At left, Jake Albersheim-Carter is one of the returning senior lettermen for the St. Louis Park High boys hockey squad. (TOM DAHLIN - CONRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER)

St. Louis Park High's boys hockey team graduated goalie Nick Smith and most of the defenders who played in front of him last spring.

That means head coach Tim Donahue has a big job ahead on the defensive end.

As a first step, Donahue moved two forwards, seniors Colin Petit and Jake Albersheim-Carter, back to defense. They are joined on the blue line by juniors Mike Nimmo and Jake Wood. New varsity players on defense are seniors Ethan Bohn and Mike Yeager, who played JV last season.

Vying for the goalie job are junior Mickey Hills and sophomore Jordan Nelson. Hills backed up Smith last winter.

"It is no secret that we're inexperienced on the blue line and in the net," said Donahue. "But we do have a lot back at forward."

Leading the forwards are seniors Jeff Howes, Kyle Johnson, Jake Schlegel, Marcus Voss and Mitchell Wynia. Senior Randy Cunningham and junior Sean Robb will also play up front along with newcomers, who include seniors Tucker Carlson, Josh Wagner, Nelson Kivimaki and Alec Rose, juniors Alex Smith and Jesse Solstad and sophomore Christian Erickson.

"It will take time for some of the new varsity players to get up to the varsity pace," said Donahue. "We are not going to be as strong defensively as we were last year, so we might see more 5-4 or 6-5 games.

"We should be better offensively, especially if everyone buys into playing hard."

Park started slowly last season, going 3-9 in the first 12 games. The second half of the season was much better, as Park went 8-4-1 on the back half for an overall record of 11-13-1.

"Obviously, we need to get off to a better start this season," said Donahue. "The good thing is that we're so experienced on offense. It was fun to watch the guys in tryouts because they knew where to be on the rink."

Park will open the regular season with a 7 p.m. game against Richfield Saturday, Dec. 6, at St. Louis Park Rec Center.

Richfield was the team that knocked Park out of the section playoffs last season, so the Orioles come into that game with something to prove.

Looking ahead to the North Suburban Conference race, Donahue said, "You always have to consider Benilde-St. Margaret's and Totino-Grace top teams. Spring Lake Park and Chisago Lakes should be better this year."

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Looking ahead to the North Suburban Conference race, Donahue said, "You always have to consider Benilde-St. Margaret's and Totino-Grace top teams. Spring Lake Park and Chisago Lakes should be better this year."

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