MONROE - Albany senior Johnny Kallgren competed with Monroe's club hockey team the last several years. Now, he and his teammates are starting a new journey as a WIAA sanctioned Monroe boys hockey co-op.

There are 42 hockey co-ops across the state. But Monroe's hockey co-op may be one of the most unique, as it includes eight schools, including two from Illinois - Freeport and Lena-Winslow. The other co-op schools include Albany, Beloit Turner, Darlington, Parkview and Pecatonica schools. Monroe will play a 17-game schedule as part of the Badger Conference. The season opens Tuesday, Nov. 20 at Oregon.

Kallgren is excited to be a part of the WIAA hockey co-op.

"I think it's great," Kallgren said. "It's a big step for Monroe hockey. I'm just glad it's WIAA hockey."

Monroe was a member of the Northern Illinois Hockey League, which is comprised of club teams from the Rockford and Chicago areas. Club hockey has a storied tradition in Monroe dating back to the first club team in 1974. Teams first played outside at the high school and at Twining Park.

Monroe junior Jake Trickel has been waiting for this day.

"I think this could have happened a long time ago," Trickel said of the team becoming a WIAA program. "I think it's really well deserved."

Hockey became the third self-funded program in the district. Boys and girls soccer are also self-funded, meaning the programs must raise all the money necessary to maintain the sport, with no financial assistance from the district. The hockey co-op looks to become self-sustaining through fundraising and athletic fees.

"Most of our guys have been really psyched about going brand new and a step up from where they were before," Monroe coach Nate Brown said. "It's really an excellent opportunity to bring some teams together to have us on the same side rooting for each other."

The Monroe School District hired coaches, set the schedule and lines up officials. The Forum Monroe Youth Hockey Association, Inc. last year pledged to raise $10,000 in the first year of the program and projected $35,848 in expenses and $19,846 in income. The MYHA will line up volunteers to work games.

Brown graduated from Manawa and played club hockey for Shawno. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he played lacrosse.

"My hockey philosophy is I need to see total effort," Brown said. "If they are not playing with total effort in practices and games they will not play. We will need that effort to compete in this conference (Badger)."

"I have high expectations," Brown said. "We will go into every game expecting to win. We have some challenging teams in our conference. That is no reason not to have high expectations."

Players on the team also have big expectations.

"I think we just want to finish with a winning record," Kallgren said.

Trickel said playing WIAA against some schools who have Division I recruits will be more of a challenge this year.

"My expectations are to have fun, work together as a team and stay together no matter what the outcome," Trickel said. "I think it will be really good to play these high level teams in the WIAA. It's a new challenge. We have a couple of defenders returning and we should be a pretty good shooting team."

Brown plans to use several lines depending on how players practice.

"We can't rely on one single player," he said. "There is no way we can make it relying on just one player."

Even though some of the players know each other, Brown said they still need to build rapport on the ice. With time, Brown expects a smooth transition.

"It's great to see them coming together and working well together," he said.

The WIAA has approved a rule change that will suspend players one game for checks from behind.

"Checking from behind going full speed without someone seeing it is for the player's safety," Brown said. "I totally agree with it. It's a transition to change something that has been allowed. We have to be in complete control of our bodies."