Hey,
When I lived in Singapore, where it is probably the most expensive place in the world to own a car, I owned a 2004 Prius sedan. Before that, I had a Toyota Echo. To give you an idea of the cost of a car in Singapore, an Echo in the USA would cost roughly $13-$16K. While in Singapore, the exact same car would cost in excess of $70K USD when I lived there.
Now the Echo was great on gas as I was getting almost 500 km on a full tank of gas (40-45 litres or 11-12 gallons). The Prius was getting almost 350 more kms on the same amount of gas. My wife says we got double the kms out of the Prius on a full tank.
The Prius did not have any lack of power. It performed fine on the highway as I normally drove in speeds of 140 km/h.
As for fitting your hockey bag in the trunk, the battery can get in the way but it is manageable.
I live in Germany now and drive an Opel Zafira and it now costs me 85€ ($130 USD) to fill up. Just 3 weeks ago, it cost me 65€ ($100 USD). I get around 675 kms on a full tank (55-60 litres or 14-15 gallons). Gas is getting out of control but I need it for my life. I look at my car as one of my children now, she has to eat too. I take her out to the restauarant 2 times per week and get her an 80€ meal each time to keep her going!
If I didn't have any experience with a hybrid, I would be hesitant to buy one. But the Prius was great and when my wife and I move back home to Vancouver, we will buy a hybrid as one of our cars.
Russ