Matthew Besse and Vivianna Kraft are first Royals hockey team captains.
Hockey season has started for the Royals at Lake Region State College. Additionally, if you didn’t know, this is the first-ever season for the men’s and women’s teams. The Journal got to sit down with the team captains, Matthew Besse and Vivianna Kraft and talk about their goals, being the first team captains, and much more.
Q: How long have you been playing or involved in hockey?
M.B.: Since I was 4.
V.K.: Since I was 3.
Q: What made you get into hockey?
V.K.: My older brother [LRSC Royals coach Logan Kraft].
M.B.: My dad taught me how to skate when I was young and it just took off from there.
Q: What are you studying at LRSC?
V.K.: Business administration.
M.B.: Fitness tech program
Q: How did it feel when you got offered the spot of team captain?
M.B. It was exciting. New beginnings. And just being a leader on the team is an exciting thing.
V.K.: I was very excited. Very eager for the opportunity. Very honored that my teammates trusted to vote for me and that I would be a good leader for them.
Q: Do you feel any pressure being the team captain?
V.K.: I mean definitely because good things or bad things that happen within the team kind of reflect on you. People come to you for pretty much everything but you just got to deal with it.
M.B.: I agree. That sums it up pretty well.
Q: What are you guys doing to help bring your teams together and making the first hockey team of LRSC a successful one?
V.K.: What we did was establish some team goals right at the beginning. We made it a point for everybody to buy in and realize it’s a big opportunity since we’re creating something here that we got to make a good program, to start it out strong.
M.B.: We kind of established how we had the opportunity to be the first team and set an example, set the bar for future games to come.
Q: There is no blueprint for you to follow. What does it feel like to be the first captains of the hockey team?
V.K.: It is exciting for sure. You question if you are doing things the right way a lot. But you kind of have to trust the process. You have to know you are here for a reason.
M.B.: I would say trust in the process and staying true to what you believe the right path is. There might be a couple bumps in the road but you just got to overcome and do what you think is the right thing to do.
Q: I know you mentioned goals before, other than winning, are there any other goals?
V.K.: There is a team academic award and there is also individual ones. We want to get the team GPA up there. That’s our first and foremost. Our others are always be positive, always have a good attitude, control the things you can control like your work ethic and attitude
M.B.: Academic award… getting that as a team
You can see the men’s team take on Williston at home on Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4. The women’s team takes on Dakota College at Bottineau in an away game on Wednesday, November 1, and Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4 at home facing Assiniboine.
