Raising Hope

In The Wake Of Unspeakable Tragedy, The Stoneman Douglas High Hockey Team Banded Together And Earned A Berth To The National Championships

- Alex Prewitt

ON A COLD March afternoon, 18-year-old Matthew Horowitz stood outside the Minnesota state capitol, reading notes from his cell phone and speaking to 18,000 protestors gathered on the mall grounds below. Pinned to his Marjory Stoneman Douglas ice hockey jacket was an orange ribbon honoring Jaime Guttenberg, sister of his teammate Jesse Guttenberg, while the green lettering on his baseball cap—extra guac—paid tribute to friend Joaquin (Guac) Oliver. Both were among the victims of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at their Parkland, Fla., high school.

“Those 17 people will never walk this Earth again,” Horowitz told the crowd. “I will never see my friends again. We now speak for those 17 angels, and we need to make a difference in this world.”