After much anticipation, the hockey team finally found out on Mon, Feb. 4 that they will be seated in the Challenge Cup, the hardest pool of their final tournament.

However, they lost the first game to CBC Fri, Feb. 8 with a score of 1-6.

They played the second game against CBC on Mon, Feb. 11. The team had the possibility of being placed in either the Challenge or the Wickam cup. Before the team was seated, the coaches had prepared the boys for either outcome, mostly for the Challenge Cup.

“What we’ve done to prepare for these teams is our schedule,” head coach Tim Wilkinson said. “It has been one of the toughest.”

Through out the season, North has played some of the best teams in the area including the Howell and Zumwalt schools. These games, along with their two practices a week, have given the coaches reassurance that the team can win.

As for the players, they had different hopes than their coach.

“I would rather be in the lesser [pool],” senior Colton Lucas said before beating Howell Central 7-5 on Mon, Jan. 28. “We actually have a chance of winning.”

Once the team found out they were in the hardest pool, the players began preparing to step up their game in order to win.

“If we start getting ready now, we’ll be prepared enough to take them,” freshman right-wing Ryan Gannon said.

The Challenge cup consists of the top 15 teams in the area. The Knights were ranked last in their pool putting them against CBC, the number one ranked team.