The Blackhawks are returning 14 players from the team that won the Flint Metro League championship in 2005-06 and advanced to the state Division 3 quarterfinals. Brandon went 19-9-0 last season.
Heading up the list are senior captains Brandon Newman and Matt Cinader, along with senior forwards Chris Nelson and Blake McLellan and junior Kyle Doan, and senior goaltender Jeff Hammond.
In addition, Coach Tim Stone said senior Erich Heiden will see significant playing time at forward for the Blackhawks.
One area where Stone said the Blackhawks need to replenish this year is defense. The Blackhawks lost their top four defensemen from last year ? Tony Kraydich, Craig Skidmore, Scott Thurman and Alex Hockey ? to graduation.
The Blackhawks will seek to fill those losses with newcomers Zac Caldwell, a senior, and J.T. Wedding. In addition, returning players Aric Bekaert, a junior, and Drew Fisher, a senior, will see significant time at defense this season. Stone said Bekaert spent some time last season among the Blackhawks? top four defensemen.
One other current Blackhawk, junior Nick Foren, will be switching from forward to defense to help the Blackhawks in that area.
‘We’ve got some quality skaters ? we just need some experience there,? Stone said of Brandon’s defense corps.
Stone said the other teams in the Flint Metro will be looking to knock the Blackhawks off their perch as league champions, and the addition of Swartz Creek to the league will make Brandon’s task that much tougher. He said the Panthers finished at the top of the Big 9 Conference standings last year, and have a strong team coming back this year.
Nonetheless, he thinks the Blackhawks have what it takes to contend for a second straight league title. ‘We’re a very capable team, so I think we’ll be right in the mix,? he said.
In order to prepare the Blackhawks for league action, Stone has scheduled the Blackhawks for some tough nonleague competition. In addition to their opener against Cabrini, the Blackhawks have games against Milford and Grosse Pointe University Liggett on their schedule later in the season.
‘We want to get improvement, so we upgraded our schedule,? he said.