Westfield senior forward Adam Collier, right, took two steps inside the blue line and zipped a shot into the net 1:25 into OT to lift the Bombers to a 2-1 win over fifth-seeded West Springfield in the Western Massachusetts Division III semifinals at the Olympia. Students at Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School may have the opportunity to play ice hockey with West Side next year. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – Students at Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School may have the opportunity to play ice hockey next year.
The School Commitee last night unanimously approved applying to enter into a cooperative program with West Springfield High School to play the sport.
STGRHS Athletic Director Frank Montagna said he was approached several weeks ago by West Springfield High and the details were worked out and presented just this week.
Superintendent John Barry said he normally would not ask the committee to vote on something without more time to review it, but the deadline to apply is May 1 and the committee does not meet again before then.
Montagna said there are several advantages to joining the West Side team, including the price to play.
“It’s a small amount of financial obligation for a typically expensive sport,” he said.
Southwick would pay a percentage of ice time for practice ane league fees based on the number of Southwick players.
“I did a survey at the high school and middle school,” said Montagna. “Of the 22 students (who showed interest in the team), I believe 10 are pretty serious hockey players.”
Two middle school students indicated they may attend Westfield schools to play hockey. Montagna said the coperative team could encourage students to stay at STGRHS instead of going out of district to play hockey.
Barry said transportation was another consideration of the program.
“If we provide some sort of transportation to practices only it would cost about $2,500-$3,000,” Barry said.
Althogh there were several unknown variables, the committee approved applying for the cooperative team in order to move forward.
