School Features

The fifth graders at Horizon Elementary didn’t win hockey game vs. the staff April 8, but they should still be proud.

Horizon won’t be forgetting Thursday’s game for a while.

The staff hasn’t lost once since Horizon’s annual hockey games started in 1990, but students put the pressure on this year in a tight 22-29 game

 “I think the kids gave the teachers a run for their money this year,” dean of students

Bruce Denton said.  “It was tough.  Usually the teachers stay in the lead for longer, and this time they got ahead.  They made us work for it.”

The staff started the game guarding two goals set side by side, while the fifth graders were left to guard just one goal.  By the third rotation, the teachers added yet another goal to their two.  

The additional goals – not to mention teachers’ repeated trips to the penalty box – gave the students an advantage to keep the game fun, but the fifth graders didn’t seem to need the help as much as their predecessors

“That was a good game,” P.E. teacher Jim O’Brien told the students after the game. “I was getting a little nervous, [so] I had to get off the bench and play a little bit.

Somebody remind me next year not to start with three goals.”

Five fifth graders and five teachers rotated on and off the floor throughout the game every three or four minutes.  In 19 rotations, about 105 students and 70 teachers got to hit a puck around the school gym in front of a roaring student body.

“The games are really loud,” O’Brien said.  “Students are yelling and screaming whenever there’s a goal.”

The staff had a comfortable lead until the fifth-grade team The Predators stepped onto the floor in the fifth round. The fifth graders scored three goals in just three minutes, tightening the gap to 6-5.

In the eighth and ninth rounds, the teams Thunder and Telephone Wire managed to tie up the game, first at 8-8 then again at 10-10.  By the tenth round, the fifth graders grabbed the lead and held on tight for five rounds.

When the team Kings scored a record five goals in the 12th round, the yelling in the gym went from really loud to really, really loud.

“We played a pretty good game,” fifth grader Tyrone Jones said.  “We had good teamwork, and we did a lot of passing and scoring.  Last year, the score was something like 13-30, so the fifth graders didn’t do so well.”

The staff vs. fifth graders hockey game is a Horizon tradition that coincides with the school’s hockey unit in P.E. to boost school spirit

“I think it’s a really great way for teachers to bond with the students outside of the classroom,” fifth-grade teacher Christina Ko said.  “We’re coming together as a whole school to cheer on students and teachers and to just have fun.”

Fifth graders waiting for their turn on the floor were chanting “Let’s go fifth graders,” “We will rock you” and “Teachers suck,” while the rest of the students were rooting for the teachers. 

Why root for the teachers and not the students?  Because the teachers are bigger, smarter and better at hockey than the fifth graders, fourth grader Zarya Parker said.

“The teachers always win,” third grader Colton Johnston said.  “But the fifth graders have been practicing a lot every day for P.E., so it was hard for them.  The game was great because the fifth graders took a lot of strikes to get points.”

Fifth grader Dario Escobar – like many of his classmates – blames their loss to the staff on Mr. O’Brien.  He said it wasn’t fair that the P.E. teacher got to play too.

“I finally got the chance to play the hockey game I’ve wanted to play since kindergarten,” Escobar said.  “I always rooted for the teachers so our fifth graders could be the first to win in the history of the game.”

Ko said the 29-22 loss gives the fourth graders motivation to beat the staff when it’s their turn.

“We showed no mercy – we actually played our best out there,” she said.  “But toward the middle of the game when they were up five or six points, I was like ‘Wow, I think they’re going to win.’”

Fifth grader Lilly Olidinchuk said she wished the fifth graders would’ve won so that the rest of the school would be proud of them.  But it’s OK that they didn’t win, she said.

 “I’m still proud of us,” she said.  “We played a hard game.”