NEW ULM — New Ulm Eagles head boys hockey coach Ryan Neuman said that he felt that his team had a good season for a young team.

“We saw a lot of guys develop as the season went along,” Neuman said of his team that ended with a 15-12 record after an 8-2 loss to Luverne in the Section 3A semifinals. “The seniors that we had displayed good leadership. Our team had tenacity and grit and is showed throughout the whole season. It got us past Minnesota River [in the first round of the Section 3A tournament].”

Neuman said that the young Eagles, with just three seniors, experienced growth as the season went along and became a family.

“They all got along very well and our coaches were positive all year,” he said. “It was a fun group to be around and with being younger they got a chance to mature and control their emotions better as the season went on.”

When asked if there was one game that stood out to him during the season, Neuman said it was the opener on the road at Waseca.

“Our first game of the season with Waseca really set the tone for us,” Neuman said. “They were ranked in the top 20 [in Class A)] all year. We were down 5-1 to them and we came back and tied that game and lost in overtime. That [comeback] impressed the whole coaching staff. That set the expectations high for the year.”

Neuman said that the 8-2 loss to Luverne in the Section 3A semifinals left a bad taste in the mouths of the players for next year.

“It was a game where the final score was worse that what it was, I dont think it was an 8-2 game,” he said. “We had our chances to score — we had a lot of odd-man rushes and a few breakaways that we had — we did not capitalize on them.

“That is going to leave a bad taste in the mouths. We will come back hungry next year. We battled with them and they had one player who got hot.”

The Eagles do return almost all of their scoring for next year in Hunter Larson (27 goals), Carson Uecker (26 goals), Jaxon Saenz (14 goals) and Carsten Haala (11 goals).

Larson ended the year with a team-leading 55 points, with Uecker second with 44.

And both goaltenders are back in Colton Anderson, with a 2.10 goals-against average, and Blaine Arneson, who carries a 3.26 goals-against average.

“We do lose Brody Nordby (10 goals) from a line, but we did mix up our lines all season,” Neuman said. “And we do lose Melvin Sellner. Melvin was a mentor for Jaxon and he got Jaxon rolling. Both of them will be hard pieces to fill, but we do have guys ready to step in. But we do lose a Kayden Klein, one of our top defensemen all year. We do have four other defensemen back next season with a lot of experience — Kayden did a lot for us on the penalty kill. He was our silent leader all year. He had a very good season.”

Neuman also liked the play of senior Jack Windschitl.

“He was positive all year for us,” Neuman said.

Neuman also sees talent coming next season from players from this year’s JV team.

“Alex Winter, Connor Meier and Brody Wendorff saw some varsity minutes in the second half of the season,” Neuman said.

Neuman thinks with the experience coming back for next season, that next year could be a very good one for New Ulm.