After a late start to the 2020-2021 season and a middling 9-7 regular season, the Trenton hockey team fought its way to the Final Four.
BY BRIAN RZEPPA
Last year’s Trenton High School Hockey team blew preseason expectations out of the water with an appearance in the Final Four of the state championship tournament and Head Coach Chad Clements is hoping to rekindle some of that magic as puck drops on the 2021-2022 campaign.
The deep playoff run came on the back of a relatively middling 9-7 regular season which caused many to predict an early exit for the Trojans. Clements was impressed with his team’s willingness to compete and thinks it will bode well for this season.
“Last season went very well,” Clements said. “I think we over-achieved and made it to the Final Four. We had a rough regular season but turned it up in the playoffs and surprised a lot of teams. I was very proud of last year’s team and their success.”
As the team rounded into form late in the season last year, Clements is optimistic the same mindset will carry over into this year and is expecting the team to improve each day.
“I expect us to learn and improve as a team day in and day out. We have a very young team this season with one freshman and six sophomores, so we need to develop our young guys and have the older players serve as positive role models. We need to work hard each day and learn from our mistakes.
“Our goal, as always, is to develop a team that will play for each other and will be playing their best hockey of the season come playoffs. If we can continually improve all season long, our expectation is that we compete against every opponent and give ourselves an opportunity to win come playoffs.”
Leading the team both on and off the ice will be a strong core with standouts at forward and on defense.
“We have a few leaders with senior captains Hayden Oboza, Xaver Gradinscak and Nick Fields,” Clements said. “On offense we’re going to be led by Oboza and Fields, as well as fellow seniors Aaron Brow, Matt Krueger, Zach Anderson and Gavin Witt. On defense we’ll be led by Gradinscak, junior Jacob Wiseman, and senior Sam Shaul.”
Between the pipes, Trenton will be turning to a pair of goaltenders, Evan Sivi and Noah Miklos, who will be making their debuts for the Trojans.
As the roster is set for another season, Clements knows that he will need buy-in from each of the players in order to continue the success that Trenton hockey has demonstrated over the course of decades.
“In order to sustain success, we need to get buy-in from the players,” he said. “They have to be coachable and willing to put the team’s success before their own individual success; this is not easy. It is very difficult to get players to accept a role that may be beneficial to the team, but not glamorous or that won’t show up on a scoresheet. We have the entire season to develop chemistry amongst the players and to develop that ‘buy-in’ from every player.
“We also talk about the important traditions that surround the program and remind the players of those who came before them that paved the way for Trojan success. We want to celebrate the past and acknowledge the legacy left by teams that new teams should follow. We want players to understand that playing for the Trenton High School team is truly special. It is a unique experience unlike other hockey experience, and we try to make it the best year, two years, three years or four years of their high school experience.”
With that culture in place, Clements is setting the bar for this team in the same place that he does for every other team that he has coached. Rather than a specific win/loss record, Clements wants his team to improve each day and through that he believes the team will have the success the program is known for.
“A successful season would involve the team growing, improving and developing into a team of selfless players all working together to achieve a common goal. If the team can achieve this, the team can make a run come playoff time.”