The New Prague boys' hockey program could easily have been in rebuild mode after last season, its initial trip to the Class 1A tournament. Instead, it reloaded.
"We lost 11 seniors," New Prague coach Chris Lonke said. "We have 12 seniors this year, 10 of which are actively playing in the playoffs."
The Trojans enter Wednesday's quarterfinal matchup with an overall record of 20-8-0. They face defending state champion and No. 3-seeded East Grand Forks at 1 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
"Our team lives by the motto: 'We not me,' " Lonke said. "They are playing hockey in pursuit of their individual and team 'Hockey Ikigai.' That is a Japanese word that means finding your purpose. Why do you get up in the morning? We asked them to answer the question, why they get up in the morning to play hockey? It was an awesome team-builder."
New Prague's success starts in goal. Senior netminder Conner Wagner has won 43 games over the past two seasons. The Trojans have only allowed three or more goals in eight games on the year.
"Conner is a great competitor," Lonke said.
Wagner is one of five senior captains. The others are forwards Ryan O'Rourke and Ben Witt and defensemen Casey Busch and Jake Klein. Witt is the team's second-leading scorer behind junior Alex Gregor.
"I think last year's experience is going to help our returning key guys be even better," Lonke said. "They also can be answering questions from the new guys to get them settled in quicker."
