Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 15:26
Hudson fell 2-1 to Appleton United in the Wisconsin boys’ state title game, but the Raiders’ future looks bright
By Andrew Vitalis
When it comes to winning a championship, often times you look at the final sentence instead of the complete novel. Hudson High School head boys’ hockey coach Brooks Lockwood knows exactly what that means.
After skating to the state championship game against Appleton United, the Raiders fell one goal short of a state crown, losing 2-1. Over the previous 10 games prior to that title game, Lockwood’s squad had been near flawless, allowing just five goals including five straight games where the Raiders didn’t even allow a goal. During sections, Hudson outscored their opponents 18-0, followed by two games in Madison where they dismantled Onalaska and Waukesha by a combined score of 8-2.
The Raiders’ résumé spoke for itself, but unfortunately, especially in the game of hockey, you are only as good as your last goal. In the state title game versus Appleton, while Hudson was good; they weren’t good enough. Still, despite the sting, Lockwood hopes the feeling will soon fade and the confidence and excitement of an emerging program will take its place.
“Ultimately it wasn’t what we wanted but it’s a nice step in the right direction for the program,” Lockwood said. “There’s three years of guys with experience and hopefully it will pay off in the future. That’s certainly what we hope.”
To say the Raiders were flying heading into the state title game would be a drastic understatement. Hudson started the new year on fire, winning 13 of 14 games after a 4-2 loss on Dec. 30, to Eau Claire Memorial. Of those 13 wins, the Raiders held five teams scoreless and rolled into the section tournament with a final regular season record of 20-4. From there, Hudson wasted little time in the section playoffs, defeating their three opponents in impressive fashion, posting wins of 6-0, 8-0 and 4-0.
By the time Hudson punched their ticket to their first state tournament in 12 years, the Raiders had hit a stretch of dominating wins where they had at one point outscored their opponents 42-3 during an eight-game stretch that extended into the postseason. The Raiders’ push to Madison was a long time coming for a team that had come close to the state tournament so many times before. Defense wins championships ... most of the time.
“Having Dean Talafous on staff this year, obviously with a lot of experience at the college level and professional level, he made the comment early that championship teams are built from the middle and the back just like the Red Wings back in the day,” Lockwood said. “We had a few forwards that we moved back right at the beginning of the year to help us solidify that area of our game. We pride ourselves on team defense. The goals will come. I think the defensive side of the puck is something you have a little bit more control over in terms of your structure and what you preach in the locker room. You hold the kids accountable to it. You’re not always going to get the execution on the offensive end – that kind of comes and goes – but you can have a consistent defense if you build from the inside out.”
Among the players tasked with the responsibility to make their mark on the blue line at the beginning of the season were two players who previously starred as forwards for Team Wisconsin in Trey LaBarge and Jack Flattum. Furthermore, Hudson found themselves with a returning goaltender in Anthony Howard who had played in several big games before.
When it was all said and done, the junior goalie and his corps of blueliners set the tone early and often as they skated past all but four of their opponents during the regular season. Of their four losses, the only team from Wisconsin Hudson lost to was Eau Claire Memorial (twice). Howard, a junior, finished the regular season with a stingy goals-against average of 1.21. As a team, Hudson outscored their opponents 97-32 during the regular season and posted 10 shutouts. Dominating is a word that doesn’t get thrown out their often, but in this case, it fits. After coming so close to a state title this season, the Raiders have the itch. Don’t expect them to rest on past accomplishments anytime soon.
“Making state, it’s added pressure to the coaching staff and to the kids when you haven’t been there for eight or nine years, and when you get to that section final game, you think to yourself this is got to be the year,” Lockwood said. “I think this year the difference was that they had all been there. The kids had success during the regular season – we got to the section final twice with this group in the past and a few of the seniors had been to both of them. To lose both of them by one goal, I think this year they were really determined to not so much think about that, but determined to come together as a team and stay strong at the end. The kids had clear focus, you could tell all year long that their goal wasn’t just to win the section, but to get down to state and do some damage and win a state championship.”
Mission accomplished ... almost. After losing 2-1 to Appleton United, before the Zamboni finished, Lockwood and his team started to think, and prepare, for next year. Blood is in the water and the Raiders can taste it. Why not? Hudson will only lose one defenseman from this year’s team (Trevor Quade). Offensively, of their top eight scorers this season just three were seniors, meaning the Raiders’ offensive attack will once again be balanced throughout their lineup.
In addition, Lockwood hopes to add Aaron Grounds into the mix next season as well. Grounds, a Team Wisconsin forward, had to sit out the 2015-16 season after transferring from the Madison Capitols. Grounds, like many of the Raiders, have received interest from Division I programs throughout the country.
The expectations are high and Lockwood knows it.
“Every year the goal is to get (to state),” Lockwood said. “We kind of created a monster. We have won 20-plus games the last three years or close to it. We got down there this year and got so close to winning it. I think the expectations are to get down there every year and that’s kind of our focus going into each season. You start all over again, regroup and try to make another run.
“We return everyone on defense except for Trevor Quade. We didn’t have a lot of scorers, but we have a lot of depth when it came to scoring, so I think we’ll be a highly-rated team in Wisconsin next year. Our schedule will be much tougher after we added more Minnesota teams. We are excited”.
The 2016-17 season can’t come fast enough.
Andrew Vitalis writes columns in LPH geared towards Wisconsin hockey. He can be reached at lphprep@yahoo.com.
