Over the past few years, Notre Dame’s hockey teams have been developing into successful programs.

The boys have traveled to state for the past five years and won the state title in 2012.

Girls in all high schools throughout Green Bay combined to make a team called the Bay Area Ice Bears.  They brought home the state championship title this year.

Two senior girls from NDA helped the Ice Bears win the championship.

Paige Goodwin started playing hockey around the age of eight or nine, she said.  She transferred from DePere High School to Notre Dame her sophomore year for the IB Program.

The full diploma IB student also mentioned she will take away the friendships she made from her team.  Next year, Goodwin said she plans to attend New York University (NYU) to study engineering.

“I want to play club hockey next year, and possibly coach in the future, but it depends,” Goodwin said.

Another member of the Ice Bears, Autumn Anderson, said her favorite memory that she will take away from NDA is winning state.

“I’ll never forget how close our team was for all four years,” she said.

Anderson started playing hockey when she was about five, she said.

“When I was four years old, my mom and I went open skating.  When we were leaving, I saw the girls hockey team and told my mom that’s what I wanted to do,”  Anderson shared.

Anderson will attend Northern Michigan University next year and plans to play club hockey.

The boys team will be losing seven seniors next year.

Goalie Eli Hicks plans to attend the University of North Dakota in the fall.  He is considering playing club hockey or coaching in the future.

“Hockey at Notre Dame taught me about hard work and how it can pay off,” Hicks said.

Aaron Campbell transferred to Notre Dame from Appleton North his junior year.  During his sophomore year, he tore his ACL which led to him sitting out a year of hockey.  According to the WIAA, students who transfer schools for their junior year cannot participate in sports for one year.  He said this encouraged him to make the decision to transfer to NDA because he could not play anyways.

“My favorite memory is when we first played Verona in the beginning of the year.  We beat them in overtime and it was awesome,” Campbell said.

Campbell said one thing he enjoyed about his coming to Notre Dame was rekindling friendships of old childhood friends.

Next year Campbell will attend UW – Milwaukee to study nursing.

Like many of the others Jarod Zirbel did not go to grade school with other current NDA students.  He attended Park View Middle School in Ashwaubenon.  The said the hockey program and the quality of education helped him make the decision to enroll in Notre Dame.

“Hockey helped me mature, make new friends, and taught me how to be a leader,” Zirbel shared.

For the past four years Anton Brix has made the long drive from Marinette to school.  He said he came to NDA because of the quality of education and there was not many successful hockey programs in his area.  Next year Brix plans to attend UW – Marinette and possibly play club hockey.

Another senior, Brett Gruber, transferred to NDA from Appleton North for his sophomore year.

“The good group of guys helped me make the decision to come to Notre Dame.  This school helped me make close friendships,” Gruber said.

Next year, Gruber will play for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Luke Davison went to DePere Middle School and ultimately made his decision to attend NDA because his brother, Tim, was enrolled and knew the hockey team had a very good coach.

“Academy hockey taught me to behave in serious situations and helped shape me as a person.  One of my favorite memories is definitely winning state sophomore year and competing in nationals this year,” Davison shared.

All of the boys agreed with Davison, saying their favorite memory was winning state.

After graduation Davison plans to play for Fargo Force out of Fargo, North Dakota.

Finally, Mason Appleton transferred from Ashwaubenon High School to NDA his sophomore year.  He decided to transfer schools because of how serious the boys on the team are at NDA.

“The commitment level is huge here and helped me make my decision to transfer.  It will help me next year in the junior league,” Appleton stated.

His favorite memory is winning state, where he scored the game-winning goal in the championship.

Appleton was the third overall pick in the the Junior Hockey League draft.  He was drafted to Tri City Storm out of Kearney, Nebraska.