By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
BROWN COUNTY – Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, De Pere, Green Bay United and Notre Dame Academy are the Green Bay area hockey teams that play in the Fox River Classic Conference.
Ashwaubenon: Ashwaubenon finished below .500 last season after playing a number of underclassmen on its first two lines.
Top-point getter Liam Golden has graduated, but Kole Altergott, Joey Hamielec, Riley Nissen and Teig Driessen are returning.
Other tidbits: Head coach: Matt Golden; 2018-19 record: 10-16 overall, 1-7 FRCC; key returnees: Altergott, Hamielec, Nissen, Driessen, Will Brunke, Kaden Appleton, Cooper Routheau, Ryan Gady and Vincent Strachan.
Bay Port: The final numbers from last season don’t indicate how strong the Pirates were.
Seven of their nine losses were by one goal.
On the flip side, Bay Port recorded a 5-2 victory over Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha (NHM), which qualified for state.
The Pirates also beat Homestead, which went undefeated in the North Shore Conference.
If Bay Port is to contend for the FRCC title this year, they will have to do so without graduated seniors Jake Boxer, Aaron Ribar and Caleb Johnson.
Jack Chilson, Bryson Hyska and Carl Cano will anchor a frontline that scored more than 30 goals last season.
Tyler Brady and Alex Voss return on defense, and junior Marcus Niemi will take over in net after splitting time with Riley Baye last season.
Other tidbits: Head coach: Mike Buchan; 2018-19 record: 16-9-1, 6-2; key returnees: Chilson, Hyska, Cano, Brady, Voss, Nick Messerschmidt, Jay Ribar, Ty Froelich, Trevor Jenquin, Sam Komoroske and Sean Samels.
De Pere: The Redbirds had an an-up-and-down season in 2018-19.
They started 7-2-2 with victories over Fox Cities, Brookfield and Waupun, but then hit a snag midway through the season, only to rebound near the end.
Grant Tritabaugh, Charlie Eggers and Mason Paul return after combining for more than 70 points last year.
After goalies Brody Van Den Heuvel and Caelen Markusen both graduated, De Pere could have question marks in the net.
The duty in goal could fall to Jay Wenger or Henry Allen.
Other tidbits: Head coach: J.P. Coppo; 2018-19 record: 13-9-2, 3-4-1; key returnees: Tritabaugh, Eggers, Paul, Brett Pansier, Grady Coppo, Daniel Wagner, Sam Calawerts and Alec Kloehn.
Green Bay United: The Gryphons will again play a junior varsity schedule and not be eligible for the WIAA playoffs.
The team is currently looking for a head coach.
Notre Dame Academy: The Tritons came within one game in 2019 of making it back-to-back state appearances.
The 4-0 loss to NHM was the second time Notre Dame lost to the Rockets in 2018-19.
The Tritons return 10 of their 11 top offensive and defensive players, along with their goaltender, Bo Buckley.
Buckley made more than 500 saves, had a goals-against-average of under 2.00 and recorded six shutouts.
Brendan Poshak, Callan Budinger and Sawyer Scholl accounted for more than 75 points and will be counted on to lead the first and second lines.
Anchoring the backline will be Jacob Conrad, Sam Peterman, Reid Milton and Corbin Skinner.
The defense accounted for more than 10 goals and 40 assists.
Other tidbits: Head coach: Cory McCracken; 2018-19 record: 14-7-5, 8-0; key returnees: Poshak, Conrad, Scholl, Budinger, Josh DeLange, Eli Canadeo, Peterman, Milton, Skinner, Charlie Wied, Riley Onell, Max McNeil and Scott Russell.
Editor’s note: All stats taken from wissports.net.