Friday, Sep. 26, 2008

Local Teams Anticipate Successful Seasons

Hockey Journal

By John English

Contributing Writer

With incredible talent, great depth and a near flawless summer season under its belt, this could be the year the Flower Mound hockey team goes all the way, and coach Knute Anderson said his team expects nothing less.

The Jaguars have two strong lines, a stingy goaltender and have made deep runs into the playoffs each of the last two seasons.

"I think this is one of the more talented teams that I’ve had," Anderson said. "If this summer is any indication in terms of how they gelled, our second line, which was [Kennedy] O’Leary, [Danny] Bell and [Adrian] Acee should compete with our first line to see who will be the more dominant line. I’m going to be really set, because [Jake] Newton, [Dane] Taylor and [Sean] O’Connor are all coming back."

Anderson said he believes with the help of goaltender Bryan Mills, who had a brilliant summer season, the Jaguars should be in very good shape for the coming year.

"The goal for this season is to win a state championship," Anderson said. "I think we have more depth than we have ever had. I don’t think that there’s a weakness on this team ... hopefully, we can take it all this year."

Anderson said he expects the Flower Mound vs. Marcus games to be extremely competitive as well.

"I see Marcus as being one of the top five teams in the state along with us," Anderson said. "They’ve got depth as well, so I see Marcus as being right there with us, and I’d love it if we both made it to state."

The Marcus Gold team looks to be in very good shape this season as well, and coach Blaine Aucoin said he believes the Marauders are primed for a strong campaign.

"I’m really excited," Aucoin said. "I think we are going to have a really good team. I think we should be able to get on a little run in the playoffs, and hopefully have some success."

The Marcus Gold team also had an excellent summer, advancing all the way to the championship game, and Aucoin said he wants to see his players use the regular season as a learning experience.

"We want to change the reputation about our program," Aucoin said. "I think we have to use the regular season as kind of a building block. Last year, we lost a lot of one-goal games. I think we have to turn that around, and use the regular season to teach us how to win those close games."

Marcus finished 4-17-4 last season, but with the likes of Jake Consolver, David Wirth and Barret Turner returning, Aucoin said he thinks the games against Flower Mound will be tough ones as well.

"It’s one of those games that the guys always get fired up to play," Aucoin said. "They’re probably the two best games of the season. Last year, if somebody watched how we played those two games, nobody would have thought that we were one of the bottom-tier teams. This year, I think they are going to be great games as well.

The schedules have not yet been finalized for the hockey season, but games will start the first week of October.