Bees turn to youth, hunger and defense

Brian Sandalow
The Monitor

HIDALGO — The Killer Bees’ top three scorers from last season are gone. Their top returning scorer had 47 points last season. Their all-star goalie has retired. In a league that allows teams to sign up to six veteran players, they have one.

Unlike last season, when they were coming off a 35-win season and their first-ever playoff series victory, the Bees are returning after a disappointing .500, non-playoff campaign. Outside expectations for the team are unmistakably lower than at this time last season, when many thought the Bees were poised to take another step forward.

The Bees, though, think differently.

“I just think that we’ve got a lot of hungry guys that want to prove themselves at this level,” coach Chris Brooks said.

That hunger is what the Bees say they will depend on through this season. No, they don’t have anybody like Jesse Bennefield, Grant Goeckner-Zoeller or Daymen Rycroft, a trio that combined for 190 points. None of their goalies have the same amount of experience the retired Andy Franck did.

What they do have is a much younger group of players looking to move up a level, a dynamic they hope will produce more consistent urgency.  They also have a revamped corps of defensemen led by Darcy Campbell, Matt Smyth, Rob Cowan and Jake Obermeyer, with only Kirk Medernach returning from last season. They’ll also depend on the continued growth of Medernach and fellow returners Aaron Lee, Zak McClellan and Sean Muncy, the leadership of lone veteran Brett Clouthier and the ambition of Tyler Burton and Dan Gendur.

All of that, McClellan said, will carry them past where they went last season.

“We’re just going to have to be the team that flies under the radar,” McClellan said. “You prove yourself by how hard you work and the big games you win.

“It’s going to be something we’re going to have to prove over this season and I think that people are going to be pleasantly surprised.”

They say all of that will be enough for them to improve despite a schedule that features 16 games against the Laredo Bucks, a team they beat only three times last season. They think the loss of almost 200 points will be offset by a deeper lineup, a stronger corps of defensemen and more two-way and aggressive play from the forwards plus the emergence of both returning players and some of the younger members of the roster such as Greg Holt, Tyler Lehrke and Brandon Smith.

“Sometimes you lose a lot of scoring but I think we gained a lot more defense,” McClellan said. “A lot of times those big scorers don’t play both ends of the ice as well. We might have lost some scoring but I think we’ve got a lot more two-way play. I think that’s more important.”

Whether that works for the Bees will likely determine how their season unfolds. Their philosophy of youth and player development seems to run counter to the type of rosters many of the top teams in the league have built, rosters that focus on getting as much experienced players as possible.

Brooks said he isn’t worried about that.

“Based on what I did, I did my best to build a team that is exciting to watch, that I feel will compete every single night, hopefully move players on up,” Brooks said. “A lot of these players had the opportunity to play in other places and decided to play here because they wanted to develop.

“I’m excited about that.”