The team is a co-op of six area high schools and also includes players from DC Everest, Mosinee, Wausau East, Wausau West, and Marathon. None of the schools have enough female ice hockey players to form a single-school squad. Many people don’t even realize students have the option to play ice hockey at the Varsity level, and particularly female students.

“Girls hockey is more popular in other places,” Ladewig says. But since Merrill is a small town and not a popular sport [like football or basketball, for instance] “a lot of people don’t even know we have a girls hockey team available for high schoolers. I usually tell them that I’ve played my whole life and it’s a really fun sport,” she says.