The excitement has been building since May when the “Waunakee DeForest Ice Rink” committee and the Village of Waunakee broke ground on a new multipurpose facility in Waunakee. Eric Olson, the Head Coach of Waunakee High School’s Boy’s Hockey team, spear headed the fundraising for the facility with the help of numerous others. The facility will host 3 High School teams: Waunakee, DeForest-Poynette-Lodi, and the Cap City Cougars (Waunakee, Sun Prairie, Madison East, Madison LaFollette, and DeForest Co-op Girls’ team).
Waunakee will host the Waukesha Wings on November 29th at 7:15 pm to hold the first High School Hockey game in Waunakee. The Warriors look to continue the success of last season, in which they won their first Badger North title since they moved out of the Badgerland Conference in 2001. Waunakee had a record of 15-7 last season (8-0 in conference) with a senior clad team. Waunakee graduated 9 seniors last year but looks to reload with 7 seniors this season.
The Warriors will be led by seniors Eric Behrend, Jay Croop, Luke Meske along with Junior Jason Ford. Ford is looking to add to his 35 point sophomore season with a big junior year. The returning core accounted for almost 60% of the Warriors scoring in 2009-2010. Waunakee will look to replace their senior goaltender with Junior Mitch Horras (2-1 record in 4 games, 2.80 GAA & a .88 Sv %). The Warriors are also welcoming Senior Derek Straus & Freshman Keegan Ford who are both joining the team after playing for the Madison Capitols in 2009-2010.
