The inaugural MacArthur Hockey Team took fourth place in the Santa Ana Unified School District Hockey Tournament.  The 15-player team was coached by P.E. Teacher Mr. Tim Fredericksen and had six weeks to prepare for the tournament at Valley High School on Saturday, February 1.

The Hockey team took fourth place in the tournament after losing to McFadden Intermediate by a score of 3-4 in the sudden death round.  However, according to Fredericksen, it was an accomplishment that the hockey team made the playoffs.

Fredrickson pushed for the formation of a hockey team because many other intermediate schools fielded teams for the tournament.  “Every other school had a team, so Assistant Principal Ms. Bertha Benavides contacted the Ducks hockey team and got pucks and hockey sticks to start our season,” said Fredrickson.  Benavides, MacArthur’s former assistant principal, was instrumental in gathering the equipment needed for the hockey team. 

Out of the 15 players on the team, Fredrickson thought that eighth-graders Joseph Lira and Jacob Chimal were MVP’s for the season.

According to Fredericksen, McFadden was the hardest team that MacArthur faced. Before the sudden-death round against McFadden, the team played against Mendez Intermediate, Esqueda K-8, Santigo K-8, and Villa Intermediate.  In the course of the tournament, MacArthur went 1-3-1.  

“I think that the team did well for our first year getting fourth place,” said eighth-grader Jacob Chimal.

“It’s funny how they called Jacob for holding someone in the corner but didn’t call the kid from McFadden for catching the ball and throwing it to our side,” said eighth-grader Brianna Perez.