The Central Wisconsin Storm is now in the Wisconsin Valley Conference - why is no one talking about it?
Why conference membership is a huge step forward for the sport
Opening up a tab for valleystats.org a couple of weeks ago, where I collect most of my info for the weekly spots roundup in the Weekly Wausonian, I was surprised to find a new section.
For a number of years, every winter I had to search elsewhere to report on the central Wisconsin Storm’s scores.
But not this year, apparently. There it was — a listing for girls hockey.
I did a double-take. I hadn’t heard anything about girls hockey being added to the Wisconsin Valley Conference. I checked for any other news about this. Nothing.
I asked the Wausau School District and was told someone would get back to me. They didn’t. Nothing even on social media.
Was I losing my mind? Isn’t girls hockey, after so many years, being added to the Wisconsin Valley Conference, a pretty big deal? Why so quiet?
Then finally I confirmed it with Mark Lacke, Commissioner for the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
It’s true.
The story has a bit of special meaning for me. When I was a part-timer in the Wausau Daily Herald sports department (which no longer exists), I wrote what I believe was one of the first-ever stories on the Central Wisconsin Storm in 2006. I recall interviewing their Coach, Dennis Drake, who retired from coaching the Mosinee boys hockey program to coach the Storm as his daughter played goalie for the team (and ended up playing for UWSP after graduation, transitioning from Providence).
The Storm won its first-ever conference game in the Wisconsin Valley Union on Dec. 2. While some online reports mentioned the conference win, none acknowledged, oddly, that it was the first Wisconsin Valley Conference game in the Storm’s history.
That seems like a miss. Because there are reasons being in an actual conference matter.
Entering the conference
It’s actually not the first time the Storm were in a conference, but it wasn’t the Wisconsin Valley Conference, says Jana Wimmer, current coach of the Central Wisconsin Storm. The Storm were part of a different conference that dissolved in pretty short order.
But the Wisconsin Valley Conference has been around a long time, and isn’t likely going anywhere any time soon.
What are the benefits? Wimmer told The Wausonian that one of the biggest pluses from her perspective is the reduced travel. As an independent team, games could be played all over the state. The Storm last season played as far away as West Salem, Madison, Verona and Beaver Dam.
While some of those locations such as Verona are still on the list, the team will more frequently play nearby teams.
That looks a little different than most of the Valley of course. Many teams in girls hockey are co-op teams. The Storm is made up of Wausau West, Wausau East, D.C. Everest and Mosinee. So in girls hockey, the Valley makes up the Storm, Wisconsin Valley Union, Black River Falls, Northland Pines and Medford - a much wider range than other sports in the Valley.
Forming the conference
It was the SPASH coach (Stevens Point is part of the Wisconsin Valley Union Co-op) who first suggested girls hockey enter the conference, Lacke told The Wausonian. It came out of many teams having concerns about how far away they were traveling.
That led to a video conference meeting between him and the school’s athletic directors. Lacke said everyone agreed joining the Valley conference was a good idea. Later all the principals had to approve it, which they did.
They had to make an exception for girls hockey. Normally the majority of the schools in the Wisconsin Valley Conference need to have teams, but girls hockey still has a number of co-op teams, so the sport was allowed into the valley with only the Storm and Wisconsin Valley Union (SPASH, Waupaca, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln and Marshfield) having schools in the normal conference boundaries.
Because of that, scheduling is difficult, Lacke says. Black River Falls and Eagle River are more than a three-hour drive away from each other, for instance.
Opportunities and challenges in the Valley
Conference membership also allows players to play for the conference title, and potentially be named to all-conference teams.
That matters, say seniors Madeline Kelter and Ava Whitemore. Both forwards on the Storm, they say that being in the conference helps make their senior year special.
“We’re really excited to be able to be a part of something like this, and play against all these new teams,” Whitemore, a senior forward at D.C. Everest, told The Wausonian at a Storm practice Thursday.
Kelter, a senior forward at Wausau West heading to the UWSP team next year, added that being in an actual conference for their final season feels special and “legit.”
“It really shows the progression of girls hockey,” Kelter said. “You hear about the boys and the other sports that can compete for conference titles, but now girls hockey is advancing.”
That said, life is trade-offs, and Wimmer said there are some downsides as well. The team used to have a little more control over its schedule. There are top teams that the Storm used to be able to test themselves against that they won’t play now until, potentially, the postseason.
But for the players, it puts girls hockey on the map in a new way, and opens some opportunities that past players weren’t able to capitalize on.
And girls hockey might not be the only sport. Lacke told The Wausonian that girls wrestling is starting to grow as well. There might come a point where they need to look at adding that sport as well.
But for now, conference membership is a major step for a team that played its first state tournament in 2006, and has won five state championships in that time.
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