Ice Hawks skating into a new high school season

When the weather outside gets frightful, the Havre Ice Dome gets delightful.

The Havre Ice Hawks' 2019-2020 high school hockey season is underway and the team is ready to make some noise out on the ice.

The Ice Hawks have already played two games and won both. But a majority of the season is left and head coach Barry Brownlee is ready for another season with the team.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Brownlee said. "A new set of kids and most of them are on the (Havre High) football team, so we won't have a full team practice for another two weeks and that's a bit difficult. So, realistically, I haven't got to see what the team can really do yet."

The co-ed hockey squad has many returning players. Jocelyn Staples, Theron Peterson, Donovan McLain, Kaine Black, Bridger Staples, Colby Tilleman, Conner Moomey, Trennis Riley, Rhoda Peterson and Tavish McLean are a good majority of those coming back for another season on the ice.

Dexter Beck, Justin and Jared Rosgard and Steven Preputin all are still playing football for the Blue Ponies, but are also key members of the squad.

Last year, the Ice Hawks hosted state and played against some tough competition in the state, including the Kalispell Fusion and Missoula Bruins. Unfortunately, Havre was unable to get out of group play and dropped all three games in order.

On top of that, the Ice Hawks have parted ways with many great players from the 2018-2019 season. Kinzee Peterson, Havre's starting goalie for three years, August Eacker, Ethan Roberts, the Ice Hawk's leading scorer the last two seasons, and Trent Shettel, to name a few, are players that made a big impact last year. It will be a different experience for Havre this year, but the season will have a lot of promise going forward once the team comes together for a full-team practice.

In the end, Brownlee looks for this year to have a simple goal, with different results for the season and team.

"I want to get them working as a team," said Brownlee. "I want them to enjoy the sport and hopefully, win a chipper."

The Ice Hawks may have a lot of changes this year, but the team has some very exciting talent to look forward to. Overall, the team looks to be quite well-rounded and happy to be back on the ice. On top of that, the offensive attack is looking to repeat the same aggressive play style that has been seen before.

For Brownlee, the team doesn't really have standouts on the team, just certain areas on the team that are achieving great things. On his team, Brownlee sees the individual skill, but prefers to have his team stick to a unified mindset.

"The one thing about hockey is that you can have people that stand out individually," Brownlee said. "But if they don't stand out as a team, then there's no point in talking about that one guy, because he's not going to win the team. But, realistically, we've got a line with Tavish, Conner and Colby that performed very well our first two games and that was good to see. Some of those kids don't think they have the skill that they've got, and it was nice to see them come together and score two goals for our team."

Havre's season is trucking along and the team is glad to be back on the ice, with the ambitions to win a state championship. The Ice Hawks' next games of the season will be against Helena Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. in the Havre Ice Dome.