“Number six has all the tricks” can be heard chanted around the Orono Ice Area when the girls hockey team steps on the ice.  Katherine Spurlock is the girl wearing number six.

Spurlock has been playing hockey for 12 years and is a defensive player for the Spartans.

Being out on the ice is a way for Spurlock to get away and relax.  “When [I] step on the ice, all the stress and background noise of reality disappears, and we enter a whole different world,” Spurlock said.

This season is only Spurlock’s second year with the Spartans.  Until her junior year, Spurlock attended Wayzata High School.

After the move was made Spurlock saw a few differences between the two teams.  “At Orono we’re like one big family, both Varsity and JV.  Everyone gets along with each other and with the coaches,” Spurlock said.  “At Wayzata the team chemistry was not as strong.”

Superstitions are common among athletes and Spurlock is no exception.  Every game Spurlock has to wear an American flag bandana under her helmet. “If we lose with one bandana, I have to wear a different American themed bandana the next game,” Spurlock said.

Spurlock has her own rituals before every game as well.  Before every game Spurlock must re-tape her stick.  After that she must do the same pre-game stretches and warm ups.

Once the team steps on the ice, Spurlock must throw her water bottle to her coach, Claire, who must catch the bottle or Spurlock will have to throw it again.

The love Spurlock has for hockey is something that is “hard to describe”.  “I love being out there with 20 of my closest friends and we enter a whole new world.  You can’t find that anywhere else.  I love that,” Spurlock said.