MONROE — With the uncertainty of playing a WIAA girls hockey season, the Rock County Fury came up with a Plan B: Play a club schedule while they wait.

Of the many prep sports casualties, few area teams faced as dire of a situation as the Fury — at least at the WIAA level. The Fury, a co-op with players from 10 schools and three rinks in three counties had plenty of hoops to climb.

For instance, the host school is Beloit Memorial, which has withheld winter sports participation to this point. That means the school with the most players on the roster and the base of operations would be out of service. Monroe also has a pause in winter sports and will not allow for practices until mid-December. For the handful of players from Illinois (Lena-Winslow and Orangeville schools), a new governor’s order put the January start of the season in jeopardy.

While exploring options for getting players onto the ice, Fury coach Luke Steurer decided it would be best for his players to open the winter playing as a club. A partnership with Monroe Youth Hockey Association made the transition possible. However, Steurer cannot coach the team while it plays as a club, so parents Ryan Combs and Chad Kligora have stepped in to coach the squad.

“Our coach, Luke Steurer, has put in so much effort for us and helped get us games,” said Monroe senior Anika Einbeck. “And then our parents — we have amazing parents on our team, and two of them stepped up to coach. I honestly love playing for both of them. They are great coaches.”

The hope is that the club can get in a solid 10-15 games before January rolls around — or whenever it is feasible to play a WIAA schedule, then the team would return as the Rock County Fury, while the club-level name for the team is the Fury Girls U-19.

“We’re trying to schedule as many games as possible,” Einbeck said. “Ice is hard to find right now.”

Einbeck and Albany senior Alyssa Knauf helped lead the Fury back to the WIAA state tournament a year ago. Both players finished in the top-10 in the state in points scored, along with Knauf’s since-graduated sister, Haley. Both Einbeck and Alyssa Knauf also play for Team Wisconsin, a club of premier players from across that state that plays other top clubs across the country.

Einbeck finished the regular season last winter tied for ninth in the state with 26 goals, second in assists (32) and third in overall points (58). Alyssa Knauf had 25 assists and 23 goals, finishing tied with sister Haley for 48 total points. 

The Fury finished tied for the Badger Conference championship last season alongside Madison Metro Lynx and Cap City Cougars. Both the Lynx and Cougars are based in Dane County, which currently has restrictions on group activities, meaning the likelihood of a holding a WIAA season is also low.

Alyssa Knauf said that integrating the new players is a challenge the team will face as it opens the season. New players to the team this year include Emma Kligora, Liberty Speth and Lily Campbell. Other players could possibly join as well, including if and when the club joins the WIAA circuit.

Key returning players include all-conference goaltender Olivia Cronin and sisters and defenders Sara and Jena Loerke. All three players are from Beloit Memorial. Starting defender Anna Malone of Orangeville is back this winter, as well as senior defender Samantha Wells of Beloit Turner, young forwards Sara Edler of Lena-Winslow, Olivia Combs of Janesville Parker and Amery Stuckey of Beloit Memorial.

Sara Loerke finished fourth on the team in points a year ago with 22 in 24 games played, and Malone had 10 points on the season.

“We have a very promising group,” Knauf said. “Everyone has to just keep working hard.”

The team practices just twice a week at the moment (Wednesdays in Janesville and Fridays in Monroe), then gets set to play two games each weekend. The Fury had just two practices before their season-opening series in Milwaukee against the Admirals U-19 club. The Fury lost the opener 1-0, despite the limited practice time.

Many of the games listed on the team’s schedule are away or at Janesville, but both Einbeck and Knauf said multiple games in Monroe are planned.

“It’s been kind of stressful not knowing when or where practice or games will be,” Knauf said.

Einbeck and Knauf each joined the career 100-point club last season. One of them knows this is the last season she steps on the ice, while the other is giving it hard thought about whether to play in college. 

“You never know when your last game will be,” said Einbeck, who added that she received interest from multiple schools to play at the next level. However, Einbeck wants to major in industrial engineering and is concerned how playing sports at the next level might affect her grades.

“There’s no future to make a living off of it,” Einbeck said of women’s hockey. “It’s a big decision. Is it worth it to your grades to keep playing?”

Knauf gave no pause with her situation. “This is going to be my last hoorah,” she said. While her sister is forging a college career at Aurora University, Alyssa plans to hang up her skates and attend the University of North Dakota to study aviation. Alyssa is working towards getting her pilots license and hopes to someday get paid to travel the skies thousands of feet above the ground.

For now, both star seniors are focused on the task at hand — playing together on the ice as much as possible before the final horn blows.

“You always look forward to your senior year,” Knauf said.