Parkway West Hockey, a sport that is not sponsored by the school, has gained the attention of the student body and staff.
“West was really good about seven years ago, we were a top tier team. In recent years, the number of our players has been low, but we are noticing a lot of incoming freshmen,” Assistant Coach Andy Mueller said.
Last year, West finished with more loses than wins. This year, with new Head Coach Brian Moseley, the team currently stands 8-8-3.
“Throughout the season the team has gained a lot more discipline and the older players have matured and acted as role models to the rest of the team,” Moseley said. “I think our biggest accomplishments were beating Parkway South with a limited bench and having a five game win streak. But, I think our biggest accomplishment is yet to come.”
With the regular season coming to an end on Jan. 24, both players and coaches have the playoff’s and the Winter Classic to look forward to. West was chosen out of 38 other teams to play in the Winter Classic with seven other teams.
“Our biggest goal for the Winter Classic is to show everyone that we are a good team and that we can take control,” Captain David Bickert said. “Our team is on the rise.”
The Winter Classic will be held at Clayton Shaw Park. Parkway West will be playing Webster at 8 p.m.
“It is an exclusive game and it is definitely a great experience,” Moseley said. “We came close to beating Webster earlier this season, and we are a completely different team now.”
Parkway West will also be hosting their senior night on Jan. 24 at 9:30 p.m. at Queeny Park to honor Bickert, Assistant Captain Clayton Brenner, Mustafa Baig, Stephen Gerstner and Nathan Downs.
“The seniors are strong players. They stepped up at the beginning of the season and became more disciplined and more serious about the game,” Moseley said. “The rest of the team definitely looks up to them.”
![Within the U.S., the busiest shopping period of the year is Cyber Week, the time from Thanksgiving through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, shoppers spent $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, which is a 7.3% year-over-year increase from 2023. “When I was younger, I would always be out with my mom getting Christmas gifts or just shopping in general. Now, as she has gotten older, I've noticed [that almost] every day, I'll open the front door and there's three packages that my mom has ordered. Part of that is she just doesn't always have the time to go to a store for 30 minutes to an hour, but the other part is when she gets bored, she has easy access to [shopping],” junior Grace Garetson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DSC_0249.JPG-1200x801.jpg)
![Complex global supply chains supply the goods for everyday luxuries, such as the coffee at West High’s Blue Brew. Low tariffs enabled much of the prosperity of modern history. “Higher tariffs lead to higher costs. A tariff is a tax on an imported good, and someone has to pay for that tax, and typically that [will] end up impacting consumers,” economics teacher Rachel Money said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Flag-1.png)
![Eyes glued to his sheet music, senior Andrew Gillies accompanies the Jazz Band as the pianist. During the annual Winter Jazz Concert, Gillies was chosen to improvise a solo during the song, “T.J. Boogie.” ¨I love concerts [because of] how the audience reacts, and just the stage lights [shining on me],¨ Gillies said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DSC_3774-1200x801.jpg)
![Junior TJ Polack plays his saxophone solo at halftime for the 2024 marching band show, ‘Coloring Book.’ This year, Polack was one of two soloists in the marching band. “[Polack] is very hard on himself. [His saxophone solo] sounds amazing [and] everyone [cheers] for him; [still], somehow, he thinks it’s a bad performance and he's down. What he does is not easy. It takes a lot of confidence as a person [and] a lot of musical skill to be expressive, and he's doing an amazing job,” drum major and senior Dominic Perez said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/462488499_2973926416100522_5057718068659607183_n-1200x925.jpg)
![Blending together a concoction for a science experiment, science teacher Joel Anderson scares his students by bringing excitement and thrill into his classroom for his annual Halloween show. It took about six weeks for Anderson to set up his classroom for the show. “It’s pure terror. I came up with this idea a couple decades ago to do something fun for Halloween. So I pretend to be this mad scientist [that creates] a Frankenstein-like creature [with the class], learning a little bit of science along the way and [then ending] with a laser show. It’s just for fun; entertainment value,” Anderson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0021.JPG_-1200x800.jpg)
![Senior Sally Peters stands in the history hallway, contemplating her choices in the 2024 United States and Missouri elections on Nov. 5. As a member of Diplomacy Club, Peters has discussed key candidates and issues in contemporary American politics. “[As students], we're starting to become adults. We're realizing how much the policies that are enforced and the laws that make it through the House and Senate are starting to affect us. [Opportunities such as] AP [U.S.Government] and Diplomacy Club [make elections feel] a lot more real,” Diplomacy Club vice president and senior Nidhisha Pejathaya said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Flag-1-1.png)
![Holding the disc, senior Nathan Thompson waits for an opportunity to pass to senior Timmy Fry. Parkway United’s ultimate frisbee team is made up of students from each of the four Parkway schools. “The one thing I really like about ultimate [frisbee] is the community because it’s so different from any other sport I've been a part of. [My] national teammates are people who we play against in the regular season, so we see each other all the time. It's always fun hanging out with [them],” Thompson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/C96A6823-1200x800.jpg)
![Senior Josie Grunzinger watches the football game intently from the sidelines on Oct. 18. Grunzinger stood out to the crowd as the only girl on the football team, encouraging other girls who want to play football to take a chance and go for a sport outside of their comfort zone. “If you think you could [play football] and you want to do it, just try it, because all it takes is to actually try it out,” Grunzinger said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Untitled-design-1200x675.png)
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![Putting on his helmet, catcher and senior Tommy Eschbach prepares to get in his primary stance. Despite losing 6-1 against Eureka on April 16, Eschbach didn’t let the tough loss affect his playing or mental health. “It's [so] easy to get caught up in the sport and what you're doing that [after] one bad game or a stretch of games it is hard to remind yourself that your worth as a person isn't directly related to your performance on the field,” Eschbach said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DSC_0415-1-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Sports organizations have changed lives on and off the field, improving athletes’ muscle strength, reducing their risk of diseases and building energetic work capacity worldwide. However, many student-athletes struggle to balance schoolwork and athletic commitments, hoping to seek more understanding and support from their teachers and coaches. “To lessen mental strain student-athletes [face] and create a healthier, more comfortable lifestyle, there shouldn’t be any homework. I'm already [at school] for eight hours and [homework] creates a bigger load for student-athletes in AP or honors classes,” track and field sprinter and sophomore Lucy Penton said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_0095-1-e1713883278514-1200x847.jpg)
![At the Spring Pep Rally on March 8, boys varsity water poloist and junior Jack Brau stands with the boys water polo team. The group, hoping to include everyone — whether boy or girl, varsity or JV — cheered on the girls water polo team during the sports team runouts. “Even though we all play separate games and have different practices, we like to see ourselves as one big group who represent one water polo [team],” Brau said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_8810-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Looking for an open teammate, freshman Patrick May passes the ball across the court at the Nov. 28 game against Parkway Central. May started in the game against the Colts. ”Growing up, [my parents] always gave me a basketball, [and] we had a basketball hoop outside. I grew up playing [all the time], playing on the [driveway] and shooting hoops with my dad.” May said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image2-1-1200x801.jpg)