Stepping onto the ice for the first time, the Southern Utah Independent High School hockey team skates its way through the neutral zone and into our hearts.

The Southern Utah Yetis hockey team — which makes its home at The Glacier Ice Skating Rink in Cedar City — formed this year with high school students who love the sport and wanted to “fly together.”

Operated by Kerry Fain, who runs the skating rink and the hockey program, and coached by husband Chad Fain, the Southern Utah team has played a handful games already this season against foes from Northern Utah, and even played its inaugural home game last week.

“I just started playing last year,” said Courtney Morgan, a hockey athlete from Cedar High School. “My dad and grandpa used to take me to games when I was younger, and that’s how I got into it.”

Assistant team captain Josh Moss, who attends Pine View High School, has played hockey for five years and now has a chance to compete against other teams.

“If people want to have fun, then come play the best sport ever,” Moss said. “Hockey is the best because it takes skill is just all-around fun.”

Morgan, the team captain, said she is grateful to have a team where she can play her favorite sport, and she hopes anybody else who may not know about the team will come out and give the sport a chance.

“I think they should come try. We have lessons at the ice rink, and it would be good to test it out,” Morgan said. “It’s super cool we got this started. We all like hockey and are working hard.”

In the team’s first home game Dec. 12, it hosted the Salt Lake Stars. Since The Glacier is an outdoor ice-skating rink, the two teams faced off in a snowstorm.

“All our stuff got soaked,” Morgan said. “It was fun to play in the snow at first, but then it kept coming down.”

The team plays in exhibition games, too, when not playing against the powerhouse teams in the Salt Lake area. Last week, especially, the Southern Utah Independent High School team played a scrimmage against an adult team from the area. Southern Utah also plays against other high schools outside of the competitive schedule, Morgan said.

The Southern Utah Independent High School hockey team plays against Viewmont High School in its second home game Friday, 8 p.m., at The Glacier in Cedar City.

Although the team hasn’t won a game yet, both Morgan and Moss said they’re happy to be playing the sport they love and to be pioneers for hockey in Southern Utah.

Follow Richard Briggs on Twitter, @BriggsRich.