The Lakeshore Lightning girls hockey co-op team is in its second year of its being a team but has only begun to compete at the varsity level this year. This year’s team includes four high schools around the area: Homestead, Cedarburg, West Bend West and Port Washington.

A couple of players from each school make up the team, and five from Homestead: Addie Anderson, senior, Alex Burns, Erin Connolly, Sydney Roeper, juniors, and Katie Gebhardt, sophomore.

The team has taken off with a 10-2-1 record and nine games remaining. Gebhardt is the third leading scorer on the team and the leading scorer of the Homestead players with two goals and 13 assists for a total of 15 points.

“We are doing well. To be honest, I think [we’re playing] way better than anybody expected at the beginning of the season,” Gebhardt stated.

“The team has done very well and we have grown so much since last year,” Anderson said.

With a record of 4-9-1 last year, the girls have worked hard on improving their weaker skills, and it has shown so far this season. “We really focus on working hard and giving everything 110 percent on and off the ice. I can’t exactly say that we do this to ‘prepare for winning’ because you never know for certain what the outcome of the next game will be. We just do this to better develop ourselves not only as individual skaters but as a team as well,” Gebhardt said.

Burns had a similar reflection. “We all worked hard over the summer and we’ve been putting forth 110 percent at every practice and game. As a team, we plan to keep on improving every day,” she said.

For a group of girls who have only been playing high school hockey together for a year or two, the team “is very close. Even girls from different schools are all hanging out outside of hockey. I’m very close with all the girls from Homestead,” Anderson said.

“Going into this season, I didn’t really know many of the girls. I knew Erin, had maybe smiled at Alex in the hallway, and knew who Sydney was but had never actually had an encounter with her. I am now pleased to say that that has definitely changed. We are close as a team. Every day, whether it’s a practice or game, we continue to grow closer as a family,” Gebhardt stated.

Gebhardt was part of the University School of Milwaukee girls hockey co-op last year, but with rule changes this year, she transitioned to the Lakeshore Lightning. “To be completely honest, at the beginning of the season the transition was definitely tough. Working with all new girls and new coaches was such a big switch. Slowly, I got to know the girls better and playing with them began to click. This season has allowed me to make so many more friends.”

Though some in the community may overlook girls hockey, to these girls it means a lot. “For Homestead, this is huge. No one thought we would be a good team, but we have come really far. Everyone doubted us, but we proved them wrong so far this season,” Burns said.

Five of the team’s last nine games are at the Ozaukee Ice Center. Come support this group of girls who will work to keep the wins coming.