The Three Key Door for Orono
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Every team in the state, whether it is a defending state champion or a struggling squad, starts their season out with a door that stands between them and success. Nonetheless, every team is just as capable of unlocking their potential…
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Continue ReadingEvery team in the state, whether it is a defending state champion or a struggling squad, starts their season out with a door that stands between them and success. Nonetheless, every team is just as capable of unlocking their potential through an interwoven combination of skill, strategy, leadership, and coaching. In this new series kicking up here for Prep Hockey, I will be taking a look at the three keys each and every team in the state needs to open up the door that stands between them and a great year by their unique standards. Orono, the fourth place finisher in Class A, will have its team featured today.
Key #1: The Mugaas Effect
Joey Mugaas Joey Mugaas 6'0" | Defense Orono | 2024 State MN was third on his team in scoring, a team that went incredibly far in the postseason and won 24 games thanks to its incredible skill on both ends of the ice. Yet despite all of this talent, a defenseman with three goals managed to crack the upper echelon of his team’s offense. How is this possible? Well, Mugaas’ 30 assists sure helped, pushing his point total up to 33 across only 31 games, an absurd number for a defenseman. This guy is adept at pushing the puck in front of him and pressuring opposing defenses, preventing them from swinging it out and always keeping it past the blue line when his team is on the attack. If Mugaas was the only defensemen well versed in scoring, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem, but his first mate John Engebretson John Engebretson 6'0" | Defense Orono | 2024 State MN is quite the athlete himself. The 6-foot, 175 pound defenseman put up 28 points off mostly assists in 2022-2023, and was the second thorn in opposing teams’ sides all year next to Mugaas. Both of these high scoring defensemen will be returning for this upcoming winter, and should put up some stellar numbers across their senior campaigns.
Key #2: An Empty Net
Orono’s attack was bolstered nicely by its defense last year, but even so, the team was only able to muster up a collective 3.74 goals per game. While this number isn’t bad by any measure of the word, it is on the lower end for a team that went as far in the postseason as the Spartans did. So while the Spartans still had a solid attack in 2022-2023, much of their success can be credited to the aforementioned defense and one incredible goalie by the name of Brock Peyton. Peyton was one of the best to ever do it for Orono in terms of single season success, and his senior campaign last year was something to watch. He put up a 16-5 record, allowed only 1.85 goals per game, and chalked up an impressive .926 save percentage, all figures that were top 20 or better statewide. Thanks to this impressive performance between the pipes, the Spartans were able to hang with some of the best attacks in the state come playoffs, and ended their postseason run with a fourth place finish at the state tournament. While this is great for the program, Peyton can’t be a prep athlete forever, and his recent graduation leaves a ton of questions at the goalie spot for the Spartans. This Orono team will need to find a guy who can man the net with the same savvy Peyton did, but this will certainly be a tall order.
Key #3: A Little Bit of Bravado
Despite being one of the best teams in Class A, Orono operated without a clear cut star on the offensive end, a rare feat for a team that made it so far into the postseason. The Spartans’ leading scorer last year scored just 20 goals, with his 30 assists making for the brunt of the points he put up. Going down the list from there, this trend just continues. At second place is a guy with 18 goals and 30 assists, and at third is the aforementioned Mugaas with 33 points, 30 of them being assists. In fact, there are only two guys on Orono’s roster whose goals outnumber their assists, forwards Brooks Fegers and Tommy Lewin. The duo posted 10 and 11 goals, respectively, and will both be returning to the team this winter with high expectations to captain a depleted attack. With the loss of a great goalie in Peyton, Orono will need a little more spunk on the offensive end, and these guys might just be the type of players necessary to get a spark lit off for this offense. Skaters who are pass-first players are great for a team, but Orono seems to have an influx of these type of athletes. If the Spartans want to win games this coming winter, they will need a few guys to get gritty and maybe even a little greedy on the offensive end.
What Lies Behind the Door: The Spartans are a good team, but the amount of losses they sustained due to graduation is too glaring to ignore. A multitude of seniors on the offensive end are gone, not to mention their All-State caliber goalie in Brock Peyton, all losses that have the potential to seriously hurt this team going forward. Orono should still post a winning record, and I can even see them returning to the state tournament as a fringe competitor, but replicating last season’s success will be a daunting task for this program.