The County Press

Hockey teams prep to hit the ice



Lapeer’s Brayden Regling, shown here beating a Grand Ledge-Fowlerville defenseman on Feb. 3, is expected to lead the Lightning on the ice this season. Photo by Joe Oster

Lapeer’s Brayden Regling, shown here beating a Grand Ledge-Fowlerville defenseman on Feb. 3, is expected to lead the Lightning on the ice this season. Photo by Joe Oster

LAPEER — In just his second season behind the glass for the Lightning, Lapeer coach Steve Seres believes his team has already begun to turn the corner in becoming a respectable hockey club.

“We’ve done a good job of changing the culture at Lapeer,” said Seres. “We’re all interested in playing a good exciting game of hockey. The guys come in and work hard. They give me a hundred percent. I’m excited to see how far we can go.”

The Lightning’s first season under Seres was an odd one. After flirting with cutting the program for a single season in the Summer of 2017, Lapeer was able to field a complete roster and competed as an independent team without a conference alliance. The result was a 2-22 overall record and an 11-2 pre-regional exit to Romeo to end the season. Seres and the Lightning welcomed athletes from a plethora of sports and even a pair of girls in Liza Derey and Maggie Wilkison. Lapeer lost Wilkison to graduation, and Derey will not return for her senior season. The Lightning also graduated Brian Morris and goalie Tyler Weber.

Johnny Labombard, shown here last season, is one of 12 returning players for the Alliance this season. Photo by Kylee Richardson

Johnny Labombard, shown here last season, is one of 12 returning players for the Alliance this season. Photo by Kylee Richardson

“We’re a little smaller team this year,” continued Seres. “We’ve got a couple of other guys that are trying to get their prerequisites together so they can play. We’re looking forward to them coming on (to the team), but I’m hoping that my senior guys can carry the day.”

That senior trio is comprised of Ben Rogers, Brayden Regling and Nate Seres, Steve’s son. Rogers and Regling both play forward, while Nate leads the Lightning defensive unit.

“They have been on the team for four years,” said Seres. “I’m looking for them to help out a ton.”

As a young team last year, the Lightning’s season was littered with growing pains. Now, back a year older, Lapeer may have reaped one of the few rewards from an inconsistent season: experience.

“Did I mention how glad I am to have my juniors- Jakob Sutherby, Mikey Mazola and Bailey Bostick- Tullius-back this year?” Seres asked when breaking down this season’s roster.

“Jakob is a great defenseman. Mikey can play any position on the ice and has. Bailey knows how to find the net.”

The Lightning also bring back seniors Steve Saunders and Jordan Moore. Saunders is a solid defenseman, while Moore is a skilled forward, who led last season’s team in goals scored.

One question mark for Lapeer this season will be in net. With the graduation of Weber, sophomore Ben Meister is expected to start at goalie for the Lightning. Behind Meister on the depth chart is Weber’s younger brother Dawson Goodwin.

“He’s putting the pads on and going to follow in his brother’s footsteps, which I think is pretty cool,” said Seres of Goodwin.

Kaden Appleton, a freshman, is also expected to inject some fresh blood into the Lightning lineup.

“Kaden is a highly-skilled young man,” said Seres. “He looks like he’s serious about playing some hockey. I’m really excited to have him on the ice.”

The combination of youth and experience will allow Seres to take risks with his line-ups and toy with different match-ups.

“That really depends on our opponent,” said Seres when asked of how Lapeer will attack other teams. “There are some opponents that we’ll want to play puck control against, some we’ll want to outskate and some we’ll want to slow down. (Our playing style) will depend on who we play.”

Versatility will be key, as the Lightning’s schedule reads like a murder’s row in its first season back in the Saginaw Valley League.

“Our league is tough,” Seres continued. “We have Davison, Powers, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland. I mean every one of our conference games are going to be very difficult. There’s no doubt about it.”

Nonetheless, Seres is confident in his group and their ability to change the perception of Lapeer hockey.

“They’re all great guys,” said Seres of his team.

“I want everyone to have a great time and no on get hurt. We’d like to have more success on the scoreboard. Other than that, as long as we put on a good show, our competitors know that they played a (tough) hockey club, we’ll be happy.” — J.O.

ALLIANCE

The Alliance hockey team, made up of LakeVille, Almont, Goodrich, Imlay City and North Branch, is entering the new season with just one thing on their mind: a league title. After finishing second in the Mid-Michigan Hockey Association conference the last two seasons, the Alliance is looking to take home a title this year.

After finishing the season at 18-10-1 and finishing second to the FNV Griffins, the Alliance lost just four players between season, which included Zack Hanaford, Dakota Lehman, Jakob Kurtz and Kurtis Winget.

With nine seniors and three juniors returning to the team, the Alliance will field a roster full of veteran players. Key returners include Thomas Manko, Johnny Labombard, Hunter Ratliff, Jacob Young, Matt Brauer, Mason Rich, Ben Stull, Josh Scmitt, Will Garbutt, Max Hubbell and Ryan Rychlewski.

“We are going to rely on them to play at an extremely high-level game in and game out,” said six-year head coach Tom Ferreri of his returning players. Ferreri also described his team as dedicate, intense and experienced.

The Alliance will also welcome four newcomers to the team. Harrison Rich, Ian Swanger, Dillon McDowell and CJ Harris will all hit the ice this season in hopes of contributing to the Alliance’s success.

The Alliance opened the season against Oxford Avondale on Saturday and will be at Swartz Creek/Clio/ Flushing on Wednesday. Its first home game is not until Nov. 21 when it hosts Okemos. — K.R.