ENHS offers a wide range of sports for its students—football, volleyball, tennis, swimming, and bowling, to name a few. However, a genuine hockey team is notably absent from our roster.
While there is an Elkhorn North hockey team in name, it includes only one student from Elkhorn North, Riley Wilson. The rest of the players are from surrounding areas, such as Fremont, Papillon, High, and South. Skilled players have the opportunity to try out for other organizations, such as OJL (Omaha Junior Lancers) and the Fremont Flyers.
Sophomore Gianni Bianchetti plays for OJL, and Kaylynn Pauletto for the Lady Jr. Lancers. Both were introduced to hockey by their fathers.
“He kinda just threw me onto the ice one time, and so I started playing hockey,” Bianchetti said. “I have been playing ever since kindergarten.”
Hockey stands out from other sports due to the level of teamwork, quick decision-making, and excellent skating skills required from its players.
“It is a very physical game and set at a really fast pace,” Bianchetti said. “It doesn’t have any stops like football.”
Dedication is very important in hockey. Most teams have three practices a week, plus extra hours off the ice for weight training. Games every weekend leave players with only two days for themselves. Many players are forced to skip school in order to participate in games or practices.
“Back in middle school, I used to skip a lot of school for hockey,” Bianchetti said. It was basically every Friday until the season ended.”
This relentless schedule often results in students falling behind on studies and struggling to complete homework, negatively impacting their grades.
“Even when I do have time to do the homework, I don’t have the motivation to do it sometimes,” sophomore Kaylynn Pauletto said. “Especially in the car, I won’t do it in the car after games.”
As hockey is not a recognized school sport, absences are unexcused.
“Their parents can excuse them, but it still negatively impacts their attendance record,” counselor Shay Wright said. “These students tend to have way more unexcused absences than those participating in ENHS activities.”
Despite hockey’s lesser popularity in our area compared to other regions, many at our school play the sport. Each one faces the challenge of juggling their passion for hockey with the demands of school and other aspects of their day to day lives. Balancing the demands from both school and hockey is challenging, yet these student-athletes continue to strive both on the ice and in the classroom.
