By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

With the dial being turned back by Governor Walz, the Raider hockey teams were able to return to the rink last week. “It’s been too quiet around here lately,” was comment made by an arena employee. By now, the season should be almost half over, but it’s just getting started. We caught up with boys Head Coach Adam Welch on Friday afternoon to talk a little puck.

Time flies when you are having fun, so much so Coach Welch had to think about his tenure as Head Coach for a minute. “This will be my oh, man. I think this is my fifth year as a head coach. Let me think about that for a second,” he chuckled.

The Raiders are coming off a season where they finished 19-6-3. “We lost in the section finals in overtime. So a really, really good year last year as far as just the guys playing well and having the outcomes that we want to have,” Welch said.

Of course, the new year means losing some key seniors from last year. “Yeah, there’s a handful of guys that we lost. Chase Freiermuth is a big one. He was the Metro East Player of the Year and both state champions came from our conference in Hill-Murray and Mahtomedi and so for him to be Player of the Year is pretty special. He’s playing juniors right now in the North American League. Leo Otto was another one of our captains that we lost. A couple of defensemen for us in Alex Foster and Terry Kuhn,” Welch said.

The Raiders are returning some key players from last year’s roster, most notably, goalie Tyler McCarville, a guy that Welch said keeps the team steady. There are also a handful of returning defensemen who now have section finals experience. Jack Nicklay, Collin Stewart and John Chorlton.

The captains this year are Tyler McCarville, Jonathan Peine, Kyle Bauer, and Jax Schauer. Coach Welch is also looking to his younger guys to step up and fill key spots. Jake Harris was All Conference Honorable Mention last year as a Sophomore, “We have also a good group of juniors that played well in JV, like Luke Savage, Stephen Reifenberger and Connor Stoffel that are going to come up and get their shot to play in the varsity games in meaningful ways,” Welch added.

With the shortened season, what are the expectations? “Number one, our schedule is going to look different in games because with COVID, and a lot of conferences have switched to only conference games. We had to find some games outside of our conference just because we don’t play as many games conference wise as they do. So we went out and got some good teams like Holy Family and New Prague , being able to play those guys and a Minneapolis team we’ve never played before, plus St. Paul Highland Park,” Welch explained.

As of right now, there is no plan released for sections or state play. It is safe to assume that decision is being held off as long as possible to see how the season progresses, much like the MSHSL did with fall sports.

How are the players adjusting to wearing masks? “You know, that first day was strange for them, and we continue to talk to our guys about trying different masks, trying different things, whatever, it’s a gator, if it’s a cloth mask, or whatever it may be trying all the different things and see what works best for them. Our guys have done a pretty good job of that,” Welch stated.

The big part for the boys is simply being out on the ice. They are just happy to skate. Do they like the masks? Not at all, but they will adapt and do was is needed to play a sport they love.

The Raider boys open their season at home on Thursday, January 14th, against St. Thomas Academy at 7:30.

The Raider girls open their season at home on Friday, January 15th, against Hill-Murray at 7:30.

The Raider boys warm up in a controlled chaos, close quarters drill that involved a lot of quick movement followed by a quick dash to the other end of the rink and back to get back in line. Photo by Bruce Karnick

The Raider girls receive instructions from Head Coach Tim Duggan after a quick water break and set of drills. Photo by Bruce Karnick