Boys High School Hockey Losses via Graduation

Today I'm taking a look at the eight boys hockey teams that advanced to State Tournament to see what players have graduated, and what each team likely has coming back for next season.

The team with the most losses to graduation is, not surprisingly, Milwaukee University School. Ten seniors graduate including five of their top six scorers in Cole Holmes(All-State), Ryan McEnerney (All-State), Alex Graf, Will Bartlett (All-State) and Tim Olson. They also graduate starting goaltender Ben Jurken (Honorable Mention All-State). All told they graduate 6 forwards, 3 defensemen and their starting goaltender. Those numbers would seem to suggest that there is no way they could possibly make it back to the State Tournament next season, but if anyone can reload, University School is certainly the team. Key returning players are forward Karl Burns (Honorable Mention All-State), and defensemen Read Servis and Jack Wigdale.

Eau Claire North loses just 6 players to graduation, but three of them played vital roles. Derrick LaPoint (All-State) is off to the USHL, then to play for North Dakota in the WCHA, and is expected to be drafted in the second or third round of the NHL draft. He was the Huskies' third-leading scorer. Second-leading scorer Ryan Goodmanson (Honorable Mention All-State) also graduates, along with starting goaltender Justin Strehlau (All-State). In addition, two other forwards and a defenseman also graduate. Key Returning Players are forward Justin Johnson (All-State) and defenseman Nick Roscoe (Honorable Mention All-State). Also, keep an eye on Derek Lund who tallied 37 points as a Freshman forward this season.

Superior has 8 players who are outgoing Seniors. The toughest losses for the Spartans are goaltender Bryan Dalbec (Honorable Mention All-State), third leading scorer forward Jim Gotham (Honorable Mention All-State), and defenseman Steve Murray (Honorable Mention All-State). All told three forwards, three defenseman, one combo f/d, and their starting goaltender graduate. Key returning players are four of the top five scoring forwards from this past season: Sean Graskey, Brian Pierpoint, Tim Smith and Pat Dalbec, who will be just a Sophmore next season.

Middleton only graduates 5 Seniors, but they lose their top three scorers in Jeffrey Schmudlach(Honorable Mention All-State), Cole Schmitz and Alex Kracht. Two other forwards also graduate, but they do have back their entire defense and both goaltenders. They are going to need a lot of players to step up and score goals next season. Their key returner is Honorable Mention All-State Goaltender Taylor Whitmore.

Stevens Point's losses to graduation will be felt mostly in the defensive end of the ice. The Panthers lose a total of 7 players, with the losses of defenseman Brandon Busse (All-State), defenseman Nate Sutheimer (Honorable Mention All-State) and goaltender Alex Suchon (Honorable Mention All-State) the most difficult to overcome. In total three defensemen, three forwards and 1 goaltender move on. Key returning players for the Panthers are Travis Erstad (All-State) and Scott Pavelski (Honorable Mention All-State).

Wisconsin Rapids graduates only two forwards in Max Gillette (Honorable Mention All-State) and Jake Ruesch, but their big loss will be in net. All-State goaltender Tyler Ambroziak after having a stellar career. Although there were not many graduates for the Red Raiders, they will have to overcome suspensions to about half a dozen of their players just before the State Tournament that left them very shorthanded to end the season. In some ways that experience may have helped younger players get experience, etc. although the suspensions themselves can either bring the team together, or rip it apart. Key returning players for Rapids are forward Anthony Knuth (Honorable Mention All-State) and defenseman Josh Nelson (Honorable Mention All-State).

Fond du Lac was an extremely young team last season with 5 Freshmen and 7 Sophmores on their roster. As such, their graduation losses are not large in number. Four Cardinals skate off into the sunset including All-State selection and leading scorer Andy Kuechler. Forward Josh Todd, defenseman Kyle Schneider and forward Doug Jones also graduate. Key returners for the Cardinals include defenseman Ryan Smet (Honorable Mention All-State), goaltender Randy Willis, and three forwards: Sean Little, Cody Lettau and Joe Bertram.

The team with the worst nickname has the "least painful" of the graduation losses of the eight State Tournament teams. The Kettle Moraine/Mukwonago Lasers graduate six players, but none that jump out as vital to their State Tournament run. Defenseman Kasey Snyder and five forwards lead by Sam Miller and Kevin Layo graduate. Key returning players for K/M include goaltender Dustin LeClaire (Honorable Mention All-State), defenseman Evan Jeszka (Honorable Mention All-State), and their top four forwards: Tristan Krause, Andy Michels, Ron Chmill, and Andy Biwer.

At some point this offseason, I'll attempt to dig up some rosters of other top programs and evaluate their losses to graduation as well.