The Triad hockey team enters this season with a big question mark.
Coming off a 20-6 season (15-3 in the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association), the Knights have some big skates to fill this winter. Graduation losses included center Austin Gibson and defenseman Tony Venditto, but the challenge will be replacing veteran goalie Brendan Wright, who recorded seven shutouts last year.
Nick Magrath is the new goalie, and he had a tough time in a season-opening 6-5 loss to Collinsville on Nov. 1.
"Nick has some big shoes to fill, but I think he'll get better as he gets used to the speed of the varsity game," Triad coach Roger Lewis said. "Collinsville had 13 shots and we had almost 30, so it's a game we probably should have won. Until we start cutting down on our goals against, we have to find some other things to do in order to have a chance to win."
Offensively, the Knights have plenty of firepower with Nick Faulkner (44 goals, 39 assists) and Keaton Wright (40 goals, 26 assists).
"Nick was among the top three scorers in the league, and Keaton is also a big-time player," Lewis said. "Tyler Lewis (14 goals, 20 assists) and Tim Faulkner (17 goals, 15 assists) also had some pretty good offensive numbers, although Tim is moving to defense this year."
Defenseman Chris Irvin (two goals, eight assists) will miss at least two weeks after suffering a hairline fracture in his wrist. Other key players are defenders Seth Grooms (two goals, nine assists) and Aaron Rogers (nine goals, 13 assists) and forwards Trevor Snow and Parker Nesbit (six goals, six assists).
"Joe Gruber is a freshman left winger, and I look for him to have a pretty successful because he can pick up the scraps that the older boys feed him," Lewis said. "Another freshman, Kyle Black, should also get a lot of minutes up front."
Against Collinsville, Keaton Wright had two goals and one assist, while Nick Faulkner had a goal and two assists. Gruber contributed a goal and an assist, Tim Faulkner had two assists and Tyler Lewis had the Knights' other goal.
On Monday, Magrath made 10 saves and earned his first shutout in a 10-0 victory over Jerseyville. Wright and Nick Faulkner each had two goals and an assist.
Triad returns to action against Highland at 6:50 p.m. Thursday at Fairview Heights.
