Freedom Hockey players have a lot to juggle; attending practices, playing in games and working towards playoffs, the four players must deal with the challenge of playing for another team. Freedom doesn’t offer a hockey team, so those interested in the sport must look for other options. In the past, Freedom hockey players have joined the Ambridge/Quigley Hockey team, which has changed in the past couple of years.

This year, Seniors Stu Skogsholm, Kenny Rose, Alex Lundy and Sophomore Jimmy Kelly-Tindall found a team at Blackhawk on the Cougars Varsity Hockey team. Blackhawk opens its doors to Junior Varsity players Freshman Riley Adams and Zachary Rosa as well.

“It really doesn’t feel any different playing for another school. We go out to play hockey, no matter who we are playing for. It was not hard at all [to play with students from another school]. We already knew a lot of the guys from travel hockey, so it was pretty natural. Also, we become really close when we play together, so the kids that we didn’t know, we were great friends with very quickly,” Skogsholm said.

This season, the players have been attending their games where the latest game was 9:00 p.m. for the Varsity team. For away games, the players have to travel to places such as Belle Vernon and Meadville, both of which are over one hour away. Their “home” games are played at the Beaver Ice Rink in Brady’s Run, about 15 minutes away from Freedom Area High School. Their games usually last between an hour and a half to two hours. This doesn’t include the ride home or the time in the locker room before and after the games.

According to Skogsholm, the varsity team has practice once a week for about an hour. This usually takes place on Saturdays. During practices, they run drills for half the time and then work on other techniques to improve their gameplay.

The players have established a routine that they follow on game days or practices. Skogsholm shared a part of his routine to give an overview of a game day. The games are mostly weeknights, so when he gets home from school, he generally takes a nap and grabs something to eat to gather strength for the game. Also, he tries to get his skates sharpened before every game. The players have to be at the game an hour early, so Skogsholm leaves an hour and a half prior to the game time. Many of the players listen to music and jog for the first 45 minutes and get dressed, tape their hockey sticks and listen to the coach talk for the last 15 minutes.

When looking at the playoffs standings, they are fifth in their class for their division. As of Feb. 11, They have a total of 20 points out of the total 18 games they have played.