East boys prep for Hockey Day with last year's seniors on their minds

MANKATO -- Aiden Prochaska has a perspective and a wisdom not found in many athletes his age.
The Mankato East senior defenseman and captain has spent the entirety of his season so far cherishing every shift he climbs over the boards for the Cougars, because he knows every shift he takes could be his last.
He's seen it happen to his buddies, Mankato East's seniors last season, who had their season come to an unceremonious halt over a Zoom call a few hours before they'd begin their quest for a trip to the Class A State Tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

The No. 2 seed in Section 1A, East was one of the favorites to reach the state tournament for a second consecutive season.
But just a few hours before a scheduled quarterfinal game at All Seasons Arena here in town, the team was notified over the internet that its varsity team would be forced into quarantine because of an exposure to COVID-19 the week prior.
Mankato East's JV squad - which went to battle with fewer than a dozen players overall, and one varsity regular - was forced to play the La Crescent varsity team and put up one heck of a fight, losing 3-1 with La Crescent scoring a late empty-net goal to seal the deal.
The Cougars' varsity players watched helplessly as the dream season that had constructed over the course of months completely disintegrate in a matter of hours.
"The way our season ended last year ..." said East head coach Adam Fries, his voice trailing off. "We would have won that section championship game, the way we were playing and the way our team came together at the end there. We were rolling through teams, really good ones at the end there too.
"It still pulls at me too when I talk about those seniors."
Now, nearly a year later and with COVID-19 still forcing some teams to cancel or postpone games, the Mankato East boys have vowed to play on for the eight seniors that never got the chance to leave everything they had on the ice last season.
They're hoping for the storybook ending that was taken from seniors Layten Leffrig, Riley Madsen, Jake Kanzenbach, Jake Schreiber, Hayden Guillemette, Dan Bequette, Ian Mueller and Brett Borchardt.
In that spirit, the faces of those seven seniors hang inside the East dressing room at All Seasons Arena - a reminder to the current team to leave everything on the ice, because at any moment, the game can be taken away from you.
"We play for those guys every day," Fries said. "We practice for them. They want to get to the Xcel Energy Center for those guys and just say, 'hey we did this for you, and you couldn't be on our team this year, but you were with us.' Hopefully it happens. We're gonna have to work hard with half our season left.
"Every one of those kids in there knows we play for our goalie on game days, but for the overall scope of the season? We play for those seniors who got their hearts torn out last season."
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the whole situation? Not one East varsity player tested positive for COVID-19. A week after the exposure put the team in question, East families were getting tested in an effort to prove that nobody had the virus.
But at that point, the Minnesota State High School League made its decision.
Fries was gutted, and set up a Zoom to break the news to his team.
"I still remember, sitting in my room and we got a text message from coach saying we had a call at 3," Prochaska said. "And I was thinking, 'this is a little weird, we play in four hours.' We had heard the talks regarding the COVID situation, and then I saw his face and I knew it was done."
The news was devastating for players, especially for the seniors, who didn't have a chance to take in the news together.
When the call was over, players simply logged off and were left to make sense of it without the support of their teammates in the same room.
"It finally hit me that night, when I was watching the game on my couch and the final buzzer went off," Prochaska said. "It all hit me at once like a truck. I can't even imagine what it was like for those seniors.
"As much as it sucks for your senior season to end, it's going to happen for everyone. But for you to not be able to spend your last minute on the ice, your last seconds playing for it ... that's the worst part of all of it. Win, loss, whatever; they didn't get a chance to play."
Those moments Prochaska spent alone on his couch that night, mourning the loss of those seniors, stuck with him the entire offseason, and it pushes him to new heights now.
"There's all these kinds of milestones that I am experiencing now as a senior. Slowly and slowly, they tick away," Prochaska said. "All of the sudden, I'm halfway done with my senior year and it's just flown by. And I'm trying to soak it all in."
In the aftermath, East players were comforted by members of the entire Mankato hockey community. Both East and West families reached out to provide support and encouragement, something that Prochaska said he appreciated.
Both Scarlets and Cougars players come up together in the Mankato Area Hockey Association before splitting up for high school.
And while that rivalry can be a heated one - one that will be renewed on Friday night at Blakeslee Stadium as part of the Hockey Day Minnesota celebration - when times get tough, Prochaska said the community does a great job of coming together.
It's a group that will come together again on Friday to celebrate Hockey Day coming to their community. For Prochaska, Fries and the Cougars, those seniors from last season - who also missed out on this statewide celebration - will be right there with them.
"We were supposed to have Hockey Day last year, and I just hope we can shed a little light on them and prove what we can do for them," Prochaska said. "We'll never be able to have them with us, but we can try our best for them."