For the past five Duluth East hockey seasons, I have sometimes felt like a chronicler of dramatic upheaval. From 2019-2022, there was plenty of theater, if often the wrong kind: a first losing season in decades, the craziness of the pandemic, the saga of an outgoing coach, some ugly headlines over fights. 2022-2023 saw a fleeting renaissance; 2023-2024 had elevated expectations after that run that never quite came together. There were storylines left and right, and I never suffered for things to write, even if I did not always enjoy writing them.

This season? Well, we endure. A 2-12 record speaks for itself. I could grumble about goalie rotations and fourth line shifts; there certainly have been some winnable games that slipped away, and a record of, say, 5-9 or 6-8 would be enough to be a legitimate top four seed contender in what passes for Section 7AA this season. But I am not here to criticize a lot. The team is trying, and its talent level doesn’t lie. They are young, trying to bring players along, making do with what is here.

It is hard not to ponder the decline with some bitterness. I could blame certain adults’ egos or wax philosophical about cultural and demographic drift. Some will blame the coaching change, but the start of the downturn preceded Mike Randolph’s ouster. Duluth Marshall pulled more above average kids from the youth ranks than it ever has for a variety of scattered reasons, though they too have now suffered defections that have left them only a marginal contender. Add in a few other departures or decisions simply to opt out and the sheer number of AA Duluth East youth players who are not on the Duluth East High School roster is the largest it’s ever been. While it isn’t realistic to expect perfect retention anymore, even marginal improvement would be worth a number of wins. A new dad friend points out we are moving through the youth group that never played Squirt A hockey, and when one watches head-down dangles out through the crease in one’s own zone even by some of the relatively skilled players, it’s not hard to jump to conclusions about missed lessons. When this team actually moves the puck, it has some life to it.

I confess I am watching less than I have in the past. Even in the stands there are many new faces, fewer buoyant pregame gatherings or shared road trips, more people isolated in their own worlds. But there are still flickers of what make this sport, and devotion to a program, so incredibly fun. A well-played contest with Andover, down but still dangerous, that ended in an overtime win brought back a little of that old feeling. They hung in there with Grand Rapids alright in the second meeting. There are some pieces among the younger players who can be a foundation of something; perhaps not a section champion next season, but at least a top four seed with a better record. When the energy builds, high school hockey can still build to something that no junior league or AAA program can ever muster.

But we are where we are now. Forget any scheme to pull a playoff upset, forget building a case for a certain seed in sections. One some level, forget winning too, though I don’t want it to devolve into participation trophy hockey, either. Build basic skills and try to get some momentum. Keep the seniors together, but start trying to build some chemistry among the younger players for the future. Work on conditioning, and pick an official starter in net. Uphold the honor, and find ways to improve relative to the competition.

I am reasonably optimistic there are brighter days ahead. The youth teams, collectively, appear to be on the upswing, and it sounds like retention should be somewhat better going forward. I have some lingering worries, but the fundamentals for hockey on the east side of Duluth still look decent; even better, perhaps, than they have been in the near past, with Hermantown’s edge on the local scene eroding somewhat. There is something here to be harnessed. Until then, I watch on, finding what I can in it, still in the thralls of a sport that pulls together glory days past and a promise of the future into the fleeting intensity of an adolescent present.