Isabella “Izzy” Solano is a fighter, a right-handed shooting junior forward for the co-op Warren Township girls’ team. But the battles she faces on the ice, especially with less than four years of skating experience, pale in comparison to those she’s fought – and won – off the ice.

Solano was born January 1, 2004, almost four months early (at 26 weeks), and weighed 2.6 pounds. She stayed in the NICU at Evanston Hospital, in an incubator, for three months. In addition:

Their on-ice friendship drives their off-ice passion. Or, maybe the other way around. Four Barrington seniors – Landon Marcinek, Carter Andreae, Patrick Gull and Quinn Rowley – are key parts of the Broncos’ drive to return to the glory that the team had last season. They also are budding businessmen. These four can talk slapshots and hip checks or hooking into muskies and selling merchandise. Let’s start on the ice. Barrington had one of its best seasons ever in 2019-2020, two wins away from the school’s first-ever state championship. They finished 15-11-0-0-1 in the Scholastic Hockey League.

Ty Nagy isn’t feeling pressure for this, his senior season on defense for the BG/H/W Stampede. The perennial Combined Division state power had a fun 2019-2020 season, was successful in several tournaments, but didn’t go as deep in the state tournament as they hoped, Nagy said.

BG/H/W earned the No. 7 seed in the 2020 Illinois High School Hockey State Tournament, but they lost their first game, 3-0, to No. 10 Lincoln Way. The Stampede have not forgotten the sorrow of that state loss.

Neil Schultz is an aggressive, left-handed shooting defenseman for the co-op Cobras who enjoys puck pursuit in the corners and skating the puck up ice whenever he can. He savors the physical portion of hockey, plus the speed of the game.

“It isn’t like any other sport out there,” said Schultz, 15, who lives in Hickory Hills and is a sophomore at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School – with No. 12 emblazed on the back of his uniform.

By Pam Flores – The Metro Girls League is made up of both pure teams and combination teams that pull from several schools to form a team. They are all unique, but Lake Forest Academy (LFA) had an approach to forming its team that is genuinely like no other. And it is one that introduces brand new players to a sport they may have otherwise never experienced.

Lake Forest Academy is unique in that it has a lot of international students. Because the school requires students to participate in two sports throughout the year, Athletic and Hockey Director, Darrin Madeley leverages these factors to ensure the team is strong in numbers and encourages all students to give hockey a shot.

The A Step aHead partners are excited to announce the 10th year of our program! We are proud of the work that has been done to educate our youth hockey community about sports safety and provide free baseline neurocognitive testing. We look forward to another 10 years of working to keep our athletes safe while they play the game they love. This year the free baseline testing will be offered through November 30, 2020.

Are you a parent or coach of a youth athlete and live in Illinois? Please complete a brief and anonymous survey on various health and safety topics relevant to youth hockey players. Dr. Beth Pieroth (Rush University Medical Center) is developing a program to address safety issues in youth sports*.