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Southern Utah Gets First-Ever High School Hockey Team

By Catherine Silverman

Jan 26, 2014; New York City, NY, USA; Local youths play hockey on a small rink inside Yankee Stadium before the Stadium Series hockey game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 26, 2014; New York City, NY, USA; Local youths play hockey on a small rink inside Yankee Stadium before the Stadium Series hockey game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports /
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Southern Utah has formed the area’s first-ever high school hockey program

Southern Utah’s high school hockey team plays against everyone — literally.

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The hockey program competes against any Utah teams considered in-conference, but they don’t stop there. The team has skated out against everyone from out of state competitive programs to adult leagues in the area — small wonder, since the school didn’t have hockey until this year.

The Southern Utah independent high school hockey team was formed by a group of students who, according to Richard Briggs of USA Today, ” love the sport and wanted to ‘fly together.'” The players include everyone from childhood hockey fans who have only been on the ice with a stick for the last year to guys who first stepped out on the rink as children — but they all share their love of the sport enough to push for a previously-nonexistent program.

They play at the Glacier Ice Rink in Cedar City, Utah; their coach and his wife own the rink where they play, and although they’re still looking for their first win, they’re just ecstatic to be playing. The skaters come from any high schools in the area that don’t already boast teams, a concept any young skaters in the Southern United States are probably familiar with.

While the story is heartwarming to anyone who loves hockey, it also symbolizes a growth in the sport across the USA. More and more kids are trying to get the chance to play — and as they get more and more opportunities, it looks like Bettman’s NHL expansion might actually be given some positive reviews.

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