Senior Liam Dougan loves his team. He loves the atmosphere. He loves the intensity. He loves the roar of the crowd when he scores a goal. All in all, Dougan simply loves the sport of hockey and everything that comes with it.

“Hockey, in my opinion, is the best sport on the planet,” he said. “I don’t know, there is just nothing like it. You get to move extremely fast, if you’re worried about getting hurt, it’s just part of the game. It’ll help you grow as a person because you get knocked down, if you get wrecked in a game, everybody will get wrecked. You just need to get back up and take down whoever hit you.”

Dougan has been playing hockey since he was five years old and is currently the captain of the Clayton team. He made varsity his freshman year, but could not play his junior year because Clayton did not have enough players for a team.

Freshman Max Hunter has enjoyed playing with Dougan in his first season on the Clayton team and feels he brings a strong presence on the ice.

“He knows how to score and he just is a good all around player, he knows where to be on the ice and he’s just pretty experienced and knows what he’s doing,” Hunter said.

Dougan’s experience has given him an edge on the ice. He has scored five goals and has assisted six more, giving him a total of 11 points.

In addition to his talent on the ice, Dougan also excelled on the varsity soccer team. Though in his first three seasons he played as a forward, he was able to step up for the varsity team when injuries took out many key defenders his senior year. Dougan embraced defense and started most varsity games his senior season.

He enjoyed his experiences on the soccer team and feel it gave him a good social outlet throughout high school.

“It was a lot of fun because I got to play with so many of my close friends and I also got to make new friends that I wouldn’t … [otherwise] get to associate with,” Dougan said.

Next year, he will attend the University of Missouri. Though he will not play ice hockey, he does intend to continue with the sport on a less competitive level. He knows at Missouri he will have a number of opportunities to keep playing.

“I know a lot of people that play roller hockey there, just for fun,” he said.

Dougan has advice for many upcoming hockey players. He feels that if a person puts in hard work, their efforts will pay off in hockey.

“If you want to learn hockey you have to learn how to skate, it would be the equivalent of if you wanted to play soccer you would have to learn how to run. With hockey that’s one of the most unique things about it, that you have to learn a new mode of movement and it takes a lot of time to master,” he said. “So, if you are willing to put in the time and the effort, hockey can be a really rewarding experience and I’m definitely happy that I’ve gotten the opportunity to play, in my opinion, the best sport on the planet.”