Ice Hawks ready to take the ice

The Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team is about to kick off a brand new season on the ice.

The Ice Hawks open their season this weekend with road games in Glasgow. Then, the Ice Hawks will make their home debut with games against Butte on Dec. 12-13 at the Havre Ice Dome.

In all, Havre has 10 home games at the Havre Ice Dome this season. The Ice Hawks will also be at home Jan. 8-9 to take on Billings, as well as Jan. 23-24 to face off against Miles City. The month of February will see the Ice Hawks host Bozeman Feb. 6-7 and Helena Feb. 13.

The rest of Havre's schedule includes games at Missoula Dec. 19-20, games in Great Falls Jan. 16-17, games in Whitefish Feb. 20-21 and games in Miles City Feb. 27-28. The Ice Hawk's season will wrap up with the Montana State B Hockey Tournament March 10-13, also in Miles City.

The Ice Hawks will have a different look to their roster this season, as they welcome in three players from Lewistown to help fill out the team.

But, Havre also has some outstanding returning players from last year's team, including Jeffrey Ralph, Nick Stump, Cole Hanson, Clifford Lenhardt, Kyle Kirkpatrick and Kade Friede. Barrett Kilgore, Ethan Roberts, August Eacker and Alex Stilger are the other Havre players who make up the roster, while Bayron Merker, Noah Kirsch and Bryce Denton from Lewistown, round out the Ice Hawk's roster.

Havre is also under the direction of new head coach Brian Lenhardt, who takes over the program from Scott Gunderson. Tyler Boyce and John Huntington will also be assistant coaches this season.

Havre opens its season with an 8 p.m. game this Saturday in Glasgow, and the rematch will be at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The Ice Hawk's home opener is set for Dec. 12 at 11:15 a.m. against Butte.