Photo courtesy of Scott G Photography
|
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 | BataviasBest.org
Playing hockey at Notre Dame in Batavia is about as unique an experience as one will get on the ice during their High School years. For over 24 years, the Fighting Irish have been building steep tradition as the smallest HS hockey team in all of NYS – without merging with another school – beginning when most other teams are asleep.
For an ND Hockey player, a typical day during the season begins at about 5 am, when each member of the team starts their day in order to gear up for 6 am practice. Why do the Irish practice so early? According to head coach Marc Staley, not only does it build character, but the ice is cheaper at 6 am.
“Some of our players also travel up to 30-40 minutes every morning in the snow to arrive at practice ready to skate at 6am,” said Staley. “Many of them set their alarms for 4:45 AM to make this happen. We also have families in Batavia that will HOST kids overnight when we have Hockey the next morning.”
Huge sacrifices and incredible efforts from each family within the program are made each season for the ND Hockey program to continue to build their tradition and flourish within such a tough league and section. However, prior to this season, I wasn’t wholly aware of the entirety of the challenges that ND Hockey faces year in, and year out.
For, when I was in school, there was little that would have gotten me out of bed at 5 am.
Kudos to the program.
Kudos to the players.
It will be interesting to see where this team can go this season.
Other articles you may like:
Batavia Hockey ’15-’16 Season Preview: Polito, D’Alba, & Smith highlight talented Batavia team
