TRAVERSE CITY – Traverse City Central Hockey is off to a solid start entering the midway point of the season as the Trojans look to their younger
players to fill the shoes of their top three point leaders who graduated last year.
“Very happy with the crew of young players. You know, all of them are going through an adjustment period and that’s typically how it is. It usually takes the better part of seven to eight weeks to get used to everything,” said TC Central hockey coach Chris Givens.
TC Central is currently 6-3-1 following the Scott Miller Memorial Tournament at Centre Ice.
Their most recent win came against rival Traverse City West which also marked head coach Chris Givens’ 400th career victory with the program in his 30th year with Trojan hockey.
Last season, the Trojans made a run all the way to the state quarterfinals were they fell 1-0 to Marquette. TC’s recent success can be attributed to the impressive play of seniors Ethan VanderRoest, Carson Peters and Will Dawson who all combined for over 300 points in their varsity careers.
With the team’s point leaders graduated, TC Central has to rely on young members to step up and contribute.
“Owen Dawson has been a really good player for us. He actually leads our team in scoring right now as a defenseman, which is a little bit unusual,” said Givens. “Grant Neuhardt, obviously a four-year starter as our goaltender, he’s played extremely well for us too. So yeah, we were off to a good start.”
Up next, Traverse City Central will face Cadillac (4-7) in a Big North Conference showdown on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m.
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