When Bloomington Kennedy folded its boys hockey program following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season in February, the door swung open for players to join archrival Bloomington Jefferson.

But Kennedy had a talent gap. The Eagles finished 1-24 last season, and 12 of 18 players were seniors. Two took part in Jefferson’s summer training program; none tried out for varsity.

Many remnants of Kennedy’s rich hockey tradition have faded right as Jefferson goes through a resurgence.

“What I would say to those [Kennedy] fans is, ‘Come support us,’ ” Jefferson coach Matt Elsen said. “We want as many people involved in Bloomington hockey as we can get. We still welcome those kids and want a place for them to play.”

The best way to start an all-city bandwagon is to keep winning, and Jefferson is off to a 5-0-1 start entering Saturday’s home game vs. Westonka.

The Jaguars went 3-22-1 only three seasons ago, but wearing those powder blue uniforms, they look like they’ve turned back time to their 1980s and ’90s glory days.

Good crowds have returned to Bloomington Ice Garden, which underwent a $37 million renovation this year. Kennedy still has a presence at that facility affectionately known as “BIG,” if fans know where to look.

There’s a new mural in the main rink honoring the city’s high schools — Lincoln, Kennedy and Jefferson — and a banner noting Kennedy’s four state tournament appearances and 1987 state championship.

Jefferson co-captain Blake Dosan has three older brothers who played hockey for Kennedy. Dosan, too, spent much of his youth hockey days in the Kennedy/Richfield program, which merged with Jefferson’s youth association in 2021.

“The main point that we’re trying to focus on is it’s not specifically Jefferson or Kennedy,” Dosan said. “It really is just Bloomington, and we’re all kind of just one big family.”

Building blocks

Jefferson has steadily improved since Elsen’s first season, when the team won only three games. A talented group of sophomores made the varsity two seasons ago, as the record improved to 8-17-1 and then 10-16 last season.

“We’ve lost some kids to Holy Angels and some kids to other programs, but the majority, like this core group, has really stuck together,” Elsen said.

The Jaguars returned almost all their key players from last season and now have 13 seniors and six juniors. All that experience has helped lead to three comeback victories this season, with veteran players quick to recognize the urgency.

And they’re having fun, too. Before the renovation at BIG, they didn’t have a designated varsity locker room, like most high school teams have.

“We had a public locker room that we shared with anyone, like all the squirts,” senior co-captain Mason Van Brunt said, grinning. “I mean, I would go in the locker room some days and I’d have water all over my gear because little kids were squirting it.”

Now, players have their own locker stalls and a place to hang out together. One day after practice, they watched college football for hours. Another day they hired a barber to come to the locker room and give them mullets.

Glynn’s influence

When Jefferson extended its unbeaten streak Tuesday with a 3-0 victory at Eagan, they were joined on the bus by their good friend Ethan Glynn.

He is a senior manager for Jefferson and a former hockey player who was paralyzed from the shoulders down in 2022 from a football injury in ninth grade.

“He’s at every game,” Jaguars co-captain Frankie Schmitz said. “And we’re at his house every weekend, hanging out, too.”

Glynn’s older brother, Parker Durkin, created a hype video for Jefferson’s season that had 1.1 million views on Instagram.

“I mean, that’s kind of some pressure on us,” Van Brunt said. “You can’t be going out, making those videos and not back it up.”

Jefferson’s schedule will get tougher later in the season, and there’s always pressure when your program has delivered state championships in 1981, 1989, 1992, 1993 and 1994. The Jaguars haven’t advanced to the state tournament since 2005.

With so many seniors, this is a key season, but there are other waves coming. In this week’s Youth Hockey Hub rankings, Jefferson’s Bantam A team ranked No. 9, and the Pee Wee AA team ranked 18th.

The goal, Elsen said, “is just continuing to try to get back to the days of Jefferson being one of the top teams in the state.”

“We’re up against a lot,” he added. “We don’t have a lot of growth because we’re landlocked, but the kids that we’ve got here are buying into what we’re selling, and they’re doing a great job on and off the ice.”