Boys High School Hockey Losses Via Graduation

In June I ran through the rosters of the boys and girls State Tournament qualifying teams and did a rundown of who graduates and who returns. I also covered the top 15 boys teams that did not qualify for the State Tournament in another June post.

Today I'd like to look at some other teams that piqued my curiosity throughout the season and/or came to mind as teams that might be pretty good this season.

Mosinee finished with a .500 record, but managed to knock off Northland Pines in the Regional Final last season. With their only losses being a forward who scored one point last season, one defenseman and a backup goaltender, the Indians could be very, very good this season.

Wausau West is a team that had some high end talent last season, but didn't seem to have the depth in the game I saw them play. They graduated 7 forwards and a defenseman who contributed a lot to their offense, so that trend may continue. The good news is that their leading scorer from last season, Nate Condon, is just a Junior this year.

Sun Prairie finished the year 14-9, and return one of the state's best goaltenders in Andy Scheib, so I thought I'd take a look at their losses to graduation. The numbers aren't too bad, as only a defenseman and three forwards graduated, unfortunately forward Lucas Nehmer was their leading scorer last season and is one of the three forwards that graduated.

Menomonie took Superior to overtime in the Sectional Semi-Final last season, despite ending the season 10-11-2. The Indians lose their starting goaltender, two forwards and three defensemen. There has also been talk of leading scorer Dylan Otto transferring in the offseason, although I have not heard where he's enrolled this season yet.

Appleton loses four forwards, a defenseman and their starting goaltender, but return three forwards that each had over twenty points last season. We'll see if they can make some noise in the Badgerland this year.

Speaking of the Badgerland, Neenah knocked conference foe Appleton off three times last season, including in the Sectional Semi-Final. The Rockets graduated 7 Senior forwards and 5 Senior defensemen, leaving Will Mitchell and Kyle Walbrun without much of a supporting cast this season.

Finally, another Badgerland team I wanted to look at was Waupun. They are on the rise talent-wise, and if they can pull it all together, could have a good team this season. Their biggest loss is probably goaltender Justin DeMaa, but only lost two forwards and two defensemen otherwise. Unfortunately, they have also lost their leading returning scorer, JJ McBride to the Capitols which may hurt.