It will be no secret as to what the Oshkosh Ice Hawks hockey team will be about this season.

Offense.

“We are going to be a more offensive-minded team,” First-year head coach Jonathan Schubert said.

The offense, which will be led by two of the top returning point scorers in the state last season in Nick Monfils and Austin Eiler, will be the focal point of Schubert’s club this season.

Although, there will be a slight feeling out period with Schubert and the kids that he has. They both have seen differences in how things are conducted and what Schubert expects out of them.

Practice may be where it has changed the most for the Ice Hawks.

“Our practices are a lot harder,” Monfils said. “We have a lot of hard work put into it this year. I think we are going to get better.”

That’s all so Schubert can get the most out of his skilled and talented crew — especially on offense.

It all starts with Monfils. Monfils was the the third best point scorer last season and led the state in goals with 55. Schubert expects that type of production from his star this season.

Although that might take a hit with Monfils sometimes stepping back on defense to help out the depth in the back just a little bit.

“He’s taking one for the team and stepping back there on ‘D’,” Schubert said. “Really filling a nice role for us there.”

Even with Monfils taking a few shifts at defenseman, the offense still has plenty of firepower in the likes of Eiler, Ryan Mantz and Eddie Dempsey.

Dempsey and Mantz have already shown off their ability on the offensive side as Mantz tallied five assists and Dempsey scored a goal and two assists in the Ice Hawks loss to Beloit Memorial last Friday.

“We can’t miss chances,” Eiler said. “We just have to put the puck in the net when we get a chance.”

Where the Ice Hawks will struggle the most is on the defensive end. Gone are defensemen Brett Wolff and goalie Jon Krueger, who really held down the back end for the Ice Hawks last season.

Especially Krueger, who was one of the best goalies in the Badgerland conference, saving 89 percent of the shots he faced.

Replacing those two will be tough for Oshkosh.

Schubert hopes that Matt Denure can be one of the people that can fill the spots left by the defensemen to lead a young defensive crew for the Ice Hawks

“He, by far, is just a rock back there on defense,” Schubert said of Denure. “It’s just a really young crew. It’s just time and effort and working with them and trying to get them to learn the systems and get things down.

“Getting these young guys developed is priority one.”

For the past two seasons the Ice Hawks have finished near the middle of the Badgerland conference, making the jump up from when they started the program just a few years ago.

Those returning players are hoping for a bit more this season.

“We can always strive to be better than we were last year,” Eiler said. “If we can top what we did last year that would be great.”

Schubert also hopes that this program can take one more step and be at the top of the conference. Although, he knows that its going to take some hard work, especially from his younger players.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t be at the top of the Badgerland,” he said. “Goaltending and defensive play are going to be our pivoting point as to which way we go.

“I think we should finish at the top of the Badgerland if we can come together and rely on some of our leaders to takes us there.

Terry Licht: (920) 426-6661 or tlicht@thenorthwestern