INTERNATIONAL FALLS BRONCOS

but we have the right kids. They never quit and they keep coming at you for all three periods.”

Moose Lake Area is the lone Northland school in Section 5A. One problem with competing in the section, Costley says, is that two Class AA programs dropped a class into 5A, making three schools to do so in his four seasons as coach.

“This makes getting through our section more of a challenge. The point of having AA and A levels is to give smaller programs and larger programs competitive balance. It is unfortunate that larger schools that have high enrollment numbers and high participation numbers in high school are able to drop down to the A level,” Costley said.

Rick Weegman, News Tribune Members of the Moose Lake Area hockey team line up for the national anthem before a game at Riverside Arena in Moose Lake.

News Tribune file photo

Schedule

At 7 p.m., unless noted

Nov. 26 — vs. Becker/Big Lake (Princeton)

Nov. 29-30 — at Henry Sibley Tournament (St. Paul)

Dec. 3 — Pine City

Dec. 5 — North Shore

Dec. 10 — at St. Paul Highland Park

Dec. 13 — at Ely, 6 p.m.

Dec. 17 — at Proctor

Dec. 19 — Grantsburg

Dec. 26-28 — at North Shore Tournament

Jan. 3 — Mora/Milaca

Jan. 7 — at Northern Lakes, 6 p.m.

Jan. 13 — at Pine City

Jan. 17 — Bagley-Fosston, 6 p.m.

Jan. 21 — St. Paul Highland Park

Jan. 24 — Chisago Lakes, 5 p.m.

Jan. 25 — Dodge County, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Sauk Rapids-Rice, 6 p.m.

Jan. 30 — at Grantsburg

Feb. 4 — at Mora/Milaca

Feb. 14 — at Bagley-Fosston, 6 p.m.

Roster

Coach: George McDonald, fifth season

2018-2019 record: 7-17-1

Conference: Iron Range

Section: 7A

Key departures: F Simon Palm (1010—20); Joe Glowack (3-10—13)

Key returners: Jr. F Brady Wicklund (1715—32); sr. F Kian Gonzales (10-14—24); sr. F Jaxon Germain (8-8— 16); sr. F Bradyn Dremmel (9-4—13); sr. D Travis Kalar (3-4—7); sr. D Anthony Saari; jr. G Mitchell Nemec (3.83 GAA, .881 save percentage); jr. G Max Marcotte (3.52, .880)

Outlook: The Broncos will want to get off the schnide in a hurry as they enter the season on an 11-game losing streak. They field a much more experienced team after losing only three seniors and bringing back 11. “We think leadership is very important and having 11 (seniors) is rare for us. We hope this group of seniors is going to show the younger guys the ropes and pull them along,” McDonald said.

Wicklund, last season’s leading point producer, and Gonzales are proven scorers, however for the Broncos to be appreciably better than last season, scoring might have to be a team concept. “We’re not a team that is going to

Schedule

Nov. 22 — Little Falls

Nov. 29 — at Eveleth-Gilbert (Hoyt Lakes), 6 p.m.

Nov. 30 — at Lake of the Woods, 3 p.m.

Dec. 6 — at Hibbing-Chisholm, 7 p.m.

Dec. 12 — Proctor, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 14 — Kittson Central, 3 p.m.

Dec. 20 — Fort Frances (Ontario), 7 p.m.

Dec. 26-28 — at Warroad Tournament have one guy do most of the damage, so our scoring is going to have to be done by committee. That’s how we hope it pans out,” McDonald said.

Jan. 3 — Ely, 7 p.m.

Jan. 4 — at North Shore (Silver Bay), 4 p.m.

Jan. 7 — at Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl, 7 p.m.

Jan. 14 — Eveleth-Gilbert, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 17 — Duluth Denfeld, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 18 — Red Lake Falls, 4 p.m.

Jan. 21 — Greenway, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 23 — North Shore, 7 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Hibbing-Chisholm, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 31 — Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 1 — at Kittson Central, 4 p.m.

