For junior David Gruhn, early morning workouts and late-night practices are just part of daily life as a competitive hockey player. Despite the long hours, loads of gear and many injuries, there is truly nothing that Gruhn loves more.

Gruhn has been skating since he was two years old. He joined his first hockey league a few years later. His parents both play hockey for fun and have made it a significant part of his life, even creating a space in their home for him to practice.

“I remember when I was little, around three, my parents played on the same hockey team, and that’s really what got me into [competitive] hockey,” Gruhn said. “I have a little hockey room downstairs with synthetic ice to shoot around in.”

Gruhn is currently a defenseman on the Howard Huskies American Team, an 18 and under, Tier 2, AA team located in Howard County, Maryland. He has a combination of on and off-ice practices and games every day of the week, and the team frequently travels for games.

“[As defenseman,] it’s my job to hit people and stop the other team from scoring goals and just help out our team’s goalie as much as I can,” Gruhn explained. “I’ve been big my whole life, so the way [I] contribute is by hitting people and being strong and such.”

Gruhn plans on continuing to play hockey at the collegiate level. However, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been harder to meet with recruiters. Recently, he has traveled to Ohio and Florida to check out potential programs. Even though the process is now harder, Gruhn’s coach still believes it’s possible.

“David’s a great player who puts in the effort necessary to succeed at the next level,” Brendan Potter, Gruhn’s coach, said.

Like most hockey players, Gruhn has a pretty intense load of equipment to bring to practice and wear on the ice. Ranging from helmets to pads and mouthguards, protective gear covers almost every inch of his body.

“Hockey equipment is like the bulkiest thing ever. You have pads covering your whole body and helmets and mouthguards because this whole concussion thing has people scared out of their minds. … But you get used to it pretty easily,” Gruhn said.

To keep up with the physical demands of his competitive team, Gruhn has had to endure many injuries. However, he is often unable to seek the medical care necessary to fully recover as a result of how physical the sport is and how frequently he practices with the team or travels to games.

“I currently have a broken finger. It’s been broken for the past four months, and I have not gone to a doctor. I’ve torn all the ligaments in my right ankle. I had a torn meniscus for about two years, but haven’t gotten around to having surgery yet. I’ve broken my nose a couple times,” Gruhn said. “I have not broken any teeth, but I’ve had them come loose when I was little, which was not that bad.”

Though the traveling is always exciting and the games bring another level of anticipation, Gruhn feels that the intense atmosphere is what makes hockey at this level so great.

“I love the competitiveness and the fact that you go out there and everything else is non-existent,” Gruhn said. “You go out there and you try to win, try as hard as you can and you do your best.”

With the championship on the line, sophomore Tory Boles and her teammates found themselves in a shoot-out. When the goalie saved the last shot, Boles and her teammates exploded into excitement, chanting “we are the champions.”

Boles has played hockey for the past seven years. She was previously on the Tri-City Eagles and currently plays for the Montgomery Blue Devils, both club teams, and the Montgomery County girls team.

“My dad has been playing for a while, and then my little brother started to play,” Boles said. “Then I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try too,’ and then fell in love with it.”

The Montgomery County girls team is the equivalent of a high school varsity team, and they compete against other local schools. Many schools in the area, including CESJDS, do not have hockey teams, particularly for girls. The Montgomery County girls team allows athletes like Boles who want to play varsity hockey against other schools to do so. Boles has won one state championship with this team so far.

Balancing these two teams, Boles finds herself practicing six to eight hours per week, including both on and off the ice work. A typical on-ice practice begins with skating and then moves into team-based drills and fundamentals, while off-ice practice is more conditioning based.

There are not many technical differences between girls and boys hockey, but the main difference is that checking, the act of hitting the opponent’s stick with your own in an attempt for them to lose control of the puck, is forbidden in girls hockey. This attempts to limit injuries.

Boles’ younger brother, eighth grader Jonah Boles, has been playing for the past 11 years. He describes his and his sister’s relationship as very competitive when it comes to hockey, although their two teams never play against each other.

“Since fewer girls play hockey, there tend to be fewer teams and less variety of competition. Other than that, girl’s hockey is still hockey and it can be just as challenging,” Jonah said.

Both girls and boys hockey are very physical sports, making injuries inevitable. Boles herself has had two concussions along with many sprained and pulled muscles throughout her seven years of playing, but her love for the sport persists nonetheless.

“I love everything about the sport, between the bond with my team, how free I feel when I step on the ice, having something to work for and the feeling of winning after working so hard for it,” Tory said.

Boles believes that her love of the sport will never fade, and she hopes to be able to play at the collegiate level.

“I want to play in college and maybe even after in a league because I love the game so much. I don’t really know what my future holds but at some point I hope to coach a few teams.”

Being a girl playing a male dominated sport, Boles sees herself as someone who can inspire other girls to stand up as well.

“I wanted to go against gender norms and do something girls usually don’t do so I can lead the way for other girls when I’m older, and just prove to myself that I could do it,” Boles said.