North Hockey Season Finishes Strong; Playoffs Begin

 The Parkway North Hockey team has had a difficult season thus far, posting a 6-13 record through 19 games and having a conference record of 5-6.  However, the team has improved towards the end of the season, winning four of its last eight games. The team’s six wins have come against Parkway South, St. Charles West, Granite City, Parkway West, Fort Zumwalt North, and Clayton.
             “I’m happy with the way we have been playing right now but I feel like we could have done a lot better in the beginning of the year.  When I look at our team, I know we could be winning more games, the talent is here, we just have to capitalize and focus game in and game out,” said goaltender Noah Feuer.
             The team’s scoring leader is junior Timothy Livingston. Livingston who is second in Missouri in goals scored this year.  Livingston goes to Troy Buchanan High School in Troy, Missouri.  He is playing on the Parkway North Hockey team because Buchanan does not have a hockey team, so Livingston was entered in a draft where he was picked by Parkway North. 
             “I’m glad that Timmy is on our team, he is a great player that scores the majority of our goals.  He’s not afraid to be physical and you’re never quite sure when he is going to shoot.  He can shoot from any position, he’s a scoring machine,” said Feuer.
             One reason that ice hockey is not as popular as football or basketball at North is because it is not a school sponsored sport.  The hockey team is funded by the players and their families, not by the school.  To become a school sponsored sport the MSHSAA, Missouri State High School Activities Association, must approve it.  In order to do that there must be a petition signed by a certain percentage of high schools in Missouri, once that’s done it is put on a ballot and voted on by all Missouri high schools. 
             “It would be very difficult for schools to add a sport right now because of the current financial situation, especially hockey because of the cost,” said athletic director Kris Kellams. “Right now hockey players can get the best of both worlds, they can wear the Parkway North jersey but they don’t have to play by the same rules and have the same eligibility requirements that sponsored sports do.”
             With the regular season now over, the playoffs are set to begin.  The team awaits the decision to which Cup they will play in and what seed they will receive.  There are three cups that North could play in; the Challenge Cup, Wickenheiser Cup, and the Founders Cup.  North doesn’t have a chance to play in the Challenge Cup, they did not post a good enough record.  So North can either receive a low seed in the Wickenheiser Cup or a high seed in the Founders Cup.
             “We’re going to get a high seed in the Founders Cup this year, hopefully we can make it pretty far in that,” said junior Mitch Cohen.
            North looks to learn and improve upon this season and do even better next year.
             “The beginning of the season we didn’t play too well but towards the end we started to click and play into the system.  Next year I hope we stick to the same system that we had at the end of the year and hopefully we’ll improve next year,” said Cohen.

By Connor Kraus