BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Four days a week, George Hoyt takes to the ice for hockey practice with the Brookfield Stars. It’s a co-op team made up of high school students from six local schools. They play their games on Fridays and Saturdays.
What You Need To Know
- Four days a week, George Hoyt takes to the ice for hockey practice with the Brookfield Stars, a co-op team of high school students
- Hoyt is a senior at Wauwatosa East High School
- Last year, Hoyt tore his ACL and wasn't sure he was going to be able to skate for his last season
- People close with Hoyt said he's not just shown tenacity in his sport but also in the classroom
Earlier this year, Hoyt said he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to skate for his last season on the team.
“First game of my football season, I tore my ACL," Hoyt, a Wauwatosa East High School senior, said. "I was trying to block somebody, and I just landed weird.”
His hockey coach, Greg Copeland, remembers the phone call.
“The first thing I told him was that it was terrible news. He’s a great kid," Copeland said. "He’s coming into his senior year, he’s named captain of the team. I just told him to take care of himself, but also it doesn’t change our overall plan for him for the year of being a leader.”
Hoyt had surgery in September, and the typical recovery time from an ACL injury is nine months.
He was back on the ice in January, only missing the first 10 games of the season.
“[He] worked hard every day, kind of a crazy story, an amazing story actually," Copeland added.
Copeland said it’s a testament to Hoyt’s dedication and natural leadership skills as an athlete, but that he’s also shown that same tenacity in the classroom.
Kelly Roberts, a teacher at Wauwatosa East High School, ran the Academic Resource Center last year, and needed student tutors for math.
She said she knew Hoyt was advanced in that area, and could be a great asset to younger students.
"There was never any like, 'this was the math I did when I was in sixth grade.’ He was kind, he was pragmatic, he made kids feel at ease, and it was really appreciated," Roberts said.
That’s one of the things that drives Hoyt — he said he likes to help others succeed.
“I think that math gets a bad reputation of being rigorous and not that useful, but if you’re able to grasp the basic principles of it, it can open up a lot of opportunities and modes of thinking for you, so I just wanted other people to have the opportunity to think like that," Hoyt said.
With a 3.97 GPA, Hoyt’s future is looking bright.
While he hasn’t made a final decision, Hoyt has been accepted to University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has a deferred acceptance to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“It’s obviously one of the best schools in the world, so I’m excited about that," Hoyt said.
Andrew Thompson, a physical education teacher at Wauwatosa East, said Hoyt is the epitome of what the school wants in a student athlete.
“If you really want something, whether it's academically, or in the weight room, on the football field, on the rink, whatever it is, you just have to work, and good things happen to those who work, and he is a testament to that," Thompson said.
Unfortunately, the Stars fell just short of making the state tournament, losing in the sectional finals for the second year in a row.
Despite the losses, Hoyt said he was glad to be on the ice.
"I’ve really learned to not take things for granted that you have, so I’m just really happy to be out here," Hoyt said.
He said he's continuing to work hard — on and off the ice — to be as successful as possible.