It was announced in September that the Duluth Marshall and North Shore high school girls’ hockey programs would become one. North Shore is already a cooperative between Two Harbors and Silver Bay, which means they’re good at merging communities.

Despite making their fourth straight appearance in the sectional finals last season, the Hilltoppers didn’t have the numbers to field a team of their own this year. So they looked north, to the Storm, and are now in their first week of training together.

“Well, that was really sad. I want to be a part of our school team and show our pride, but this will only help us and hopefully I can reach that sectional final again,” said Nina Thorson, a senior at Duluth Marshall.

“I think our programs will mesh well. We will definitely complement each other. Just like we have good talent, they have good talent, and so together we should be really, really good,” Two Harbors senior Addison Bentler said.

The idea for the cooperative came easily, since Two Harbors and Duluth Marshall are already partners in football. However, the actual mesh of the two programs, with nine skaters coming from Duluth, will pose a new challenge for first-year head coach Mike Hoff.

“It was early but the children were happy and supportive. There is of course a bit of uncertainty with a lot of children, where we are going to play, what are we going to do, travel, but it will work if we do what is best for the children,” said Hoff said.

To ease the transition, he also brought in Hilltoppers head coach Callie Hoff as an assistant coach.

“We are truly grateful for this opportunity. We are grateful to the North Shore program and the communities of Two Harbors and Silver Bay for welcoming us. It’s incredible. They’re all great people, it’s going to be a great co-op and I know our girls are ready to go,” Callie Hoff said.

North Shore’s season opener will be Tuesday, November 12 when they host Duluth in Silver Bay.

The Storm split its home games between Sonju Arena in Two Harbors and Rukavina Arena in Silver Bay. They were able to schedule a game at Mars Lakeview Arena, home of the Hilltoppers, in January.