Six Cook County High School boys travel down the shore every day to practice hockey with kids from Silver Bay and Two Harbors. The three schools combine players to make up the North Shore hockey team. The team recently won two games and lost one game. In front, L-R: Cameron Roy and Chase Bronikowski. In back, L-R: Andrew Miller, Ethan Sporn, Josh Prom and Connor Somnis.
There is a group of boys from Cook County that began playing hockey together when they were just 6 years old. They spent countless hours working on their skills and developing a love for the game on the outdoor hockey rink next to the Community Center. Through the years the boys established close relationships with each other that have translated to success not only on the ice but also on the football field and baseball diamond.
Today those boys have grown into young men and have now joined the North Shore Storm high school hockey team. Sophomores Andrew Miller and Ethan Sporn are playing on the varsity team while sophomores Josh Prom, Connor Somnis and freshman goaltender Chase Bronikowski are playing on the junior varsity (JV) team. Sophomore goaltender Cameron Roy is scheduled to play some on both the varsity and JV team this season.
The North Shore Storm is a cooperative team made up of players from Two Harbors, Silver Bay, and Cook County High School. The team splits practices and games between Silver Bay and Two Harbors.
The season began in earnest on November 29 with a 9-1 win against Moose Lake. The top line of Chad Nordean (5 goals, 2 assists), Easton Best (2 goals, 3 assists) and Tanner Ketola (1 goal, 5 assists) led the team to a blowout victory in Two Harbors. Trey Fleck finished off the game with a goal at the end of the third period. A stifling defense anchored by Andrew Miller helped Cameron Roy make four saves on five shots and gain the goaltender his first varsity victory.
On December 1 the Proctor Rails made a visit to Silver Bay to take on the Storm. A tied game after two periods, the Storm opened up the third period with three goals and pulled away with a 4-1 win. Leading scorers included Easton Best (2 goals, 1 assist) and Tanner Ketola (1 goal, 1 assist). Giovanni Marolt finished off the scoring with an excellent upper corner shot on an assist by Ethan Sporn. Cameron Roy got the second win of the season in goal, making 19 saves on 20 shots.
The Storm came right back the next night to compete against a very talented North St. Paul team that had three of the top scorers in the state on their team. Although the Storm was able to contain this high-scoring trio the Storm gave up three goals to the Polars in a 32-second stretch in the middle of the second period and the Storm ended up losing 5-0. Cameron Roy had a great game, stopping many first and second shot attempts, and finished the game with 38 saves on 43 shots.
The team will travel to Pine City on December 16 and follow that up with a game in St. Louis Park on December 17. If you are going up or down the shore later this winter stop by one of the rinks in Two Harbors or Silver Bay and check out a game and cheer on these exceptional student athletes. Varsity games begin at 7 p.m. and JV games start at 5 p.m.
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