At the Morgan School, three students play in the ice hockey co-op with East Haven’s team. There are other towns involved with the East Haven co-op including East Hampton, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Valley Regional. The three players from Morgan are sophomore Braedan Steahle, sophomore Zachary Viens, and freshman Benjamin Brown. They recently had to forfeit 14 games because they played an ineligible player. This changed their record from 18-1 to 4-15. This unfortunately took them from the top seed to the 16th seed. Despite this, they are still happy to be competing in States.
Player Braedan Steahle said, “I like meeting all the different people, and I think it’s just a good environment overall. Everybody is nice to everybody, and it’s just cool meeting all the different people from the different towns.” Braedan loved hockey since he was young. His mom, grandpa, and uncle influenced him to play hockey. He has some complaints about the team as well: “Something I don’t like is the amount of people on the team because it’s a Co-op. It’s really annoying traveling, especially without a bus because traveling 30 minutes every day is just not easy, especially when my Mom is driving me and stuff.” He said the forfeited games were tough at first, but he doesn’t feel affected by it.
Player Benjamin Brown said, “I really think that all the different towns coming together to play is really cool. I love the bus rides home, especially after a win. It’s really fun.” Benji said that he has loved playing hockey and the game ever since he “stepped on the ice”. He would love it if Morgan had their own hockey team, but he does not mind being in a co-op. “We’ve really come together,” said Benji. “We go out to dinner a lot together, and we have big pasta parties.” When asked about the forfeited games, Benji said that it was tough on everyone, but they “came right back.” He does find it tough to travel for practices since they’re right after school most days, but he still has fun.
A downside of the Co-op is that Morgan does not pay for the spots of the Morgan players on the East Haven team. Each spot costs around $1,000, so students have to pay for the spots themselves. There is a high amount of travel involved with being a part of the co-op as well. The players find that the tradeoff is worth it though. They all enjoy playing and love the team despite the struggles.
East Haven won their game against West Haven on Wednesday, February 28th which qualifies them for the CIAC State Championship in the 16th seed. They faced Guilford in the quarter-finals of states on Friday, March 8th, and they won. They played Woodstock on March 12th at Quinnipiac University and won. They are playing Cheshire on Monday March 18th in the final round of states at Quinnipiac University.
