It’s a season of change and fresh challenges for high school hockey in Massachusetts and Minnesota, as two storied programs take divergent paths at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. While the Hingham High girls hockey team launched their Division 1 state title defense with a resounding 5-0 win, the city of Rochester, Minnesota, is coming to terms with the abrupt pause of a beloved holiday tradition: the Kiwanis Hockey Festival.
On December 17, 2025, the Hingham Harborwomen stormed out of the gates, shutting out Whitman-Hanson/Silver Lake in a dominant performance. Junior forward Hannah Lasch wasted no time filling the scoring void left by last year’s graduates, netting two goals and leading a deep, dangerous forward group. "It’s nice having a bunch of different girls who can all put the puck in the net. We have three solid lines that can all score, so the pressure is never going to be on just one or two players," Lasch shared after the game. Indeed, the scoresheet was a showcase of Hingham’s depth, with senior captain Callie Crean, sophomore Ellie Bellew, and freshman Maggie Pollenz each tallying a goal.
While Hingham celebrated a perfect start to their season, the atmosphere in Rochester was more subdued. On April 30, 2025, the organizers of the Kiwanis Hockey Festival took to social media to announce a decision that stunned the local hockey community. "After 31 successful years, there will be no @KiwanisHckyFest during the 2025-26 Boys Hockey season," read the post, signaling the end—at least for now—of a three-decade holiday tradition.
The reasons for the festival’s cancellation were complex but familiar to many high school sports organizers: a shrinking pool of available teams willing to participate, logistical hurdles, and the reluctance of Rochester’s teams to meet each other for a third time in a single season. The result? For the first time since its founding, the city’s rinks will be noticeably quieter during the holiday break.
Yet, Rochester’s teams have responded with creativity and optimism. Mayo High School, for one, saw an opportunity to craft a memorable experience for its players. Rather than lamenting the lost festival, the Spartans are packing their bags for the Essentia Health West Fargo Winter Classic in North Dakota. There, they’ll take on Bismarck Century High on December 29 and Fargo North High School on December 30—both games under the open sky in a special outdoor setting. "It’s right before New Year’s and one of those highlight-ish parts of our schedule," Mayo coach Matt Notermann explained. "It’s cool that our JV and varsity will get two games, and we’ll get the outdoor game experience, under the lights they have up there."
Mayo’s sense of occasion is evident in their preparations. The team has designed a third jersey just for the trip, a keepsake they’ll also don when they face their archrival, Century/John Marshall, on January 17, 2026, to kick off Hockey Day Minnesota week. "I think having those things to look forward to really helped us through some of the summer (workouts and skates)," Notermann added. "As soon as we got those things on paper, it was like ‘boy, these will be fun.’ … It’s really what this is all about, to have fun and make some memories together. Our goal is to make the ‘work’ part of it fun."
Meanwhile, Century/John Marshall filled the gap left by the festival by jumping into the Fogerty Arena Thanksgiving Classic in Blaine. This early-season tournament, featuring four co-op teams, gave the Panthers a chance to test themselves against unfamiliar opposition and, crucially, avoid repetitive matchups with their Rochester counterparts. Still, the absence of the homegrown tournament stings. "I know it was something that a lot of kids always look forward to," Century/JM co-head coach Matt Erredge told the Post Bulletin. "Getting everyone together at the rink at the same time is always great. … I think the community is going to miss it, too, and I’d love to see it come back someday, if we can make it into something where we can play some teams that aren’t on our schedule already."
Ideas for the future are already percolating. One suggestion making the rounds is a four-team holiday tournament involving all three Rochester boys teams—Mayo, Century/John Marshall, and Lourdes—plus a fourth invitee, possibly Dodge County. The concept, inspired by Boston’s famous Beanpot tournament, is still in its infancy, but Erredge is hopeful. "I’ve always said that perhaps we’ve missed out on something like that in years past," he said. "A tournament with a Beanpot-type feel, but I’m hopeful it may change in the future." For now, though, no concrete plans are on the table.
Back in Massachusetts, Hingham’s girls are forging ahead with confidence and camaraderie. Their season-opening victory was more than just a win; it was a testament to the team’s chemistry and the smooth integration of several promising freshmen. Head coach Courtney Turner was quick to praise the group’s puck movement and selflessness. "I like what I saw. We have several freshmen coming into the program, and it was good to see them begin to mix in with our returning players. It was good to get the jitters out as we begin to figure out what kind of a game we want to play," Turner said. "We passed the puck well, maybe even over-passed a little, but it was good to see them crash the net after shots for rebounds to get a couple of goals."
Team captain and goaltender Izzy McGarr enjoyed a relatively quiet evening behind a stout defensive effort, notching the shutout. Meanwhile, Lasch and her teammates credited a preseason trip to Vermont for helping the squad gel. "I think we had a lot of fun together in Vermont, and playing those couple of games gave us a chance to get to know one another and allowed the younger players to get some of the nerves out before the start of the season," Lasch reflected. "We are only going to get better from here."
With the target squarely on their backs as defending state champions, Hingham’s players are embracing the pressure. Lasch summed up the team’s mindset: "I always try to think of playing hockey as having fun. It’s a competition, but you are out there with all of your friends playing a sport that you love. The bonds start forming in the locker room and you try to bring that sense of togetherness with you out onto the ice. You always try to keep the energy positive on the ice."
As the high school hockey season unfolds, both Hingham and the Rochester teams are proving that adaptability, tradition, and team spirit remain at the heart of the game. Whether forging new memories on outdoor rinks or building on championship legacies, these programs are poised to write compelling new chapters—one game, and one tradition, at a time.
