A new season, another great team

The 2017-18 season is now officially underway for the WSHL! After a long summer of recruiting, all of the clubs are now ready to show off their new teams and begin the chase for the Thorne Cup.

Head Coach Paul Taylor and his assistants spent the summer building a team to compete in the always tough Mountain Division. With three of the top teams in the entire WSHL last year residing in the division, this season will prove to be a great challenge for the Outliers.

The new Outliers team will feature a number of new faces along with six returning players from last year’s team. The Outliers are excited to welcome back forwards Jacob Wanstrom, Bogdan Khvatov, Dylan Massie, Alex McCloskey, along with defenseman Vladislav Buyanov and Brad McCloskey.

A number of the new players have come to Utah with previous junior experience as well as winning pedigrees. Forwards Brandon Krumpschmid, Gianni Vitali, Benji Mickel, and Kane Torumi look to lead the offense. On the backend, Zack Hoffman, Christian Bundschuh, Zack Evans, and Kevyn McElligott are expected to make up a stingy defensive core, and should be a solid pairing to go along with Dawson Rodin guarding the net.

The Outliers also welcome a sizeable amount of talented players from across the pond. The roster currently possesses players from Latvia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia. Look for forwards Oskars Ancitis, Roman Svik, and Artem Popov to contribute up front, while defenseman Viktor Burman guards the blue line and Otto Saxin patrols the crease.

Not all new players with the Outliers this season have junior hockey experience. To go along with the bevvy of experience, there are some fresh faces coming to the team from Midget hockey. Kaeden Meuer, Locke Wischmann, Spencer Langille-Crowe and Trent Wendt all look to make their mark in the WSHL in their first junior seasons.

There is a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the new Outliers team and the new players. Fans will get a chance to see the Outliers take the ice for their first Home game of the season on Friday, October 13th at 7:05 pm at Acord Ice Center against the Southern Oregon Spartans. 

Photo credit: Action Sports Photography https://www.facebook.com/Action-Sports-Photography-254276724656521/