The ice hockey team aims for another successful season after finishing last season with a record of 8-4 and losing in the first round of playoffs to the eventual state champion Churchill Bulldogs. Graduating only two seniors, the team returns nine of its leading scorers.

Strong defenders captain Aidan Neustadtl and Dustin Gray will help returning starting goalie Matt Bruns. On the other side of the ice, forwards Alex Gandolfo and Lucas Karron return to lead an offense that scored over 70 goals last season.

“Since we have so many players coming back from last year, especially in this year’s sophomore class, we expect a lot of them to step up for us,” Neustadtl said. “But I think one of our biggest goals is to beat our two rivals, Wootton and Churchill.”

Neustadtl notes that the team plans to focus on a strong forecheck and putting bodies in front of the goal to create chaos. This strategy showed its success at the Frederick cup, where the team went undefeated. The last time the team won the Frederick cup, they advanced to the state finals.

The team hopes to make a deep run for states again with the addition of freshman Matt Lebeau and transfer JM Hellman. Head coach Tom Sneddon was impressed with them and expects them to get quality minutes. Sneddon adds that the team has been working on improving its play based on the team’s performance in specific areas.

“We’ve been tweaking all aspects of our game, from power play to forecheck,” Sneddon said. “It’s a priority to find the team’s identity in order to mold our concepts and tactics around our strengths and weaknesses.”

The Vikes hosted the Walter Johnson Wildcats in their first game of the season Nov. 18 and won 3-0, with Andy Dexter, Alex Gandolfo and Seth Butler all tallying goals.