After reaching new heights that included its first trip to the WIAA state tournament and a single-season program record for wins (22) last season, the West Salem/Bangor High boys hockey team proved it could play with anyone.

Even after suffering a 7-0 loss to Wausau West in a state quarterfinal — a score that ballooned when West scored four goals in the third period — West Salem/Bangor’s confidence never dipped. In fact, players asked their coach to go out and schedule the best of the best this season.

“You want to give the kids the best exposure to the best teams as often as you can,” Panthers coach Eric Borre said. “But, honestly, the kids wanted it. The kids said, ‘Hey, coach, can you go out and get us some of the big names? Get us some of the big programs to see where we are at.’

“It’s not an opportunity to go out and prove ourselves to anybody. It’s an opportunity to see how we can play against some of the teams that have had success in Madison to kind of measure ourselves against.”