WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – The Wausau School Board is discussing the future of Wausau East’s varsity hockey team after a conference vote blocked a proposed co-op with Wausau West.
The school currently competes on a co-op team with Merrill, but that partnership will end after this season. Merrill believes they’ll have enough students to field a team of their own.
The Wausau School Board had a lengthy discussion to find the best path forward for their student-athletes. Fielding a varsity hockey team next season could be a tall task for Wausau East, with one option being to form another co-op.
Wausau East’s co-op hockey team with Merrill was never supposed to last forever. Merrill’s decision to split off from the Lumberjacks is because they believe they’ll have enough players to create a team of their own next year. The problem is, they made that decision two days before the WIAA’s deadline to declare a varsity team.
“Maybe they thought it was going to be a no-brainer, East and West would be able to co-op, because it’s not going to affect the number of teams in the Valley, which is often a big issue. It’s just going to be kids, so it’s not a big deal,” said Wausau School Board Vice President, Lance Trollop.
It did turn into a big issue after the conference voted 3-3 for East and West to co-op for hockey. A split decision means the merger can’t be approved.
“Those three principals, those three adults, decided that these kids don’t get to play hockey. And that’s really, really disappointing,” Trollop said.
For East students, they could try and transfer to West for the opportunity to play hockey next season. The Wausau School District is hoping the schools that voted against the merger will look at the information presented and reconsider their vote so that students wouldn’t need to transfer.
“We should have another vote and then we should put it on WIAA and ask for that extension because if there ever was going to be a time to have an extension, this would be the time,” Trollop said.
If another vote were to happen for the Wisconsin Valley Conference, the Wausau School District believes it would give students a chance to continue to play the game they love.
“Whether people want to talk about it or not, sports do matter. It helps create a total child. It helps create an individual. It helps us understand teamwork,” said James Bouché, president of the Wausau school board.
If the WIAA still denies Wausau East a varsity hockey team with a conference re-vote, the school says they’ll take legal action against the governing body.
They also hope to have a discussion on changing the voting format in the conference, so a tiebreaker can occur on decisions like the merger.
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