November 8, 2017 at 1:27 p.m.
After hitting weights, Hodag hockey ready to hit ice
After hitting weights, Hodag hockey ready to hit ice
"Our days of getting pushed around on the ice and getting beat up, I think, are coming to an end," he said during a break in practice on Monday. "I've got to be honest, I think we're a much different team than we were a year ago."
Laggis said that's partly due to an increasing number of players who are more comfortable playing a physical brand of hockey and partly due to the amount of time a number of players spent in the weight room during the offseason.
In fact, on Monday morning, when the team could hold its first practice of the winter season, the team didn't go to the Rhinelander Ice Arena. It was hitting the weights in the high school's Aspirus Fitness Center instead.
"We had a good weight room session in the morning, had a lot of kids in there working. I'm amazed at how much stronger we are in the weight room than we were a year ago," Laggis said. "The strength training is a big plus of where we are going this year and people that don't understand that don't know what the game's about. That's big for us and now we've got to get the whole skill level at a higher level from Day 1 and just keep right on going from there."
The team got on the ice Monday afternoon with higher than projected numbers. When the summer ice session ended, Laggis said he figured he'd have around 19 players. Twenty-four came out for opening day, which Laggis said will be enough for the team to incorporate a JV schedule in with its slate of varsity games.
The players predominantly worked on skills Monday afternoon and will continue to do so much of the week.
"We're just trying to take it heavy skills all week long. I know right now that our passing is going to look how we don't want it to look, so we've got to work on our passing, quick feet and having our head up," Laggis said, noting the team would start integrating offensive, defensive and neutral zone systems late this week and early next week. "We're going to try to incorporate dryland in with our power play like we did last year. That did some good things for us. We're going to keep right on going and I think we're going to be ahead of the curve a lot faster than we've been in the past."
The Hodags went 8-15-0 last year and were bounced in the first round of the WIAA playoffs with an overtime loss at Merrill/Wausau East. The team looks to replace leading scorer Dylan Roeser from that squad, along with top defensemen Logan Wild and Tyler Blomdahl and others.
The team has seen an influx of players move up from the bantam level, however, and sophomore Abe Laggis is set to make his debut in the Hodag lineup after missing the entire 2016-17 season with a knee injury.
"We've got some kids that like to play physical now," M.J. Laggis said, evaluating his roster. "We've got some kids who can play physical as well as a skilled game."
One thing the Hodags do not have at the start of the season is depth at the goaltender position.
Sophomore Seth Stafford, who started the majority of last season on varsity, was the only player in goalie pads at Monday's practice.
Laggis said the team is working to find a JV netminder, who could also serve as a backup in the event Stafford would miss any playing time.
"We have a couple of kids who are agreeing to put the pads on of JV and we're hoping we can start working them into practice this week yet," he said. "The goal's to have them this week in pads. It's a big work in progress."
The team will scrimmage Merrill/Wausau East next Thursday at the Rhinelander Ice Arena and open the 2017-18 season Nov. 21 against Chequamegon/Phillips in Park Falls.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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