We got to the rink despite the below freezing temperatures, listened to pump-up music and went over the lines before we took the ice for the last game of our first full season. Walking into the rink, I couldn’t help but remember the first few practices, when some of us hadn’t skated in years, and some hadn’t skated at all. I remembered the practices when we’d shown up and the rink was dark and empty, the lights turned off, but we practiced anyway. I remembered walking up in the cold at 10 p.m. to find other teams still on the ice whose practices had been booked over ours. As I dressed, I remembered the days when we dressed in the swim locker room or the hidden side locker room and had to wait to put our skates on seconds before getting on the ice because the only two by the rink were taken. As we stepped onto the ice I remembered taking the ice after waiting two hours for a bus that we only thought had been ordered. It has, without a doubt, been a difficult, obstacle-filled season. But we have a full schedule, we are part of a league, and even though we aren’t allowed to put the Holy Cross logo on our jerseys, we played at the Hart center and are part of the Holy Cross community.

I played hockey competitively my entire life, in high school I played on three different teams, won a national championship and three back-to-back state championships. I knew that I loved hockey and that I wanted to keep playing, but by the time I was applying for colleges, hockey wasn’t my priority. If I could’ve been playing hockey, good, but there were other things, like program strength and class size that were more important. Holy Cross didn’t have a women’s club team that I could play on, but I liked the school so much that it didn’t matter. But at the end of my freshman year, when I received the email that a few girls were thinking about starting a club team I was ecstatic. I would get to skate again! In our first season, we only had a few practices and three games, two of which we one. Despite the challenges, it was great to be able to play again.

At first, it was strange to play again after being so competitive in a sport for so long. But playing club, have a more relaxed schedule, and playing a game without as much pressure was so much fun. We wrapped up our first full season on Sunday, and while we didn’t win or make the playoffs, all the girls on the team have showed a special dedication to the sport. Yes, the club has less pressure and is much more relaxed. But the members of our team have had practices from 11 p.m. to midnight, we’ve given up Saturdays and Sundays for games, we’ve waited hours for a bus just to get to a game. All because we wanted to play a sport that we loved. After our first full season, I cannot wait for our next one, despite the challenges it may bring, it will be worth it to get to play the game that we love and that we’ve dedicated so much time to.