Woodgrove and Loudoun Valley High School are bitter rivals in all sports but one: ice hockey. Woodgrove and Loudoun Valley hockey combines players from both schools to create a team with a sufficient roster size to compete against other schools. In Loudoun County, ice hockey is a niche sport compared to football or basketball, leading many teams to pull from two different schools. This is especially true for schools on the outskirts of the county, like Woodgrove, where there are less rinks to play at. Woodgrove provides the majority of the players for the team, so it is commonly referred to simply as, “the Woodgrove team.” Despite the name, the team is technically not an official Woodgrove sport, but a club sport that plays in an independent league, where they compete against other high school teams. The team also does not have official practices, as most of the players play for other demanding club hockey teams with multiple practices per week.

     This difference, along with other factors, has contributed to a lack of awareness that a Woodgrove hockey team even exists. The Woodgrove Athletics website has game locations and dates, practice times, and coach contact information for every Woodgrove sport, except ice hockey. Also, unlike most sports, ice hockey does not get their game days announced on the morning announcements, further contributing to a lack of ice hockey awareness. This lack of publicity for the team discourages most students from attending the games and draws small crowds. “It’s mostly parents that come to the games,” admits senior and ice hockey supporter Lily Eddy. As for student attendance, “We only really have Lily,” explains senior and ice hockey player Luke Haraszkiewicz. “I’m really glad we have a [ice hockey] team and I like to support them because there aren’t a lot of people who go to those games,” explains Eddy. To help grow their fanbase, players are encouraging their friends to attend games. This is not enough though, and players want support from the school. “I want Dr. Shipp to talk about games on the morning announcements; Maybe that can help grow our fanbase. More people coming to the games makes it a lot more fun to play in those games. When we played Tuscarora/ Loudoun County for our first game and they had a large amount of people there, it was just more fun playing. It hypes you up more for the game,” Haraszkiewicz reasoned.

Despite the rivalry between Woodgrove and Loudoun Valley in our other sports, the hockey team seems to generally support each other. Senior hockey player Spencer Rose elaborated, “It does not feel like I am on a team with our rivals. Because we are on a team, I was able to make new friends.”  Colin DePault, a senior hockey player at Loudoun Valley, added, “We are all pretty close, and there are really no bad feelings between any of us as far as I know.”  While most players seem to get along, other players think otherwise.  Haraszkiewicz disagrees stating, “Since we are in different schools, it is hard for us to create chemistry,”  he also added, “I know some kids on the team don’t like the other kids from Valley just because they are from Valley.”  Despite this, everyone is able to work together towards a common goal of winning. 

     While Woodgrove Hockey might not be a VHSL sport, it still merits supporters wearing Woodgrove green.The Woodgrove 2023-2024 hockey schedule is as follows.