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Mayfield Hockey Team Looks to Maintain Its Standing

Wildcats look to overcome significant roster changes and keep pace.

Oftentimes the biggest opponent in all of high school sports isn’t the team you face, the injuries you must overcome or making sure your whole team is on the same page in competition.

It’s undoubtedly the inevitable and unstoppable force of graduation.

The hockey team has won two straight Baron Cups with a well-oiled lineup, but head coach Steve Bogas and his Wildcats face this season with decidedly less experience.

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Through a Thanksgiving tournament and in anticipation of today’s Cleveland Indians Snow Days high school hockey tournament at Progressive Field, Bogas, who is in his third year coaching at Mayfield, has already seen that his team will require a little more guidance than in the past.

But like any coach who has faced the graduation of top players, he knows he must refine the players he has on his bench and recognize their potential.

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"Last year, I was a lot more offensive-minded. This year, I’m not as offensive. We’re going to be more defensive-minded," Bogas said. "(Last year), if we gave up a quick goal at the beginning of the game, I wasn’t worried. This year, if we’re down three goals, we’ll have to work a little harder. We can go from there. One thing I’ve noticed about this team, though, is that they don’t give up."

Last season, the Wildcats finished with a mark of 26-5-2 and posted 193 points. They reached the second round of the playoffs before falling to Lake Catholic, 9-0.

This year’s roster features six freshman and five sophomores giving Bogas 11 underclassmen on a team of 17 players and perhaps some of that inexperience has shown itself during the early part of their campaign.

Mayfield lost all of its games during the Thanksgiving weekend against St. Ignatius (4-1), Painesville Riverside (7-4), Rocky River (4-3) and Medina (9-3), but the Wildcats rebounded with a league win over Parma (3-2) on Tuesday night.

Further challenges await the Wildcats as senior captain Hunter Maggs got hurt on his first shift of the Thanksgiving tournament. The forward will be out six weeks with an upper body injury, Bogas said.

Bogas is trying to measure how much pressure he should place upon his young squad. This season, Bogas will be relying on seniors Josh Bay on defense and forward Bobby Conkey on offense to help guide the team.

"With Hunter being out, I’ve asked everybody else to step up. We’ll see how it goes. But everybody needs to step up," Bogas said. "There’s about three or four guys I have in mind that I hope will step up."

Despite the early woes, Bogas is looking forward to this weekend’s action at Progressive Field where the Wildcats will open play against Solon at 4:30 p.m. today.

After Solon, Mayfield faces Cleveland Heights (8 a.m. Saturday) and Chagrin Falls (4:40 p.m. Saturday). The championship game is set for 1 p.m. Sunday with a consolation game at 9:40 a.m. Sunday.

The tournament's challenge excites Bogas.

"I’m looking to see how we do as a team overall. To see how they would deal with adversity on things. On the other side, this is a great opportunity for the kids to do something that might not happen ever again. It’s really more for these kids," Bogas said.

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