Mankato Adapted Floor Hockey team gears up for home playoff game

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -The stage is set for this year’s Adapted Floor Hockey playoffs. Mankato is set to take on Moorhead, and if the team can win that match-up, they’ll be just one win away from a spot at this year’s state tournament.

Last year was the first for an Adapted Floor Hockey program in this area. The group took some bumps and bruises along the way, but despite not winning a game in the inaugural season, the team’s come together to win three games here in 2022-2023.

“Watching everybody score, do their best, cheering my team on, thriving with them. It’s been really good,” Davaris Woods, Mankato freshman.

Mankato is scoring goals at a high rate this season, and in net, Jacob Watson is an anchor.

Excitement around the program continues to grow, and fans packed into every game at Franklin Elementary this year.

“It’s amazing, I mean the fanbase is amazing. There’s always fire in the building,” said Watson.

“So many people have come here for their first time, they seek me out afterwards and are like dude this is fun, this is awesome. It really is, it’s a special energy to be a part of. I think that playoff energy will carry over. We’ll see who will make it, but either way, it’ll be a blast,” said Dylan Boettcher, Mankato head coach.

The program made quite the jump from year one to year two, and it’s the young talent coming in that’s making a big difference.

“Always happy to add new faces to our team, and the ones we did add this year have had a huge impact. Our freshmen have had 70 percent of our scoring. We hope to keep bringing them along, generating word and word of mouth, spreading it and keep growing in the future,” said Boettcher.

The family atmosphere makes it easy for some of those new faces to come in and make an impact right away, and at the end of the day, players are thankful to have such great teammates to play with.

“What makes this team really special is them getting out there and giving it 100 percent. Them not having the best abilities to give it all, but they give it all, that’s what puts a smile on my face,” said Woods.

An inspiring group to watch proving why Minnesota is the state of hockey.

The playoff game between Mankato and Moorhead was supposed to take place on Wednesday, but it’s being rescheduled to Thursday due to the weather.

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