Figure skating is often a solitary, siloed sport. Individual athletes hone their jumps, spins, and skating skills without a team and often away from other school sports.
The Minnetonka Ice Skippers began as a way to bridge that gap.
Founded in 2025 by Minnetonka HS incoming junior figure skaters Delilah Wolter and Noa Simms, the Minnetonka Ice Skippers is a new team in the burgeoning sport of Hockey Cheerleading.
Hockey cheerleaders appear on and off the ice before and during hockey games to perform skating routines, cheers, and crowd work, all from atop ice skates. The sport of Hockey Cheerleading combines skating prowess with cheerleading choreography and performance.
“It’s a really cool opportunity that many schools don’t have,” says Ice Skippers’ Coach Logan Mahoney.
The Ice Skippers began with the goal of “creating more opportunities for skaters to be involved in their school while continuing to pursue their individual passion for figure skating.”
Logan cites another impetus for the program beginning in 2025, however: Edina founded a hockey cheerleading team the year prior, in 2024. “It gave that extra push: our top rival has a team, and we have to do better.”
The name “Ice Skipper” was created as a brand for the team, different from the otherwise default “Lake Minnetonka Hockey Cheerleading.”
While the Ice Skippers are only one of about half a dozen high school teams in the state, the University of Minnesota has had a hockey cheerleading team for decades, one of the few Division I programs in the nation.
So, when seeking a coach for the Ice Skippers, few are more qualified than Logan, who spent two years on the University of Minnesota’s Hockey Cheerleading team before coming to coach the Ice Skippers.
For Logan, the ability to provide figure skaters with the support of a team was important because they “typically don’t get to see the team aspect” of high school sports.
Because Hockey Cheerleading is still a relatively new sport, teams “are all pretty different,” says Logan, with some focusing on crowd engagement, cheer choreography, or solo work more than others.
The University of Minnesota’s Cheerleading team highlights skating excellence, a focus that Mahoney brings to the Ice Skippers.
Each of the Ice Skippers’ 14 members comes from a figure skating background, which grounds the team in skating skill.
Logan creates and directs the team’s choreography herself, from on-ice routines to sideline cheers.
“A lot of it comes from me looking really stupid in my living room,” laughs Logan.
Logan previously created her own choreography for solo performances while at the University of Minnesota, but creating group routines is a different skill.
Last year, the Ice Skippers joined the boys' hockey team all the way to the 2026 state championship game, where they cheered on the ice at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
“Year one went so smoothly, which was shocking,” says Logan. “Everyone handled it so well. I’m so proud.”
Practice for the Ice Skippers begins the first day of school, as the skaters are expected to learn all choreography and routines before the first game to allow the team as much time as possible to practice before the hockey season gets started.
A main goal for the Ice Skipper’s second year is to further improve the group’s cheerleading, says Logan.
What has been especially meaningful to Logan is that other schools are seeking to follow the Ice Skipper’s lead.
“A lot of high schools have reached out to us about how we got started,” says Logan.
As to how the community can best support the Ice Skippers in their upcoming second season, Logan says fans should simply come to hockey games.
“It’s been fun to see the fanbase grow.”
So, win, lose, or draw, fans can expect to see the smiling faces of hockey cheerleaders at Minnetonka hockey games this year as the Ice Skippers enter their second season.
For Logan, however, it’s the hockey cheerleaders who are always the winners.
“Whether the hockey team wins or loses, cheerleaders always win because they’re just there to have a good time.”
Whether the hockey team wins or loses, cheerleaders always win because they’re just there to have a good time.