At Fraser High School, sports teams are popularly recognized and admired.  Football, soccer, baseball, softball, and swim can be easily brought into a conversation. However, the Fraser varsity hockey team is not as common to hear about.

With only eleven players on our boys varsity team and approximately twenty players on their opponents’, they have had a rough road this season. Hockey is an endurance sport. Six players, including the goalie, are on ice at a time. The team faces a problem there: not enough time to rest between plays. They get tired quicker because there is less of them, and therefore, less time for breaks on the bench. Additionally, a smaller team leaves less wiggle room for injury and sickness. With these factors, they are like a group of chihuahuas being cornered by rabid wolves.  However, this does not mean they should be counted out. They may be low in number but definitely not in heart nor talent.

Coach, Don Krussman, beamed with pride over their progress.

“Our players have great attitudes. They get along well and have met our goals for this season, such as improving every day and week, at every game. We haven’t won yet, but four of our games have been very close to going our way. With our size, it can be tough sometimes, but they push through it really well and fight their hardest while playing a fair game. We have a team that has had to be far more versatile than others. Our players are playing different positions than they’re used to, due to our number, and they’re handling that very well also,” Krussman said.

Our varsity hockey team is quite diverse, consisting of five sophomores, one junior, and five seniors. Most of these boys have played hockey, among other sports, from a very young age and show much athletic promise.  Krussman has chosen two captains and two assistant captains to lead this year’s varsity team.

“Our captains are our team leaders. Captains don’t have to be show offs, or guys that boss the others around. I look for players that are hardworking, that are the best teammates and the ones who lead by example. Our biggest leaders this year are senior captains Jayson Glowe, Will Sievers, and Kody Sloaney,” Krussman said.  

“We have to lead by example, have good grades and work hardest on and off the ice. We have to be big team players and support systems for each other,” said Sievers, one of the team captains.

Over this season, our varsity hockey team has become an underdog team. They have great talent but are simply outnumbered. Why? Possibly because of the costs. Hockey is far more expensive to play than any other sport offered at Fraser.  

“Ice time per month is about four hundred dollars, which adds up to three or four thousand a year. Our equipment isn’t cheap either, but we can carry that cost over from the last season,” Senior player Jayson Glowe said.

The team has come a long way from where it began and they feed off of each other’s strengths on the ice, according to Glowe.

“We started out kind of rough, two players quit early on. They said they didn’t want to pay to lose. They weren’t team players. We’ve improved a lot and learned how to keep character and be good men as well as good players. We practice three times a week at Fraser Hockeyland, doing mostly scrimmage and a few skating drills. We all have different traits on the ice, we’re all better at certain things. Injuries do affect us more than they may other teams, but we try to fill the open positions as best as we can. Will Sievers dislocated his kneecap was out for a few weeks and that was rough, since we don’t have enough players to pick up the slack all the time, but we got through it, you know, go ramblers,” Glowe said.

Despite the difficulties they have faced, this team continues to have spirit and profound hope, reigning as an underdog team; the team that captures our hearts and makes us root for them despite the score. Jayson Glowe said it best. Go Ramblers.