OnFocus Season Preview: East Merrill United Boys Hockey
Head Coach: Nate Pagel (4th season as Head coach)
Assistant coaches: Kyle Swan (7th season with EMU)
2023-24 Record:![]()
3–21
2023-24 Post season:![]()
Lost to Wausau West in 1st round
Returning All-Conference: Zach Pagel (Honorable mention)
Key Returners: Zach Pagel, Nick Bodner, Parker Klebenow, Brody Trantow, Ryker Remington, Liam
Zdroik, Jackson Pierce, Eric Grunenwald, Brody Benedict, Brody Klebenow
Key Losses: Vincent Newman-Knuckles, Isaac Kaczmarowski, Connor McCorkle
Key Newcomers: Bryce Jokinen, Chace Cerny, Michael Nichols, Jack Taylor, Kellen Burton, Noah Mayer,
Shane Gibson. Jayden Prentice, Jordan Prentice, and Lucas Seefeldt.
2023-24 recap: Our season started off slow as we had quit a few new players at varsity and it took a little
while for them to adjust to the speed of the game. Once we got to the Marathon Cup in the middle of
December, we had a strong game against Mosinee and won our first Valley conference game in 6 years
against D.C. Everest. We played well against really good teams, but would fall off in the middle of the
third period. Our second big win of the season came against Rhinelander in OT. It seemed like we were
finally starting to finish games. We ended up playing in 6 overtime games last season. We finished off the
season with Marshfield, where the game remained tied until the last 3 minutes of the game when we
gave up a goal. It was a much more competitive season compared to the past years.
Unfortunately, our season came to an end against Wausau West in the first round of the playoffs.
2024-25 outlook:
Our numbers have continued to grow. We are starting the season with 38 players and will be able to run
a full JV and Varsity schedule. This year we will for the first time in many seasons have more upperclassmen than underclassmen. We also only lost three players from our varsity roster. That should help us to be more completive when playing the bigger schools in our conference.
I would like to see us get better in the offensive zone. Start to put more shots up, get better scoring opportunities, and win more puck battles.
A key to our success this year is staying together and working as team.
Final Word:
As we start this season, I am looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish since we are finally on equal playing field with the age of the players. This is a good group of players that have bought into what we are coaching and have worked hard in the offseason to strengthen themselves overall.
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2024-25 OnFocus Central Wisconsin Area Conferences: Conference and Team Links, Schedules
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
