High School Girls Hockey Brought Outdoors For Special Game

DULUTH, Minn. — For the first time in over a decade a high school girl’s hockey game was played out in the elements.

The head coaches of the Proctor, Hermantown Mirage, and Duluth Northern Stars were former teammates on UMD, and wanted to add a different kind of competition for their regular season matchup.

“The outdoor rinks are, you really get back to your roots of like why did you lie hockey cause when you’re really little and it’s this cold, you still come back every day snd I think that this kind of brings that back as to why they started playing hockey, why’d they fall in love with the game, and just kind of get back to that again,”  Jamie Plesha, Head Coach of The Duluth Northern Stars said.

Along with their JV and varsity teams, a pair of Duluth U-12 teams went head to head as well.

“Why we wanted to do this is get the younger girls with us and being able to have that connection today and build those relationships so that hopefully the girls continue to want to play hockey and come through the programs as they get older,” Emma Stauber, Head Coach of the Proctor Hermantown Mirage said.

And for the players, it was a bittersweet feeling to start wrapping up their high school careers in the same way it all started.

“It’s great I mean I know a lot of us grew up playing outdoors, like I grew up playing at twig so it’s kind of nice to go back to like when we were kids and having outdoor tournaments like that,” Abby Pajari, Senior Goaltender for the Mirage said.

And for Hannah Martin, a Senior Captain for the Duluth Northern Stars, its the cherry on top, to her youth hockey career, “I grew up playing at Portman so I was basically playing outdoor every day and it feels like the good old days being back, it’ll be super fun and a good way to end senior year”.

Proceeds from Saturday’s game will go towards the nonprofit Sophie’s Squad, which raises awareness about mental illness and provides resources to youth and young adults who need them.