By Shane Frederick
MANKATO — A year from now, when the Mankato West girls hockey team looks at its roster, it might be easy to say that it didn’t lose much from the year before.
This year’s team, which begins the season on Thursday evening, has just one senior on the roster, and forward Amanda Probach probably won’t be on the Scarlets’ list of leading scorers.
“I’m not a really big goal scorer,” she said.
But don’t sell Probach short.
She might have had just three goals and six points last season, but that’s not where she’s most valuable, according to coach Cara Samuelson.
“She’s going to be hard to replace next year, even though she doesn’t have the points,” said Samuelson, a longtime Scarlets assistant who is now in her first year as head coach, replacing Mike Sipe.
Samuelson says Probach does West’s dirty work. She’s the “go-to” penalty killer and the first forward in on the forecheck.
Even though there’s an opening on the No. 1 line after Alyssa Black’s graduation, Probach is too valuable to move off of the second line, the coach said.
“She’s always accepted that role, no matter what” Samuelson said. “A couple of times last year, we even threw her back on defense. She’s a good leader.”
Probach said she’s less concerned with scoring goals than she is with trying to get West over the hump after falling one game short of the state tournament last season.
“I’m not saying we’re going to go out and win (the section), but we’re going to try,” she said. “I’m a senior, but (the other Scarlets) want to go to state as much as I do. ... Everyone wants to go there and just experience it.”
West went 23-4-0 last season (17-1-0 in the Big Nine Conference). It lost just three players to graduation, but two were among the team’s top four scorers: Black (84 points) and defender Amber Ostoff (29 points). Goalie Jennie Maes also graduated.
“We have big shoes to fill, but we have potential,” Probach said. “We have girls who will work hard to try to fill them.”
Another key returning player is junior forward Katy Kvasnicka, the Scarlets’ all-time leading scorer.
Last season, Kvasnicka had 57 goals and 36 assists for 93 points to increase her career totals to 152 goals and 115 assists for 267 points.
Others being counted on to score include junior Vanessa Lloyd (29 points last season) and eighth-grader Callie Looft (11 points).
On defense, junior Jana Christensen “will have to step up on the blue line and take the place of Ostoff,” Samuelson said.
In goal, junior Therese Coughlan will be the full-time starter after splitting time with Maes last season. Coughlan had a .887 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average last season.
West will open the season at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against New Ulm at All Season Arena.
