As the weather turns cool, the Oxford Varsity hockey team looks to turn up the heat on the competition during their last year in the Flint Metro League.
‘We are certainly optimistic,? said Head Coach David Hague. ‘The boys are really starting to gel both on and off the ice.?
On a team that only has four seniors on the current roster, the foundation is being laid for a successful transistion into the Oakland Athletics Association next year.
‘I think that the program is in a great position and were getting where guys want to play for a top high school program,? said Hague. ‘That’s certainly our goal here as we have made significant enhancements over the past three years.?
The team boasts 11 new faces this year, most of which are freshman and sophomores. It will be up Senior Goalie Corey Hrischuk and fellow senior forwards Blaine Marney, Dennis Siitari and Will Buday to provide some leadership for the team.
‘They have good veteran leadership, Will and Corey have been on the team for four years now…having veteran leadership like that is going to be important,? said Hague.
One of the challenges that the team is going to face is the fact that it is such a young team. Out of seven defensemen, only two are juniors, which makes having a senior goalie even more important.
‘I think that it is going to have to be a focus early in the year,? said Hague. ‘With that said, we have some skilled young players, so hopefully that can offset the age and inexperience.?
Sophomore Forewards Nick Hocker, Nolan Chapman and Alex Kaks and Freshman Forward Jimmy Wallington were just some of the few young skilled players that Hague mentioned could step up and make an impact.
‘It’s good to get the young guys that are ready…we have some skilled players coming in with some energy and a will to win. It’s good to get some fresh faces in there with some eagerness; certainly from a coaching perspective it is good to see,? said Hague.
This year’s goal is to continue making the strides that were started over three years ago and win a league title. At one point last season, the boys were battling it out for first place in the FML, but some key injuries late in the season cost the team.
They finished 9-7, fifth best in the league.
‘It was a good year still and we’re headed in the right direction. The goal is to be strong and win as many games as possible and compete for the league title,? Hague said.
He noted that it was still a little early to tell how good the FML was going to be this year, but he expected the league to be balanced from top to bottom again.
‘Every single year it seems to be a balanced league with a lot of parity. You never really know until you play every team. Our focus is really our team, our players and our system, and as long as we are doing that to the best of our ability, we will let the games go as they do,? he said.
Hague looks to games against Fenton and their non-conference games against Detroit Country Day, Berkley and Lincoln Park.
‘Those are real, real strong teams,? said Hague.
So far, the icers have played two games, both league games, and are 2-0.
They defeated Linden 7-1 on Nov. 21 and Clio 9-1 Nov. 25.