Cherry Creek High School as well as Denver East High School currently have an ice hockey team. So a big question that has plagued Grandview students and athletes is: where is the Grandview hockey team?

 Fortunately enough it was announced recently that a Grandview hockey program is in the works. 

Journalist Jake Chau of GVTV spoke with athletics director Wes Smock about the hockey program. 

What changed for Grandview to get a hockey team now?

I don’t think anything changed, the nice thing is we are at a point of time where we have enough interest amongst athletes in the district where we could potentially house 2 hockey teams for the Cherry Creek school district. 

How do students at Grandview go about playing hockey?

Just like any other sport, they register for it, they show up and go through the tryout process. If they’re fortunate enough to make it they can get put on the team. 

Where would the team play?

There’s still some logistics that are in the making in regards to where they would play, where they out practice, and everything else. One of the big challenges is obviously getting ice. There’s some things in the works, right now we believe we’ll have a place to house our team out of, for practice. As far as games that’d just depend on the schedule. 

How would players get to that practice?

Just like they would with any other practice, like our current hockey players now. They’d have to arrange for transportation.

What is the process for hiring for a head coach?

The process for hiring for a head coach is just like the process for hiring for any other head coach. We post the job for a certain time period, get a certain pool of applicants and then we go through the interview process. One of those processes is having an interview committee of community members and administrators to help work through those applicants. 

Is there a lead applicant as of now? 

As of right now we do have a lead applicant. They’re in the process of being cleared through the district before we’re able to offer the position.

Did you have lots of people apply for the position?

I think anytime you’re talking about hiring, even for any time of job, the more competitive the pool is the better it is for Grandview High School.

How would Grandview hockey compare to other schools’?

We’re gonna have to start from the ground up in building the program, so success right away is gonna be a process, but yeah we expect to be competitive in a short period of time.

Is there a timeline you have in place?

CHSAA has approved Grandview to house a hockey team. It’d still be a co-op team kinda like our current athletes where they’d have the ability from other schools to play here along with the other Grandview athletes. The process of building from ground up is the first 2 years, Grandview High School would be a JV program. Getting the numbers, and working on competitive equity. After a year or two we’d have a varsity program. 

How does this affect Grandview sports?

I think it’s great for Grandview. Anytime we are able to give students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular events, whether that be activities or athletics, that’s just a great thing for kids. It’s a great thing because it allows kids to participate for their high school. 

What do you hope the students take away from having a hockey team?

A very strong competitive, educational based athletic program that we have to offer to more students here. The nice thing is our kids do have the opportunity to play hockey in high school. This is expanding the opportunity for more athletes to play high school sports, and the opportunity for ice hockey to grow in the state. 

Do you think players will have a tough transition from playing at say, Creek or Denver East, to playing at Grandview?

I don’t foresee any issues?

How developed is the coaching hierarchy?

Still early in the process for me to answer that.