Courtesy photo The 2023-24 Alpena High School varsity hockey team is seen in this photo provided by the school.

ALPENA — The 2023-24 version of the Alpena High School Wildcat varsity hockey team is young, but still has a high level of experience after many of its players contributed in the team’s run to the state quarterfinals last year.

Head coach Ben Henry said the team lost many seniors who were key to the team’s success last year, when the team set a school record for most wins in a season and claimed the regional championship. But Henry still has high hopes the balance of the roster from last year and the addition of talented freshmen will perform at a high level.

Henry said this year’s edition of the Wildcats has three seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores, and seven freshmen.

“We are scattered all over the place, which is kind of nice, though, because you can tell already, they are willing to work hard and want to establish themselves,” he said. “This team is young, hungry, and they want to win.”

The team will be led by captain junior Garrett Hamp, whom Henry said was unable to play during the playoff run last year and is eager to push for more titles this season. Sophomore Gavin Winterstein, junior Michael Kreis, and sophomore Luke Miller are the team’s assistant captains.

Henry said his captains and other faces, old and new, will contribute this year.

“Garrett wants redemption, because he had to watch the playoffs instead of play in it, and I think our freshman Brody Misiak will be really good for us, too,” Henry said. “He’s a big, strong kid and not afraid to go into the hard areas and mix things up. We should be fun to watch.”

Henry said the team might be smaller in stature this year, but he said it has an edge to it and its style of play should match up with more experienced and larger opponents this year. He said the schedule is difficult, but the team should be competitive.

Following the success of the 2022-23 team, one might think the team would feel a bit of pressure to live up to the same types of expectations.

Henry said the team is aware of what some believe it should accomplish, but he added people need to understand this is a different team and many new players are just getting their feet wet against bigger, more skilled opponents.

“I think they are excited to have that pressure,” he said. “We know we have to be good, because we play good teams. The team knows what we have to do. As good as our team was last year, we still didn’t get the job done. This team has a bit more grit, and that could help us in the playoffs this year.”

As last year progressed, interest in the Wildcats hockey team grew locally, and, as the winning streak grew, so did the number of people attending home games at Northern Lights Arena and even road games.

Henry said he anticipates fans will be fired up when the season begins and the crowd raucous during games. He said the energy the fans bring pumps up his players and motivates them to deliver.

“It gives our team a huge advantage and a disadvantage to our opponent to have all of the fans out cheering and rooting us on,” he said. “As an away team coming into this rink, it’s hard. When you have 1,000 fans cheering against you and you can’t hear the coaches or communicate on the ice. Our kids got used to that, but, for a visiting team, it can cause them to lose focus.”

The Wildcats open the season on Nov. 17 as the team hits the road to battle Hancock in a rematch of last season’s opener. They play Manistique on Nov. 18.

The crowd at Northern Lights Arena could see one of the biggest games of the season on Nov. 24, when the Wildcats play Saginaw Heritage during the first day of the annual Thanksgiving Showcase.

Saginaw Heritage was the team to knock the Wildcats out of the playoffs and ended their season.

On Nov. 25, the Wildcats play Dakota High School on day two of the tournament in Alpena.