For some locals, the hockey grind continues past their high school days when they were members of the Freeburg-Waterloo Raging Bulldogs and Columbia Eagles. 

One former Raging Bulldogs standout, 20-year-old Logan Ganz, is skating  in one of the top junior hockey leagues. 

Ganz plays for the Springfield Jr. Blues of the North American Hockey League. The forward has played in 37 games this season for the Jr. Blues, recording seven goals and six assists. The season runs through mid-April. 

Several other former local hockey standouts are playing at the college level. 

In fact, there are three locals playing for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Former Raging Bulldogs player Tyler Hutchinson is a freshman forward, former Columbia goalie Tim Barbee Jr. is a sophomore netminder, and fellow former Columbia great Elijah Defosset is a senior forward for SIUE’s American Collegiate Hockey Association D2 squad. 

The ACHA is a different governing body for college hockey than the NCAA. The NCAA allows universities to offer athletic scholarships while ACHA programs do not.

Another former Raging Bulldogs great playing locally at the college level is Nick Mumford. He’s a freshman forward on Maryville University’s ACHA D2 squad, with six goals and six assists in 25 games. 

A former teammate of Mumford on the Raging Bulldogs, Brayden Richey, is a freshman defender on Lewis University’s ACHA D2 squad. Richey has three goals and four assists in 15 games.

Playing his senior season as a defender on Calvin University’s ACHA D3 squad is former Raging Bulldogs great Joey Lugge. Calvin University, which is 19-7-1 on the season, is located in Grand Rapids, Mich.

There’s another Lugge playing college hockey. Anna Lugge is a freshman forward on Elmira College’s NCAA Division III women’s ice hockey team. In 26 games for the New York school, she has nine goals and 12 assists.