team’s ice times.” Ryszewski said.

Many of the girls have played for a long time according to Francis and then moved on to the South team. There is a lot of experience in the team which makes the team very strong according to Weidenbach.

“I have been playing hockey since I was 5.” Francis said, “I knew a lot of girls that are older than me that I used to play with that played at South, so I followed their footsteps and ended up at South with them.”

It is also important to keep training during their offseason according to Weidenbach. The season is from Oct. to Mar. so they have a long season, according to Francis. Weidenbach recommends different types of training to different players for offseason depending on what they should be working on.

“A lot of the girls play for a different team which is like all of the high school teams combined to make sure they stay in shape before the season. Other people play different sports as well so it kind of depends.” Francis said.

As the season moves forward and the girls keep training they are excited for their tournament in Traverse City and hanging out with all of the team together according to Ryszewski. They are also looking forward to hopefully raising the state championship trophy again and also that they have a better outing in some of their non-league games for practice according to Weidenbach.

“On our team anyways, one way or another, we come together as a team and we usually always end up pulling on the same rope on the same direction, which is what you need in a team,” Weidenbach said.