This year at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, both the girls’ and boys’ varsity hockey teams lost quite a few seniors. So, how are the teams recovering?

Teams lose seniors every year, so they have to figure out how to bounce back. The boys’ hockey team has worked and trained hard. “We’ve just been putting in the work because every year you do lose seniors, so we’ve been just trying to build the young guys up so that they can fill in that role,” senior captain Peter Giertsen said.

The girls have had a strong bond in the past and they have a goal of keeping that bond. It keeps the team working together. “[We have been] trying to rebuild or keep the structure of the team chemistry that they built for all the younger girls, making sure that that’s still stable this season,” senior captain Annie Juckniess said.

Changes from losing seniors happened to both teams. The boys are trying to work with the younger players to build them up to fill the roles. “A lot of leadership was lost, but we’ve been working a lot with those younger guys, so that they can step up as leaders,” Giertsen said.

The girls now have a younger team, and have to build them up as well. The older girls on the team have played more at the varsity level, so it is more about experience. “[The] older girls have much more experience than the younger ones,” Juckniess said.

With having a younger team of girls the team works a little differently than it did last year and they are working hard on team chemistry. “I feel like a lot of the players who were there last year are even closer this year, and are doing a great job of welcoming in the new players,” senior captain Abby Garvin said.

The boys still have a strong group of players that played together last year. They are helping the new players adjust to playing with the team. “We still have like a core group of guys that were on the team last year and have been able to help the other guys get into this new role and to join the team,” Giertsen said.

It’s important to bring the team chemistry off of the ice to build that strong sense of a bond. This year the team has done an escape room and a dinner. They also have pasta dinners before big games, and spend a lot of time together during their out of town games when they stay in hotels. “Bringing our relationships outside of the rink, and bringing that to the rink has really helped everything come together and our playing,” Juckniess said.