'JACKET HOCKEY 2008-09 SEASON PREVIEW
 
The off-season - a time to let your body rest and recover after a long, tough season of hockey.  The off-season - a time to reflect on the past season.  The off-season - a time to train and look forward to the season ahead.  The off-season - a time that can be too short or too long, depending on your team's playoff run the season before.  For the Yellowjackets and their faithful, 2008 was a long, long off-season.

"No doubt it was a long one.  The last two have been too long for my liking," said Yellowjacket Head Coach Dan Stauber.  "Our expectations are so high every year that it is tough to swallow when you get knocked out early, earlier than you believe you should."

Such has been the case for the Yellowjackets the past two seasons.  Two years in a row done in by the mini-game.  Two years in a row, bounced in the first round.  Two years in a row that the equipment has been handed in before the calendar flips to March.

"You don't have to tell me.  I have thought about it every day since we lost in February," Stauber said.  "You analyze it, probably too much.  Trying to dissect every little thing, not just from that series but from the whole season.  You try to find things that you would have done differently that would maybe have had a more positive impact on the year.  But in the end, it doesn't change the fact that the season ended way too early."

First the good news.  A year ago, the Yellowjackets tied the school record for fewest goals allowed in a season.  They were one of the stingiest defensive teams in the nation, and helped goaltender Chad Beiswenger set school records in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts.  There were the offensive contributions from newcomers Logan Isley and Kevin Huck.  And despite a record that saw the team post their lowest win total since 1989-90, they were in almost every game.  And they only lost six games.  Most programs would be thrilled to go through an entire season and only drop six games.

But we have to take the good and the bad, so here's the bad news.

As good as the team was defensively, they offset that by being inconsistent and punchless at the other end.  The 'Jackets tied the school record for fewest goals scored in a season, meaning that Beiswenger and the defense had to be on top of their game almost every night in order for the team to win.

"I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't thrilled with how good we were in our own end last year.  But I'd also be lying if I said I was okay with what we did at the other end.  We have to score more.  We can't put that kind of pressure on the defense and goaltending every night," Stauber said.

Another negative was the team's lack of offense from the blueliners.  The 'Jackets got just 44 points from their defense, and 26 of those points came from two players - Derek Paige (who has since graduated) and Brian Bina. 

"We didn't have the most offensive group back there last year, and we think with our recruiting and some of our changes heading into this year we have rectified that," Stauber said.

And then there were the injuries, holy cow were there injuries.  The 'Jackets suffered through a rash of injuries and other issues that knocked several key players out of the lineup for extended periods of time.  Players expected to contribute heavily on offense - Chris Berry, Braden Desmet and Corey Stark, missed major amounts of time.  On defense, Art Clark missed half the season and captain Dustin Cosgrove, the anchor on the back end, played just eight games.

"I had never seen anything like that before.  Early in the year, it was just one guy after another getting injured.  And it wasn't as if they were bit players, these were guys that we were counting on in a big way," Stauber said.  "You can't plan for injuries to happen the way they did for us, and you can't plan to have that many guys out for that long a time period."

The constantly changing lineup forced the 'Jackets to put players in positions in roles they weren't used to, contributing to the inconsistency that plagued them all season.

"Any time we felt we were hitting stride, or felt that we were on the right track, someone else would go down and it would totally change the dynamic of the team.  That's a tough way to go through a season," Stauber said.

More good news - 2007-08 is over and it's time to look forward to 2008-09, a season that brings with it fresh optimism that the team could make a run.

"We didn't show a lot last year, so I think there are people out there who aren't really sure what we're all about and what they're going to get from us," Stauber said.  "I don't mind that.  I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised with our team.  If we can stay healthy we're going to be a good team that people will enjoy watching."

For the first time since 2004-05, the team is laden with seniors.  The eight-member class will be counted on to provide leadership that is so extremely valuable.

"I've always been a coach that relies heavily on my senior class.  It's a little bit easier when you have a big class like we do because it doesn't all have to come from just one or two players," Stauber said.  "I also like the fact that this group tasted success as freshmen.  They know how it feels to be at both ends of the spectrum and know what it takes to get there.  Players also tend to do things with a little more urgency when it is their last go round.  They should do a great job leading this team."

Coach Stauber On:

Captains: "I have a lot of confidence in our captains.  They are tough, hard-nosed guys who bring a lot of character to our room.  They do things right.  That should rub off on the rest of the team.  You look at what Turville had to do a couple years back when he hurt his shoulder, how hard he had to work to get back in the lineup.  That was all heart and dedication.  Reda doesn't miss games and he brings a power game to the forwards that most other players can't bring.  Bina is just a good, all-around solid defenseman that we aren't afraid to have on the ice in any situation.  They all lead by example and I'm happy to have them wearing the letters."

Goaltending: "We're thrilled with the job that Chad (Beiswenger) and Mike (Rosett) did a year ago.  Chad had such a good year that he set single season records and put himself in position to set some career records with a good year this year.  It's important, however, that they don't sit on their laurels from a year ago.  They need to work hard, compete and push each other every day so we know heading into the weekend that we don't have to worry about our goaltending.  They will be prepared from their internal compeition."

Defense: "This is probably the area where we have our biggest questions.  We lost three players back there that all contributed, all in a different way.  We think we've brought the players in and made the changes that we needed to make to fortify this position.  People think that this will be a weakness for us, but we are happy with this group."

Forwards: "There is a lot of potential with this group.  You look at guys like Desmet, Berry, Huck, Isley, then you add a player like Chris Wilson (Division I transfer) and you have a chance to put some goals on the board.  If they can stay healthy and play the kind of games that we know they can play, they should be a very good group offensively.  We also have, what we think, is an outstanding group of checkers led by Turville, MacKenzie and Reda.  They can check and grind it out with anyone.  We've got some speed and we have some size.  The potential for our scorers, and our group as a whole, has no limits as long as they work hard and do the things that we want them to do.  If they do, they're going to have a really good year."

Special Teams: "This was a sore spot for us, particularly the power play.  It just seemed like we struggled through long stretches last year without success on the power play.  Part of it I think was personnel and part of it was what we were trying to do.  When you have all those guys out like we did, you have guys who aren't used to power play time getting out there and they struggled some.  The guys are another year older, and hopefully healthier.  That alone should bring us more consistency.  The penalty kill, for the most part, we were happy with.  Killing penalties is all about hard work and we know that we can go out there and work hard."

Finishing Games: "We need to be better, period.  Last year we blew some leads and we could just never seem to find what we needed to break some of those ties.  We turn 4-5 of those ties into wins and we're sitting better in the standings and possibly playing in the NCAA tournament.  This year we can't be satisfied with the ties.  The ties really don't do much for you, and after a while, as they pile up, they hurt you because it shows you're a team that can't close the deal.  We can't afford that this year."

Expectations: "I live here and I hear it just the same as everyone else does.  People aren't happy with how we've finished the past couple of years.  I can tell them that nobody has higher expectations for the program than I do and nobody loses more sleep than I do.  What do I expect of this team?  I expect us to work hard every night.  I expect us to be in position to win every night.  I expect us to win games.  That's really what it boils down to. I expect this team to win every game.  It doesn't often happen that way, but it is what I expect.  I go into every season with a goal of going 25-0 in the regular season.  You adjust that expectation as needed during the year, but I always open expecting to win every game and my players should, too."

The 'Jackets open the season October 23 with a home contest against Northland College.  Game time will be 7:05 p.m. and the game can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM.  If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in via the Internet at www.kuws.fm.  Jon Garver will have the call.