Hockey

season, during the fall football campaign. The Raiders lost one of their top scoring seniors, Colton Gowey, as well early on.

But they did get six wins, several players got better and they made it through the year with no major illness issues.

“It’s pretty amazing that we got to play 21 games,” Searles said. “Not every school was able to do that. The kids got a lot of ice time. I think we improved. I think certain players improved significantly. Our freshmen learned what it’s like to compete at this level.”

He pointed to Kaden Kennedy and Noah Machon as two of the freshmen who made major strides.

“Our seniors did well,” Searles said. “Logan Searles, Warryck Leonhardt and Carter Pernsteiner played well for us all year. It’s definitely going to be different next year without Logan and Warryck on the blue line. I’ve already been thinking about it trying to figure out who we’re going to have on defense.”

Alex Gilbertson is the sixth senior who will graduate.

Searles said after taking a crash course in goal keeping this year, it’s Ben Brunner’s position to lose during his senior year and players like Miles Searles, Connor Gowey, Brayden Machon and Austin Stauffer give him confidence next year’s Raiders will have some scoring punch.

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