Outside the Essentia Health Sports Center Thursday, April 9, Brainerd Warriors assistant boys hockey coach David Stengrim stood out among the snow flurries around him with a rack of hockey jerseys.
COVID-19 has affected spring sports the most, with more than half of the season wiped out and the remaining still in doubt. For the winter sports, like boys hockey, the season was already finished, but players and coaches are still feeling the effects of not having their end of the season banquet.
During the banquet, players can typically buy the sponsored jerseys they wear during pregame warmups. That’s what Stengrim was doing in the snow Thursday morning.
“We didn’t have a chance to do our banquet. At our banquet, we do a number of things and one of the things we do is have our players buy their sponsorship jerseys,” Stengrim said. “All I was doing out there was giving our kids a chance to purchase those jerseys, so they can take them with them.”
Stengrim sold 15 of the 34 jerseys Thursday. Moving forward, the virus might affect the hockey team’s summer plans.
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“For our hockey program, our season was our season,” Stengrim said. “Now the stressor is, are we going to be able to train over the summer? We typically start right away June 1 and right now as things are going, I don’t know if we are going to get that in.”
Senior forward Mike Laber was supposed to give a speech at the boys hockey banquet, but never did. He purchased a sponsorship jersey last season, so he didn’t pick one up from Stengrim on Thursday.
“I was really looking forward to getting together with the boys one more time,” Laber said of the canceled banquet. “I was supposed to give a speech, but really didn’t have anything prepared, so somewhat a relief.”
Laber is also the first baseman on the baseball team. With no spring season yet Laber has been playing video games and a few of his teammates will go and hit at the field.
“Supposedly our summer baseball is probably getting canceled, too,” Laber said. “I’ve been doing my own workouts and hanging out with them a lot. We still talk a lot.”
Most of the other winter sports banquets for Brainerd were canceled as well. Stengrim said it’s hard to not have that closure.
“I’m sure you are going to hear this from every coach around the state,” Stengrim said. “I’m waiting for my kids to come back and see me for one last time, because that’s how it felt. The banquet is a great way to end your season with and we never got to do that. It’s just kind of disheartening.”
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