The Blackhawk hockey team has opened up their season against Carrick on Oct. 6 with a 0-2-1 record for this month as of Oct. 17. Since Freedom doesn’t have a hockey team, the Blackhawk school district has a cooperative agreement with Freedom. This allows students who have an interest in the sport to try out for Blackhawk’s team in which they, if accepted, will play for the Blackhawk Cougars.

This year, there are three students from Freedom who play on the hockey team: junior Jimmy Kelly and sophomores Samuel Romutis and Riley Adams. According to Adams, most of the players on the Blackhawk team are freshmen or sophomores.

Last year, there were four Freedom students on the team. Stuart Skogsholm, Kenny Rose and Alex Lundy all graduated last year, passing the reigns of Freedom hockey to Kelly, Romutis and Adams.

Kelly has participated on the team for two years, returning with his second year on varsity. Adams played on the junior varsity team last year, this being his first season on the varsity level. This is Romutis’ first year on the team.

According to Adams, the competition level on the varsity team differs greatly from the junior varsity level.

“I played [junior varsity] last year and this year is so much different. The varsity level is a lot more physical and more fast paced. There are also longer periods, so you are out there on the ice longer. It just takes a lot more out of you than [junior varsity] did,” Adams said.

Kelly and Adams both play as forwards for the team. Romutis plays as a backup goalie on the ice.

Coming out of their first game, the team fell short to Carrick, but the players feel confident about the upcoming season. According to Romutis, the team is young, but is still confident in their abilities once getting further into the season.

“We have a young team, but I think we will do pretty well,” Romutis said.

On the same note, Adams believes that although the team is young, the talent is still there and will present itself as the season starts.

“I feel like we could compete fairly well this season even though most of our team are freshmen and sophomores. We still have a lot of talent and we could do pretty well,” Adams said.

While Romutis and Adams see the team succeeding in the future, Kelly is looking to what they can do as a team to improve.

“This season, we might not be as good as we have been in the past. We have several things to improve on, which is a good thing because we can be way better than what we are right now,” Kelly said.

As of Oct. 17, Kelly leads the team with four goals and five points. On Oct. 17 against Central Valley, Kelly scored four goals and Adams scored one, contributing to five of the six points Blackhawk scored during that game.

Looking into the season, although the team is young, the players look to continue stepping up and to lead the team in a successful season.