High School Hockey is underway!

The Wings Co-Op Hockey Team started practice this week.  After a few days of tryouts, the varsity roster has been selected and the team has begun preparations for the upcoming 2013 - 14 WIAA High School Hockey Season.

Returning to lead the Wings is Head Coach Raja Aylsworth.  Aylsworth (75-43-3) is entering his sixth year as the Wings front man.  He has also retained his coaching staff from last year with David Kupsky, Dale McFarlane and Paul Alatalo.  "I’m cautiously optimistic about the season.  We have an experienced group of upperclassmen to lead a talented group of underclassmen.  Our success will be determined by how quickly the two groups can combine into a cohesive unit.  Our numbers may be down, but our talent level remains.  We have a lot of pieces.  Now we just have to put the puzzle together and enjoy the ride that they could potentially take us on."

The experience Aylsworth referenced are the 9 returning varsity players from last year.  Seniors; Zed Dietrich, Jake Kupsky, Coe Venes, Alex Runge, Joe Mason and Lucas Slowik and Juniors; Nick Ligocki, Brennan Berg and Steve Broda.  

Zed Dietrich enters the season as the all-time leading scorer for the Wings organization with 206 points.  Dietrich, a current member of Team WI U18, has been a first team All-Conference recipient for his first three years and has received first team All-State the last two years.  Offense alone does not win games and that is where goaltender Jake Kupsky comes in.  Kupsky has been the Wings starting goaltender for the past two season.  Kupsky (26-10-1) as the Wings keeper has been playing for the Milwaukee WEHL U18 and as an alternate for Team WI U18 this fall.  Joining Kupsky on the Milwaukee WEHL U18 were fellow seniors Coe Venes and Alex Runge.
 
The returning core Wings will help ensure a successful season but it will be the newcomers to the Wings family that will potentially make this season end in the Wings first trip to Madison.  "We have several skaters who will need to immediately transition from Bantam to Varsity level hockey.  It’d be nice if they had a little more time to transition, but that isn’t the case.  We’ll do our best to position them for success, because ultimately their growth will directly tie into the success of our season." said Aylsworth.  Making the Varsity roster are four incoming Freshman in Ian Malcolmson, Logan Geisness, Wyatt Wilderman and Jack Engdahl.

Ian Malcolmson, a member of Team WI U14, has been playing AAA hockey for the past several years for the Milwaukee Jr Admirals.  Geisness and Wilderman both played for Milwaukee WEHL U16 this fall.  They along with Engdahl played for Waukesha County Youth Hockey as Bantams last year.

Rounding out the roster are Seniors; Kyle Mudek, Jake Eutizzi and Michael Berens,  Junior; Jake Nemeth and Sophmores; Conor Parker and Levi Geisness.
 
The Wings do not have a very long preseason.  They face Arrowhead and Brookfield/CMH in a scrimmage this coming Thursday, November 21, at 5:15 pm at the Mullet Ice Arena in Hartland.  A week later on Friday, November 29, at 6:30 pm at Eble Ice Arena, the Wings kick off their season against the Waupaca Comets in the first round of the Thanksgiving Tournament.  The Wings will be the host team for this years tournament.  Besides Waupaca, Wisconsin Rapids and WNS join in what has been called the "W Tournament".  Games will be held at Nag and Eble on both Friday and Saturday.  
 
With only a couple weeks till the opener, Aylsworth has his work cut out for him to merge his new talent with a very solid base.  "It may take a little time to make all of this happen.  If we’re patient and continue working hard a lot of progress will be made very quickly.  The team that steps out onto the ice for our first game will look a lot different when they’re stepping out onto the ice in the Alliant Energy Center in March."