Photo courtesy of Photoworks The 2017-18 Marshall boys hockey team.

MARSHALL – After falling just short in the section championship game a season ago, the Marshall boys hockey team came back this season with high expectations.

But the Tigers were forced to play with a revamped roster after losing 12 seniors from last year’s team, and head coach Michael Weiss said they were able to exceed expectations.

“Going into the season after losing a lot of seniors, we weren’t sure what to expect,” Weiss said. “But over the course of the season, our team was able to exceed expectations.”

Marshall showed improvements from last season, posting an overall record of 19-7-1. After going 2-3 to start the year, the Tigers reeled off six consecutive victories before falling to University School Milwaukee. But Marshall quickly got back to its winning ways, as it won its next nine games. The Tigers then closed its season by going 2-3-1 the rest of the way, defeating Redwood Valley in the section quarterfinals before falling to Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato in the semifinal round.

Weiss said they were able to see a lot of growth this season and was happy to see multiple players step up this season.

“Our biggest growth was that we’re a good hockey team that didn’t rely on just two players,” Weiss said. “We had multiple people pitching in a good effort.”

Leading the charge this season for Marshall was Mason Plante and Chase VanDeVere. Plante led the team in goals with 38 while VanDeVere added 21 and led the team in assists with 21. Bryson Whyte added 12 goals while Tristan VanDeVere had 10. Dominik Caspers led the way in net as a sophomore, winning 14 games while making 512 saves.

Going into next season, Weiss said with most of its core returning, they’re going to hit the ice hard this offeseason.

We’re going to continue to work hard in the offseason and this summer by hitting the ice,” Weiss said. “We have lots of players back next year and we’ll have the mold of our team back, so we’re excited.”