Thankfully for Hutchinson and hockey-playing hopefuls at Leavitt Area High School, there was another team facing the same stark reality. Poland/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak Hill also was dealing with low roster numbers.

“We reached out to their schools, and it got all approved by their school boards, got approved by our school board, and it kind of saved hockey for the Leavitt kids,” Hutchinson said.

The two teams with low roster numbers have combined to create a co-operative team with enough players to skate this season — and hopefully contend. The biggest issue now? Creating an identity.

Hutchinson and his Leavitt players combined efforts with the 26ers co-op program for this season, and the foreseeable future. But Poland/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak Hill/Leavitt — as the team is listed on the Maine Principals’ Association website — is quite a mouthful. And what to do with the mix of school colors like green, black, royal blue, navy blue, red and silver? How can you combine mascots such as Hornets, Patriots, Knights and Raiders?

The 26ers name was a nod to Gray-NG and Poland both residing along Route 26. The team kept the name last year when Oak Hill (which is 20-plus miles away from the state route but is located just off Route 126) joined on.

But Leavitt isn’t on Route 26, either.

“I think we’re considered PLOG right now, or something,” junior Brandon Pelton, who attends Gray-New Gloucester, said. “Something weird.”

Hutchinson quipped that “PLOG” sounded better than “GLOP,” but the new combined program needs to come up with its own identity.

That starts with new colors. Hutchinson chose “Vegas” gold and black, which will give the new team a look similar to that of the newly minted Las Vegas National Hockey League team or, more locally, the Maine Moose junior hockey program.

“It doesn’t show a favorite to any team,” junior Bailey Drouin, an Oak Hill student, said of the new color scheme.

A nickname and new colors would seem to pale in comparison to putting together two programs on the ice, but both Hutchinson and the players said having an identity is important. And the meshing together actually proved to be easier than Hutchinson expected.

“I think a lot of these kids have played youth hockey together, and so that has helped. They get along well,” Hutchinson said. “We’re not letting it be them grouped by their school. We’ve mixed them all in, and hoping that they talk to each other and start to get to know each other.”

“In the beginning, we didn’t know what to expect,” Leavitt senior Ashton Dozois said. “We seem to have created some good chemistry, so we’ll be okay.”

“We’ve also always played against each other,” Drouin said. “We’ve kind of been rivals. It’s kind of funny, ironic.”

Pelton said the players from the two programs have become friends.

That friendship was actually sparked a few years ago, when Hutchinson and former 26ers coach Travis Jalbert started a summer program between the two teams. That prior relationship helped unite the two programs when their respective futures looked cloudy.

Together, it’s the dawn of a new day. And for two teams that were bottom-dwellers in Class A North (the 26ers) and Class B South (Leavitt), respectively, it’s a welcome fresh start.

“I think they already feel that they can make the playoffs, just by combining,” Hutchinson said. “They’re pretty familiar with each other. And I think they know that we’re a better team combined.”

“The merging has brought up our intensity, so everybody’s trying to play,” Dozois said. “Whoever works the hardest plays. That’s how Coach put it.”

Intensity was something that was lacking at the end of games for the 26ers last year, according to former assistant Greg Vaillancourt, who is now Hutchinson’s varsity assistant and the program’s junior varsity coach.

“We can’t really go anywhere but up for us (the 26ers), because we went winless (last year),” Drouin said.

Players will have to be motivated this year, because unlike in previous seasons, there is going to be someone behind each of them ready to take their spot.

“No one has a set position,” Dozois said. “So everybody’s practicing like they might lose their spot.”

“I think, as the two teams separate before, the better kids knew that there was nobody to replace them,” Hutchinson said. “They were going to play pretty much regardless. This year it’s going to be a lot different.

“We’re already seeing it now. The numbers that we have allows that upper group to have to push themselves, and practices are becoming a lot more fast-faced because of it. There’s a lot more intensity, a lot more fast-paced. When we have those types of practices the learning curve is going to go up.”

Dozois said the results haven’t always been pretty in practice, but the new team did keep up with the teams it played against in preseason, giving the players some hope.

When once it seemed like all hope was lost, or other times that there never was hope on the ice, there is a new hope for the new program.

“Make playoffs and be competitive. Those are the two things that I’m looking for this year,” Hutchinson said. “As long as we’re competitive, we have a chance at making the playoffs.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com