St. Michael-Albertville Skaters Boast Experience, Scoring

Every hockey fan knows the scene. Kurt Russell, doing his best Herb Brooks accent, looks at his squad in the scene from “Miracle,” and utters the same words as the legendary Minnesota coach:

“This … is your time.”

For a slew of seniors, that’s the sentiment entering the 2011-2012 season. After putting in hours of skating, practice and extra games in order to help turn the Knights’ varsity program into a winner (12-11-4 in 2011), 10 seniors will be pushing to help the squad take the next step into 2012.

A state tournament contender.

“Traditionally, we’ve been a team that comes together at the end and finishes strong, no matter our record,” said head coach Jerr Johnson. “This year, we hope to get some people who can really step in to the second, third line and we feel like we’ll be ready to go.”

Leading the way is captain and senior Jake Larson, who led the Knights in scoring last season. Larson, No. 9, is one of those players coaches love to have, Johnson said, because they put in the extra effort to match the extraordinary skill.

“He’s one of those high character guys,” Johnson said. “He has dreams to play at the next level, and there’s no reason he can’t be St. Michael’s first to go Division I. With all the tryouts, camps and everything he does, he’s not afraid to work for it.”

Co-captain Tanner Martin centers the second line, and assistant captain Jon Gibbs, a junior, is a threat from the wing. Connor Spetz, a sophomore defenseman, has also turned into a strong scorer from the point.

Seniors joining Martin and Larson are Chris Coquyt (a talented winger), Clayton Hinrichs (on defense), Brock Green , Shawn Morris, Jordan Norton, Ben Bridell, Thomas Juntunen and goalie Andrew Semo.

“I think our big question will be defense. We have most of the top two lines back, but that third line defense we’ll be looking at. We need another goalie to step up, and we’ll have strong competition with Semo, Matt Borgen [a junior] and Darin Maki [a sophomore].”

The Knights rolled out to a good start last week, pounding Cooper 9-0.

The boys will skate at Forest Lake, a Section 7AA opponent, Tuesday, then travel to Delano Thursday, before on Thursday, Dec. 15.

“I think we have a pretty full schedule,” Johnson said. “We’ll see a lot of the teams from our section, plus we have some other good competition early. We have to play defensively, and stay aggressive on offense. Then, we’ll see what happens,” Johnson said.

The Knights are picked in the middle of the pack in both the Mississippi 8 and Section 7AA. Rogers, an “A” school, is a favorite in the conference, while 7AA features Duluth East, among others.

“We knew we’d be here [in AA] soon, and it’s time to do it. These guys are ready to lead us into that,” Johnson said. “As youth teams, they played a lot of the big schools. Our young teams do now. So they’re ready."