Duluth Lakers return to Bantam A

October 30, 2009 by Howie · Leave a Comment

The Duluth Lakers surprised perhaps even themselves by finishing third at the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association Bantam B1 state tournament a year ago.

Since several of last year’s top players stepped up to play for the Denfeld junior varsity team, the Lakers elected to play Bantam B1 rather than A.

The Lakers will step up to Bantam A in 2009-10. Nine regulars from last year’s 36-15-4 team return this season, giving the team a strong enough nucleus and confidence to compete in District 11.

“We look for Duluth East and Cloquet to be the teams in our district, and Grand Rapids and Virginia are always tough,” Lakers coach Kevin Mattila (below left) said. “We likely will play about 35 games during the regular season, including tournaments in Hermantown, Cloquet, Eveleth, Albert Lea, the DAHA and Spirit of Duluth. We will compete hard, as always.”

Lakers returning players include forwards Cade McDonald, Wyatt Wutz, Patrick Potswald, Miles Leonzal and Josue Carranza, defensemen Travis Samuelson, C.J. Smith and Matt Mattila, and goaltenders Morgan Nygaard and Brent Bizanko.

First-year players are Luke Pavelich (pictured above), Phillip Beaulieu, Steven Maciver, Kyle Jones, Al Larson and Joe Daly.

The Lakers open the season Nov. 9 at Proctor.

“Every player brings something special to the lineup,” said Mattila. “Though we don’t have that one star player, we do have a lot of kids who do a lot of little things well. Scoring should be our early-season strength. We have three very good centers and at least four kids capable of scoring at least 20 goals apiece.

“Our challenge will be for the first-year players to adjust to the physical part of the game. It’s a big jump from them from pee wees, and we’ll play a very tough schedule. But we have a good group of kids who really want to play, want to work hard and prove that they belong in A. They really improved at the Lakers camp and gained a lot of confidence skating with the Denfeld varsity and junior varsity players this summer.

Mattila’s assistants are Chris Smith, Jamie Pascoe and Ron Majchrzak.