Every year in early November, the BSM boys’ hockey tryouts begin. The tryouts last a week, and take place at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center, right down the road from BSM. 

The tryouts start off easier and progressively get more intense throughout the week. “Monday and Tuesday are basically just practicing and getting back into the swing of the sport for the season ahead. Our head coach, Coach Pauly, doesn’t like to spend time examining the players on these two days because he just wants the kids to have time to prepare for the scrimmages later on in the week,” captain Blake Mesenburg, said.

As Monday and Tuesday came to a close, the intense part of the tryouts began. “On Wednesday we had our first scrimmage. We always play Minnetonka for our first scrimmage, and three games take place; two group ‘B’ scrimmages and one group ‘A’  scrimmage. Group A typically consists of the varsity kids, and the other two groups are the JV kids. After the scrimmages on Wednesday night, the first cuts were made,” captain Seamus Foley said.

After the first cuts took place on Wednesday, Thursday was another practice day in preparation for the scrimmages on Friday. “Thursday is like a normal practice. In past years, the tryouts have been more drill focused, but this year Coach Pauly had a better idea of the teams so the practices were not as intense because kids had a good idea of what level they were placed in,” Mesenburg said.

The final night of tryouts is Friday. “We had two scrimmages on Friday, Eden Prairie and Blaine. The teams we played were a good match-up for us. After the scrimmages on Friday, the final cuts were made,” captain Nate Schweitzer said. 

It is not always easy to go through tryouts. “The scrimmages are fun and all, but I always feel bad when kids get cut, especially the seniors. For the seniors, there is no next season for high school hockey, and the senior hockey players are my closest friends,” Schweitzer said.