The D11 Bookworms Hockey Team is a men’s high school hockey team based out of Colorado Springs. The Bookworms is a united team of all hockey players in D11 high schools: Coronado, Palmer, Doherty, and Mitchell. This season, they stand as number one in league play, and number 2 in state for all 4A schools, with their record currently 12-3-1.

Their game on Thursday, January 29 was the first game in D11 hockey history to have a large, united student section with nearly 250 D11 students present. This game was played at Ed Robson Arena against Cheyenne Mountain High School, and ended with a draw of 2 to 2.

“Show up! It 110% makes us happy to see more people beginning to show up to our games,” says Crew Miller, Doherty Class of 2027, and Bookworms team captain. “In games in the past, our team has had small turnouts, or little united student presence.”

This game had a major turnout due to word of mouth, social media posts, and with major help from the bookworm managers Cari Powell, Paige Pakenham, and Cari Powell, Coronado Class of 2027. Bella reached out to Doherty and Palmer student councils with an ask of spreading word of the game and gathering a larger student section.

Easton Stitchka, Coronado Class of 2028, stated that “we never experience this much of a turnout, and I truly think it helped motivate many of the boys on the team. Seeing your peers show up truly matters a lot.” Many of his teammates feel as though they perform better under pressure, so seeing people they know show up, often motivates them.