Feb. 4 — at Fort Frances (Ontario), 7 p.m.

Feb. 6 — at Greenway, 7 p.m.

Feb. 8 — at Crookston, 3 p.m.

Feb. 13 — Lake of the Woods, 7 p.m.

Marcotte and Nemec both return after splitting duties 50-50 in net as sophomores. McDonald expects to begin the season the same way. “To start with out of the gate until one of them steals the show,” he said. “We just felt they were evenly matched last year so in fairness we let them go. Unless one of them rises up or one of them stumbles, we’re going to continue to rotate them until we can’t anymore.”

Rick Weegman, News Tribune

Roster

1 Mitchell Nemec G Jr.

2 Jake Erickson D Sr.

3 Anthony Saari D Sr.

5 Travis Kalar D Sr.

6 Jaxon Germain F Sr.

7 Ben Skifstad F Sr.

8 Tucker Hell D Jr.

9 Brady Wicklund F Jr.

10 Justin Besch F Sr.

11 Jordan Smith F Jr.

12 Kian Gonzales F Sr.

13 Jackson Schulz F Sr.

15 Bradyn Dremmel F Sr.

16 Cooper LaVigne F Jr.

17 John Boerger F Sr.

19 Ben Glowack D So.

20 Brendan Beneki F Sr.

21 Myles Mason D Jr.

22 Parker Sivonen F So.

30 Max Marcotte G Jr.

North Shore Storm

Coach: Andy Fellows, first season

2018-2019 record: 7-14-3

Conference: Iron Range Section: 7A

Key departures: F Will Olson (20-9—29); Mason Meyer (13-12— 25); F Wyatt Haugan (3-5—8); G Cameron Roy (3.14 GAA, .901 save percentage)

Key returners: Jr. F Ryder McMillen (7-19— 26); sr. F Cole Komarek (10-11—21); jr. D Lucas Stadler (4-8—12); sr. D Spencer Jackson; sr. G

Connor Sullivan (4.01 GAA, .874 save percentage)

Outlook: A new era is beginning for the cooperative program from Silver Bay, Two Harbors and Cook County as Fellows replaces Mike Guzzo, who spent 30 seasons on the boys and girls benches. It’s been 20 years since Silver Bay reached the program’s lone state tournament and now the team is part of the Iron Range Conference, joining Eveleth-Gilbert, Greenway, Hibbing-Chisholm,

Schedule

At 7 p.m., unless noted

Nov. 23 — Wadena-Deer Creek (Two Harbors)

Nov. 26 — Duluth Denfeld (Silver Bay)

Nov. 29 — at Proctor

Dec. 5 — at Moose Lake Area

Dec. 7 — at North Branch

Dec. 12 — at Superior

Dec. 17 — Pine City, 6:30 p.m. (Two Harbors)

Dec. 19 — at Hayward

Dec. 26-28 — North Shore Tournament

Jan. 4 — International Falls, 6:30 p.m. (Silver Bay)

Jan. 7 — at Greenway

Jan. 9 — at Hibbing-Chisholm

Jan. 11 — at Mora/Milaca, 1 p.m.

Jan. 14 — at Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl

Jan. 16 — Chisago Lakes, 6 p.m. (Two Harbors)

Jan. 21 — Eveleth-Gilbert (Two Harbors)

Jan. 23 — at International Falls, 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Proctor (Silver Bay)

Jan. 30 — Ashland (Two Harbors)

Jan. 31 — Hibbing-Chisholm (Silver Bay)

Feb. 4 — at Ely

Feb. 13 — at Eveleth-Gilbert, 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 14 — Princeton (Two Harbors)

International Falls and

Virginia/Mountain

Iron-Buhl. Despite losing their leading scorer, the Storm return several players from a year ago led by McMillen and Komarek. Goaltender Sullivan started seven games a year ago so has varsity experience.

“We should be competitive,” Fellows said. “We’re fairly young, but we have a fair amount of returning talent and a very good goalie in Connor Sullivan.”