WEST BEND, Wis. — The West Bend Power Hockey team's playoff game drew a full crowd after the team broke its record for the most wins in a regular season.
A fan and TMJ4 viewer emailed Washington County Reporter Marcus Aarsvold, saying the team's record and growing fan base are community highlights.
"I'd say it's pretty high-quality hockey for the price!" Michael Erickson said. "Love the Admirals, but sometimes the drive and the cost, you know, it's nice to come here and watch a game."
Michael and his son Logan Erickson live in West Bend and enjoy attending every game they can.
Watch: West Bend hockey team draws more fans during record-setting year
Logan enjoys playing hockey and hopes to skate on the ice as a Power teammate one day.
"He sees these guys playing out here and giving it their all," Michael said. "He learns things from them."
The young fans and larger crowds mean a lot to head coach Jason Woods.
"To me, it means everything," he said. "They really look up to these guys, and we've got a great group of young men showing them how to do that, showing them leadership, and then hopefully they want to go home and say, 'I want to play hockey too.' And that's really what we're here to do."
Woods grew up in West Bend, and in order to play hockey, his team would travel to Sheboygan.
Coach, fans, and players said the sport is getting more popular as their junior league improves each year. This season, they won 37 games, the most wins ever.
"The fan base here is great. For my first year here, we'd get 400 fans on a good night, and now we're getting 1,500 on a good night," Odin Klebba said. "It's really nice having all of those people have our backs."
It's Klebba's final season playing for Power. He's a Washington County native who grew up in Hartford.
Power lost to the Rochester Grizzlies 4-0 on Friday night. They need to beat the MN team on Saturday and Sunday to make it to their junior league's championship in St. Louis.
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