Independent file photo Marshall’s Kaleb Welvaert skates around a New Ulm defender during their game on Dec. 6. The Tigers will begin their season today against Albert Lea.

MARSHALL — Last season, the Marshall boys hockey team reached new heights by setting a program record for regular season wins with 21, and crowned a new goal-scoring king in former Marshall Tiger turned Fairbanks Ice Dog, Mason Plante.

Today, the Tigers begin what they hope will be another season to remember as they hit the road for their first matchup of the season against the Albert Lea Tigers.

Marshall head coach Michael Weiss anticipates the matchup will provide a good test for his team right out of the gate.

“It should be a really good game,” said Weiss. “They did well in their conference and their section last year. We really don’t know a whole lot about them but it’ll be a good test for us right away.”

Balanced scoring will be a necessity

Without the services of last year’s state goal scoring leader Plante–who netted a career-high 40 in 2018-2019–the Tigers will look to fill the offensive void in 2019-2020 with a balanced scoring attack.

Aiding in that effort will be the return of five of the team’s top six goal scorers from a season ago, including senior Bryson Whyte (22-13-35), junior Tristan VanDeVere (18-13-31), senior Landon Frost (14-14-28), senior Kaleb Welvaert (7-20-27) and Joe Archbold (7-12-19).

Weiss hopes to see all of them take a step forward this season.

“Finding a more balanced attack (will be key),” said Weiss. “(We’re) not looking for someone to fill his role, just looking for everyone to contribute a little more.”

Providing an extra layer of scoring depth is a talented group of underclassmen who played a large role in helping to lead the Marshall Bantam A team to the regional tournament a season ago.

“Coming up from Bantams we’ve got Sean Nwaiga, Braxton Meyer and Wyatt Boerboom. They should be three that can contribute and have shown a lot in the first week so far,” said Weiss.

Strength on the blue line and in net

In addition to the continuity offensively, Marshall will have the bulk of its defensive core back from last season led by top-pairing Welvaert and Blake Kruse. The Tigers’ last line of defense will once again be senior goaltender Dominik Caspers, who finished in the top 10 statewide in three statistical categories, including: wins (8th, 17 wins), goals against average (10th, 1.74 goals against) and save percentage (2nd, .941).

With talent throughout the roster, Weiss anticipates the team will be well-balanced.

“I think we should be pretty well-balanced.” said Weiss. “We’ve got a lot of guys coming back. A lot of experience both offensively and defensively in the net. We should be pretty sound all around which is something that I’m looking forward to.”

Special teams

excellence

Last season, the Tigers eclipsed the 25% mark on power plays and finished 16th among all teams in the state on the penalty kill at 88%. With key components of both units set to return, the team will have a good chance of matching and even exceeding these numbers this season.

Possessing a heavy shot and innate playmaking ability, Welvaert will be called upon to quarterback the power play unit and will be the team’s leader on the penalty kill. In 2018-2019, Welvaert tied with Plante for the team-lead in power play assists with six. Frost led all returning forwards in power play assists with five, while VanDeVere led all returners in power play goals with four.

One of the most dangerous aspects of last year’s penalty killing unit was their ability to score shorthanded. Led by Plante’s five shorthanded goals, Marshall finished second in the state with 11 during the 2018-2019 season. VanDeVere chipped in three shorties for second on the team, while Whyte and Frost combined to add three as well.

Goals remain

the same

After suffering through a heartbreaking defeat in last season’s Section 3A semifinals game against Hutchinson, the Tigers are back and hungry as ever to make it to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for the Class A state tournament by season’s end.

“I think the goal’s always to make the state tournament and I think having the team we did last year, a lot of kids brought that expectation back that we want to be playing at the X at the end of the year,” said Weiss.