Fire and Ice
3.2
The amount of time that no Holy Family student of 2018 will forget. The boys hockey team, however, wants that time to be a time of the past. The Fire were up 4-3 in the final seconds of the section final game against the Minnetonka Skippers last season, which was going to give the Fire their first state appearance in school history, but a goal scored with 3.2 seconds left forced the game into overtime which then led to the Fire falling short 5-4 to the eventual state champions. The Fire have come up just short in each of the past few seasons, losing to both Eden Prairie and Minnetonka in the section final. After another grueling offseason, the Fire are ready to make another run… this time, hopefully, ending in a state tournament appearance. The Fire enter the season as the #8 ranked team in the state. They have had two big tests in their first few games of the season going up against #1 ranked Edina and #11 ranked Wayzata; losing both. The slow start should not alarm anyone as they started last season 1-1 in the same tournament and ended up finishing the year at 23-3-1. The Fire have had a different goaltender in each of the last 2 seasons with Jared Moe and Conan Hayton. This season the Fire turn to Mahtomedi transfer Bailey Huber who finished last season with a 93% save percentage for state bound Mahtomedi High School. The Fire have high hopes entering the season despite losing D1 recruits Brady Ziemer and Ben Almquist to SCSU and Wisconsin. Captain Danny Reddan vocalized his expectations saying, “I have pretty high expectations for our team this year. We have come off two very strong years just a step short of where we wanted to be, but I think that with some fresh blood we will be able to accomplish the goal we work towards… we’re looking forward to another fun year and hopefully we’ll get to see all the fans in the bleachers this year.” The Fire play their next game on December 1st @ the Victoria Ice Arena against Blake (0-1).
The Holy Family Wildfire… check that. The Holy Family Fire girls hockey team is off to a hot start this season. The Fire are no longer joined with the Wildcats of Waconia; for the first time the two schools are now their own programs! Starting Goaltender Alex Pellicci, who had a solid season last year with a 93% save percentage to go along with 3 shutouts, had this to say about the transition from Wildfire to just the Fire, “Going from being apart of the Wildfire to just the Fire has been a very positive experience for the entire team. Overall, the team feels closer and more like a family resulting in no separation in the locker room. You can feel the enthusiasm of the girls when they talk about the new team and the brand new locker room. It is an amazing environment to be apart of, and I am very excited for the year.” The Fire girls started the season off HOT with 3 wins as a new program, outscoring opponents 15-3. They did however come up short in their first home game (11/27) falling to Chaska/Chanhassen 3-2 in a tightly contested game throughout. The Fire finished last season as conference champions with their 16-8-1 record and look to do the same this year, “We all have the same goal of making the state tournament this year. The players are all very young ranging from 8th graders to juniors while not having a single senior. But the talent of these young players is amazing and will lead the girls hockey team to some major accomplishments. The rest of the season will be filled with ups and downs, but we are striving to be conference champions again along with winning the section.”, said Pellicci. The Fire play their next game on December 1st @ Skakopee Ice Arena against Shakopee High School (3-1).