Being one of only four other south suburban schools with an ice arena should give H-F a keen advantage in its recruitment for Ice Hockey players, but since the 2011-2012 school year, the team has dropped by an average of four players each year.

Even at its peak, the team only had 34 players, leaving no room for a freshman or sophomore team.
In fact, they have not been able to have a junior varsity team either since the 2012-2013 year, and theteam is on an even shorter leash than ever.

Not even Coach Perry understands why there aren’t many students interested in hockey.

“You’d think there would be more kids interested into coming out and playing hockey. With the Blackhawks winning, I thought we would kind of have an advantage in that way,” Coach Perry said. “But right now, there just aren’t too many kids interested.”

With that said, a team is a team no matter how small so Perry is looking to build up and make good of what he has.

“Building for the future is always the goal,” Perry said. “Next year we have nine potential freshmen that could come out and play.”
Nine new players is definitely something to look forward to and since the team will only lose four seniors, it looks like they will have a net gain in players for the start of the 2015-2016 season, if all goes well.

The small loss in seniors will also allow time for newer players to develop and get better even if the team doesn’t win very much.

“Playing in the game in every part is a teaching moment.” Perry said. “They can learn for their mistakes, and they can only get better from there.”
They are also still playing hard and trying to get ready for playoffs, according to Senior Captain Thomas Knetl.

“We are definitely competing at a higher level and with our playoff run last year, we have a little more heads turned toward us,” Knetl said. “This year, its my senior year and I’m just trying to make it far into the playoffs.”

Knetl just wants people to come out and watch them play.

“We are definitely a sport worth watching so come out and see us,” Knelt said.