The Varsity Gold Ice Hockey team took first place at state, advancing to nationals, in Minnesota, where they made it to the championship game and won second place.

“Nationals was really fun because I got to spend a lot of time with my team that otherwise we couldn’t,” sophomore right wing Lucas Reznikov said. 

16 teams competed at nationals, in a round robin format. 

“There were four sections of four teams,” Reznikov said. “In the round-robin, we were competing against three other teams in our division. Then whoever had the two best win-loss ratios went to the nationals championship.” 

According to Reznikov, one of the main challenges they faced at nationals was competing against really organized teams. 

“The teams are so structured and organized, and they have good team chemistry,” Reznikov said. “We only practice once a week so we were kind of betting on our individual skills and how we were able to develop as a team over this year. That was definitely the biggest challenge.”

Another challenge they faced at nationals was due to it being far from home. 

“At state, it was a local game so the stands and stadium were completely full,” Reznikov said. “The energy of the stadium was unmatchable. Nationals was really fun, but it’s never going to be able to match that local aspect.”

Reznikov advises younger hockey players to have fun, whether they win or lose. 

“The reason you play high school is not for these championships and all that, it’s to have fun,” Reznikov said. “For me specifically, I did not expect to make varsity gold coming from JV last year, but I did. In the beginning of the season, I was scared of messing up in front of all these amazing players but eventually I realized all of these guys are also in this to have fun.”