Brainerd Boys’ Hockey Looking to Up Offensive Firepower in 2024-25

About two weeks into the high school boys’ hockey season, the Brainerd boys are beginning to find their footing and are now in the win column after Tuesday night’s 6-3 victory over River Lakes.

After graduating 10 seniors last year, including two of the team’s top point-scorers, the Warriors are looking to build up some experience.

“It’s next man up – a lot of people stepping in bigger roles,” said senior center Dylan Wikoff. “The more of these guys see the ice, varsity level, the better we’ll get. And we’re a ferocious bunch. I think we’re relentless, we have great effort. We just need to get more experience. Once we getting more experience, I think we’ll be good.”

As experience continues to mount, The Warriors believe confidence will follow. They say staying relentless and hungry, but remaining even-keeled, will ultimately net the best results.

“We need to stay in the middle, get our mindset right,” said senior goaltender Ayden Bednarek. “We need to have the confidence, but not too much because then we think was the best and then we’re going to be walked on if we do that.

“We got to compartmentalize our little victories and it makes a snowball effect so we can keep winning going,” said Wikoff. “We can’t let us get caught up with one loss and let that snowball into five losses.”

While the team hasn’t gotten out of the gates hot, starting 1-4 on the season, where the boys see themselves excelling early is in their defensive prowess.

“We hold the blue line pretty good. We pinch a lot,” said senior left defense Chad King. “Coach kind of is teaching us to really pinch in the offensive zone when we want to. I just honestly love our blue line boys right now. Guys like Drew Haakonson and Michael Hagelie, Logan Ciardelli. They’re all young, but they have a lot of potential and I think they’ll be really good later in the season.”

Even with the slow start, morale is still high as the Warriors know with every game comes more experience, along with better know-how on how to put the puck in the back of the net at a higher clip.

“We just need to find the open guys,” said Wikoff. “We make solid passes, but there’s a better pass that could be made that’s going to give us a goal. We just got to keep our heads up and find the open guy, I think is the biggest thing.”

“Being lethal with our shots when we have chances – it’s awesome to make a backdoor pass to your buddy and him slamming him,” King added. “But honestly, if you have a shot, you have a shot. Just get those shots off and eventually they’ll start going in.”

The Brainerd boys will look to make it two in a row Thursday night when they host the St. Cloud Crush. Nine different Warriors have recorded goals so far this season, with Wikoff leading the way with four.