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Zimo Xie

TEAM HUDDLE. The Metro-South Phoenixes get together and gather on the ice by the goalpost before the game commences. Together, the team talk strategy and lift the energy levels up.

From ferocious races for the puck to a slippery and wet ice rink, the Metro-South Phoenix faced off against the Lakeville South Cougars, ending the game with a loss of 2-0 on Dec. 7.

The Metro-South Phoenix is the girls hockey team consisting of six different schools: Burnsville, St. Paul Academy, St. Agnes, DeLaSalle, Faribault and Bethlehem Academy.

The game began with a face-off between the Phoenixes and the Cougars. After the face-off, the Phoenixes seized control of the puck, and the game officially kicked off as the players chased after the puck at full speed.

Hockey games consist of three periods on the ice, and in high school hockey, each period goes on for 17 minutes with intermissions in between. During the first period, the players continued to skate back and forth between the two goalposts, chasing after the puck and both teams aggressively attempting to score a shot each time. However, at the end of the first period, both teams were unsuccessful in scoring, and the period concluded at 0-0.

At the beginning of the second period, the Cougars suddenly scored a shot on the Phoenixes’ goal, and the stands began loudly cheering. But that wasn’t the end of it. As the second period progressed, the Cougars made yet another shot soon after their first. Despite the Phoenixes not scoring and the score going up 2-0 with the Cougars in the lead at the end of the second period, the coaches weren’t discouraged.

“We’re staying in the game right now, and that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to have a chance to win this thing in the third period, and we’re only down two, but we got to get the next ball,” said coach Evan Ziegler right before the third period.

As the third period began, the athletes struggled to skate properly on the slippery ice as the Phoenixes tried to defend their goal. It turns out that the Zamboni resurfaced the ice right before the players re-entered the rink, and the ice didn’t have time to dry yet, so the players were having a difficult time maintaining their balance on the wet ice. The coaches were incredibly upset at this fact and began shouting at the referees to pause the game for the ice to dry off.

“This is brutal. The ice is not dry yet,” exclaimed coach Ziegler to one of the referees.

After hearing the coaches, the referees temporarily paused the game for a minute, allowing the ice to dry. Once the ice had dried, the game started back up again.

The third period was similar to the first, except each team began shooting even more shots frantically. The game got even more heated as players crashed into each other and the boards while fighting over the puck. In the end, the Phoenix’s coach pulled goalie Millie Farrington out of the game to increase their chances of scoring by adding another player.

Center Ella Bond said, “It was very stressful when we pulled Millie, but I think there was nothing to lose, so I feel like it made me play a little better.”

At last, the game came to a close with no more points being scored in the third period, and after the game, the players shook hands with each other to congratulate each other on a good match. Following that, they all came together and posed with a large banner promoting athlete’s mental health as it was mental health awareness night.

The Metro-South Phoenix’s next game is today, a rematch with the Lakeville South Cougars at Drake Arena.