Benilde-St. Margaret’s is a prestigious high school highly regarded by many as one of the top college preparatory schools in the state of Minnesota, but BSM is not just known for its outstanding academics and success in the classroom, but also for its outstanding athletics.
One of BSM’s most competitive and consistent teams is the girls hockey program, but to keep the program as successful as it’s been has taken many years and different girls to build its culture. “I think BSM girls hockey is built on a lot of discipline and consistency in practice, a lot of off-ice training, including lifting weights in the offseason and continuous skating for lots of hours. We added extra STP practices and weight training for this season. So that’s how we as a program are able to set ourselves apart from other girls hockey programs in the state,” senior captain Siena Carver said.
This year’s team plans on continuing the tradition of excellence in the girl’s hockey program. As they will be a team of mostly senior veterans and upperclassmen. They only graduated a couple of seniors last year. So these girls know what the expectations are in the program and are ready to meet them. “We have a lot of seniors, so I think it will help our team out this season as we already know what the expectations are, and we can help lead the underclassmen who are coming in,” senior captain Sienna Duffy said.
The success of a team is not only what they bring to t the ice, but it’s how they gel together as a group off the ice, and this team is as close as any in the state. They have spent a lot of time over the summer as a team building their chemistry on and off the ice. “We have spent a lot of time during the summer together not only on the ice at STP, but off the ice with lots of team bonding activities including sleepovers, cabin days, and other volunteer service projects, which have really brought the team together,” Carver said.
As the season starts and ends it will be pivotal to the future of BSM girls hockey that these senior veterans leave their marks on the program to help keep it trending in the right direction. “I’m going to work as hard as I can every time I lace up my skates, and make sure the program standards are the same or if not better than when I arrived here,” Duffy said.