With the Boys ice hockey season set to start, the team takes on the turbulence of their recent roster changes. Suffering a 8-13 season last year, the Dodgers look to their Captains, Jonathan Erickson, Chris Palawasta, and Patrick Layng, to lead this team. The team also is striving to get their new goalie, Nicky Worthington, ready for the season, after his brother Bryan Worthington graduated last year. With all these challenges, Head Coach Cecala said “We just gotta preach to the new guys about having a team mentality and how to bounce back from losses. Hopefully the older guys would step in and teach these lessons as well.”
The season opened up with a 4-2 loss against Frisch on December 5th. They scored their first goal in the third quarter with Ryan McSherry which was his first ever varsity goal. Richie Musa also had a late score to cut the Frisch’s lead but the deficit was too much to handle.
Some other underclassmen to look out for are Luke Gero, and Luke Coming. Though the team is underclassman-heavy, it is important to not overlook some players’ last dance. With Jonathan Erickson’s last season approaching here at Madison, he hopes to “have a State Championship.” Hunger seems to be the driving factor for this team as they set their sights on rival Hanover Park to quench their thirst. They haven’t played HP in over a decade so this is a game that has been in the making for a while.
When asked how to achieve these tough goals, Lucas Gero stated that their “penalty kill needs to be sharp and defensive zone coverage, we just need to get pucks out.” The rookie looks to fill the shoes of his older brother Sam Gero who transferred last year. The team has many rookies looking to make an impact.