Before the start of the Woodbury vs. Park girls hockey game Tuesday in Cottage Grove, a ceremonial puck drop marked the home team’s fifth annual Sophie’s Squad mental health awareness game, a tradition that started the same year the organization was founded in 2021.

“We really just want to help athletes understand that mental health is important,” Sophie’s Squad Vice President Matt Lee said. “It’s something that they should treat like their physical health.”

Park players decorated their home arena, helmets and hair ties with purple and teal, the colors of the organization. Both teams received mental health resources, as did the fans in attendance.

Click the video box above to see and hear more from the Sophie’s Squad night.

“I think it’s a monumental thing that we do. It’s amazing to show little girls and older people that your mental health matters every day,” Park senior goalie Alayna Adamez said. “The game energy is always inspirational. It’s always electric. So it’s really amazing that our team still does this every single year.”

Since the organization’s inception, Sophie’s Squad has grown from a youth hockey audience to college and pro sport athletes, thanks to the PWHL.

“I’ve seen it help people tremendously,” Park senior center Alyssa Hill said. “I know for me, specifically, it made it a lot easier to know that there may be other people going through the same things, no matter what it is.

Everybody has their own story and their own thing that they may be struggling with. It’s totally okay to talk about it because we’re all human at the end of the day.”