By Mike Stechschulte
Junior – Oxford High School
After a 2002-2003 season filled with ups, downs and a near division championship, the Wildcat Hockey Team is back to take another run at the Flint Metro League.
To date, Oxford has played five games, with a respectable 2-2-1 start. The Wildcats tied Lake Orion 3-3 in their home opener and beat Lake Fenton 10-2 later that week. The team’s two losses came from Linden (8-7) and Lapeer West (10-4). The Cats also defeated Mt. Morris to gain their current record.
The Wildcats look a bit different when compared to last season. After graduating six players, the team will be looking towards upper classmen Paul Weis, Rob Szczepankowski, JT Anderson, Josh DeBruyne, Zach Clark and Jordan Grabenstien for leadership.
The team will be counting on Szczepankowski, Anderson, and junior Sean Degler to provide much of the scoring punch for the season. The team chose Paul Weis to be this year’s captain, and head coach Jeff Wolanin is still behind the bench.
Leading the way in Oxford defense will be Weis, Grabenstien, and juniors Kyle Ignagni and Rob Cerato, who have improved drastically over their three seasons with the team. Also making the transition to defense is junior Jake Crowell, who played forward last season.
Returning this season between the pipes for Oxford are junior goaltenders Mike Stechschulte and Brian Beaupied. Both are expected to receive more playing time due to the loss of Marty Maier and Mark Ganey from last season.
Wolanin is entering his second season with the team, and is looking for improvement from last season, when the Wildcats placed third in the FML, and lost in the District finals to the Davison Cardinals, who were runners-up for the state title.
In the meantime, the Wildcats plan to improve their record to 3-2-1 when they host the Fenton Tigers at their home rink, the Lapeer Polar Palace, tonight (Wednesday) at 7:15 P.M.
Mike Stechschulte is a junior at Oxford High School who plans to major in the field of journalism.