Outnumbered and forced into extra playing time all season, Shawano Community High School hockey players know their struggles are helping to keep the program alive.
The team, which has just 12 players from Shawano and Bonduel, is in its second year of playing a varsity reserve schedule, after leaving the Fox River Classic Conference in 2012.
“A usual hockey team has a minimum of 16. We start out with 12,” coach Tommie CarlinSchauer said. “We’ve had some injuries, so we played our first game with nine players. It’s just tough when you don’t have two full lines. Kids are fighting, though.”
After postponing its first two games of the season, the team has played three games, compiled a 0-3 record and will play as many as eight games over the new few weeks.
“When it gets down to it, the kids just want to play. They want to play hockey,” CarlinSchauer said. “We don’t want to lose the hockey program here because we have a year with low numbers.”
The future of the program should brighten with large freshman classes expected the next two years. There could be enough players in two seasons to return to playing a full varsity schedule, CarlinSchauer said.
CarlinSchauer said his players knew this year would be a struggle, but are sticking it out so the hockey program will continue.
“That 12, with a couple injured, that’s a real teeter-totter on if it’s good to play or not,” CarlinSchauer said. “I have a tendency to worry about that. We have a number of nice players, good players. But do we have enough? Yet I know that if we let the program go this year, we might not get it back for three, four, maybe five years.”
Shawano lost its first game to Merrill 9-1 and then lost to Manitowoc Lincoln 4-3 in overtime after leading 3-0 in the first period. Fatigue played a role in both losses.
“As the game went on, they got tired,” CarlinSchauer said. “They were working hard. The work is not the problem. It’s just that you can’t physically do it, I don’t care who you are. You could be the best players in the world and you can’t be going out there and taking on three shifts in a row rather than getting a 45-second rest.”
The team is made up of two seniors, four juniors, one sophomore and five freshmen, including goalie Brandan Chapman. Senior defenseman Triston Krueger is the team’s captain; sophomore forward Blake Stoss is the assistant captain.
“We’ve got four new freshman who really see the rink well,” CarlinSchauer said. “Our goalkeeper is a freshman and has played very well.”
The next few seasons will determine the long-term success of the program, according to the coach.
“If we get 16 or 22 kids, we’re going to be fine,” CarlinSchauer said. “If we get more freshmen that can play right away, which I believe we are, two or three every year, then you’re looking at something.”
After losing 7-6 in overtime against Stevens Point Thursday at the Crawford Center, the Hawks will hit the road for two games — against Mosinee on Tuesday and Waupaca on Jan. 21 — before returning to the Crawford Center to face Mosinee Jan. 23, a game that was postponed on Dec. 6 because the Hawks didn’t have enough players.
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