St. Louis Park’s JGA hockey team, the Flyers, have started the season out strong. The boys have set the bar high for themselves this season as they’re working toward becoming state champions, in addition to winning Nationals at the end of February.

The most important part of being a team is making sure the players have good chemistry with each other. While the team is made up of mostly Benilde-St. Margaret’s students, there are always a few players on the team that are from other schools. This year, there is senior Dante Hajiani from the Academy of Holy Angels, and former BSM student, Jake Hankinson.

Hajiani is a first-year Flyer. His teammates describe him as quiet, yet solid and strong in his endurance and defense techniques. “[Hajiani] has made the transition to welcome a new player from a different school really easy and he gets along with everyone really well,” junior Charlie Damberg said.

Hankinson is also a first-year Flyer. Though he doesn’t attend BSM anymore, he still enjoys playing his favorite sport with his former classmates. “[Hankinson] is good for the chem, and it’s good to have him back in the locker room after he left,” senior Sam Siegel-Horne said.

Having won the Minnetonka Invitational back in December, the team hopes they will make it to State and win in March. They feels that their goals can be reached with the help of each other and with players like senior Ty Ballinger who is described by teammates as an aggressive defenseman, senior Cavan Slocum who helps the Flyers with numerous saves and is a well-respected teammate, and senior Nic Dokman who is known to have great speed and stick skills. Many of the boys want to score lots of goals, while others enjoy the fun and the rowdiness of Junior Gold games.

Throughout their three and a half month season, the boys expect some easy competition and some tough games. While scoring a painless win against Blaine, they believe their hardest games will be against schools like Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, and Edina. They would also like to make big comebacks against schools like Centennial and Wayzata since those games weren’t what they hoped for. “With Wayzata, they scored on power plays so as long as we get a few penalties\; I think the next games we’ll be able to score more,” Siegel-Horne said.

They also have an insane number of fans at each game, which always gives the boys a boost, whether it be scoring or getting a big hit. “Games are always rowdy, and sometimes that gets out of hand. But for the most part, it’s a really fun experience, and I look forward to every game,” Damberg said.