Spinal Column - Chris Wall

The Milford hockey team can’t wait to get the 2018-19 season rolling. With eight returning seniors, the Mavericks are looking for a breakout season under head coach Dennis Gagnon, who begins his third season on the bench.

Sam Hewitt, Ben Kozar, Kazuma Bowring, Kevin Mozel, Tyler Tori, Connor Meadows, Austin Day and Keir Gillis headline an experienced senior class that has been through battles in the Lakes Valley Conference.

After finishing the 2017-18 season with an 18-18 record that included a third place finish (5-5) in the LVC, Gagnon looks for steady improvement in practice day in and day out.

“We lost seven games by only one goal and were competitive in pretty much every game,” said Gagnon. “We lost to the eventual state champion, Detroit Country Day, by two goals in the second round of the state playoffs in an evenly matched battle.”

Hewitt and Kozar lead the scorers returning for the Mavericks. Both Hewitt and Kozar tallied 25 points last season. Tyler Kerr will start in goal for Milford.

“He’s very quick and we’re confident he’ll be a very good goalie for us,” said Gagnon on the eve of the season opener against Fenton/Lindon.

Gagnon welcomes newcomers Kerr, Austin Combs, Tristan Ingram Reeve, Liam Markell, Nick Bow, Brendan Engel and Josh Raya. He’s pleased with how well the pre-season practices have been going so far.

In addition, the Mavericks will look to five freshmen, including Harris

Partyka, Tyler Whitney, Matthew Rowe, Luke McIntyre and Tucker Combs, to develop quickly as the new season unfolds.

Gagnon has a number of goals this season for the Mavericks. “We want to have fun and improve daily, play competitive, disciplined hockey and represent our community with class. We were also an All-State Academic Team for the second year in a row.”

“We want to continue the progress made from the past two seasons to make Milford hockey a respected, destination hockey program,” he continued.

The Mavericks open the season at home tonight when they take on Fenton/Linden at 7 p.m. at the Hartland Sports Center.