With Antioch Community High School holding regional, conference and state titles in many different sports, it can be easy to see why so many view the school as an athletic powerhouse. Among these widely celebrated teams, some are rarely brought to the surface and seen by the entire school community, and one of the sports that are currently in that scenario is hockey.
Among the many factors contributing to holding back the hockey team’s audience, one of the greatest may be its composition of students from multiple different schools. The Lakers hockey team is composed mainly of athletes from Antioch and Lakes, with the remaining open positions on the team filled with players from Grant, Grayslake Central and Grayslake North.
“I think it’s actually really cool that we get to experience playing with other people from other schools,” senior and varsity captain Dane Karasek said. “I know in other sports, and everyone is really in the same scenario all day since they’re all at the same school. With us, when we all come together for a practice or a game, it’s nice to see guys that we haven’t seen in a few days and catch up. If anything, I just think that the composition of players from different schools and backgrounds just makes us closer to each other.”
In previous seasons, the Lakers had not received very much attention from not only their schools but also their classmates. During the 2019-2020 season, all of that changed. Hockey games became the third most attended sport by students at ACHS, topped only by the football and basketball teams. Coming from relatively minimal fans in attendance the previous years, many agree this was a great step forward.
“It was so crazy seeing everyone in the stands that first home game,” senior and assistant captain Tommy Williams said. “I play because I love the sport, but everything is so much more amplified and fun when you’re playing in front of hundreds of your classmates. Hearing the roar of the crowd after every goal orbit hit just made me want to play even harder for all the people watching.”
For many in the stands, attending a hockey game last season may have been their first encounter with the sport, resulting in quite a few people realizing just how much fun they had supporting the team.
“Before this past winter, I had never been to a hockey game before,” junior Hannah Benes said. “When I finally got the chance to go, it was an absolute blast. The crowds were a lot bigger than I expected, and it was so cool to see posters and banners that people made for their friends and the team. I think the best part of going, though, was seeing people from all different schools playing for the same team when they’re used to being on opposing sides.”
No matter what, many members of the team were quite excited to see their attendance rates increase ten-fold last season, but the effects of COVID-19 have brought their hopes for another season filled with packed stands at home games to a hold.
“I think everyone was pretty upset when we realized what COVID was gonna do to our season,” junior Jason Fogel said. “We still feel pretty honored, though, to be able to keep playing while so many other sports have been postponed, so I think that this hiccup is just going to make all of us want to come out and play harder once people can start coming again.”
With all the new restrictions due to COVID-19, there is no telling what will be made of the rest of the Lakers hockey season. One consensus made among both players and fans, however, is that finally seeing so many take part in watching the games made the recognition for the sport that much more important.
