Some of us may cringe at the thought of winter-the cold weather, ice and snow. But for Chad Loomis, it’s a season that he’s able to work a little bit of magic.

Every year for the past six or so, Loomis, the head coach of the Parkland ice hockey team, has built an ice rink in his backyard with the help of other parents. It’s become a haven for the Trojans and a big part to their success over the past decade.

“Probably the past six years, we’ve been building a nice size hockey rink in the backyard for them,” Loomis said, who is in his first year at the varsity helm. “It gives them a lot of time to work on their shots, their stick handling and screwing around.”

The Trojans basically live at the Loomis residence come the winter.

“Two years ago, we had 60 straight days of ice and they were probably on it for 50 of the 60,” Loomis said. “Somebody was on it the entire time. They use it a ton if the weather cooperates. We have lights up, so they’ll play until 3:00 in the morning.”

While 2017 has marked the first year Loomis is at the helm of the varsity team, he has been coaching this group of Trojans ever since the players were in middle school. His first group, this year’s seniors will graduate later in the spring after another successful season on the ice.

Parkland is currently unbeaten in the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League and is searching for its seventh straight championship at the varsity level. The Trojans are the clear favorite to take home gold once again.

“They definitely have a lot of chemistry,” Loomis said. “They know each others’ voices, and everybody knows how to play together. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They were challenged over the years. Some of the best games that I can recall were playoff games against Liberty back in middle school. We had some wild ones. They were challenged. They just always seemed to come out on top.”

The Trojans’ success under Loomis started immediately in middle school. Ever since he has taken over roughly a decade ago, this group of skaters have been at the top of league standings and hoisting trophies at the end of the season.

“They’ve always been the top team,” Loomis said. “Unfortunately, there have been a couple of years where they didn’t do playoffs at the JV level. We didn’t have the end-of-the-year playoffs. There were a couple of years that we didn’t have playoffs, but every year that we did, we won.”

As a powerhouse over the years, Parkland has generated the opposition’s best effort on a nightly basis in an attempt for David to try and take down Goliath. There have been a couple of close games this season-a couple of two-goal results-but the Trojans always have found a way in 2017.

“It’s kind of been the same cast of characters,” Loomis said. “We’ve added a few faces along the way, but it’s been the same group of guys.

“Whoever we play, we always get the other team’s best game because it’s like playing us is the biggest game on their schedule all year long. And they get two cracks at it.”

Andrew Loomis, coach Chad Loomis’s son, is one of five seniors that will graduate in the upcoming months. Forward Andrew Lessig, defender John McCauley, Phil Rongo and Hunter Stewart are the others that are in their last year playing under Loomis.

But Loomis, once this season is complete, hopes to coach at least two more years to see his group of players from the beginning make it full circle through their high school years. The sophomore and junior classes have a lot of talent as well, led by Charles Rongo (the team’s leading goal-scorer), Jake Nimeh (who leads the Trojans with 34 points on 17 goals and 17 assists), Timmy Doe (27 points) and Koby Steivecki on the defensive end.

“The juniors, I bet there is probably going to be five of them that move onto bigger and better things that are planning on playing in college and trying to play at some level of professional hockey,” Loomis said.

Only time will tell. For now, Loomis and the Trojans are focused on closing out the regular season on a high note with a chance at some more hardware.