With the amount of talent the Olentangy Liberty High School hockey team lost from last season, it would be easy to label this a rebuilding year.

But the Patriots have done so much building the past two seasons since becoming a varsity program that they don't expect to take a step backward.

"We expect to be at the top of the conference, the top of the district and up there in the state every year," senior forward Nick Zanetos said. "This year is no exception just because we have a lot of new players."

Liberty broke into the ranks of the area's elite last season, finishing 29-14 overall and 15-1 (30 points) in the Capital Hockey Conference. The Patriots won the CHC-Blue Division ahead of Dublin Jerome (13-2-1-0, 27 points), Olentangy (10-6, 20), Upper Arlington (6-8-1-1, 12), Thomas Worthington (4-10-1-1, 10) and Dublin Scioto (0-15-0-1, 1). The Patriots finished second in the overall CHC standings behind Dublin Coffman (31).

Cincinnati Moeller and Watterson have joined the CHC, bringing the total to 14 teams. The two divisions have been combined into one and each team plays each opponent once in league play for a total of 13 league contests.

The Patriots open league play against St. Charles on Dec. 18 at the Dispatch Ice Haus.

Liberty was runner-up in the Blue Jackets Cup tournament last season, losing to Coffman 2-0 in the final, and lost to Moeller 4-3 in a district quarterfinal. The Patriots had a first-round bye for the district tournament and defeated Thomas 7-1 in the second round before falling to the Crusaders.

Liberty lost its top four scorers in forwards Doug Kouskouris, Alex Ottavio, Justin Garland and Brad Taber. Kouskouris, Ottavio and Garland, who combined for 224 points last season, graduated and Taber, the team's fourth-leading scorer with 22 goals and 25 assists, transferred to a prep school in Connecticut.

"We don't have the offensive power that we had last year, so we're going to have to play consistent defense and take the goals we can get," said third-year coach Jack Hoogeveen, whose team opens against Santa Margarita (Calif.) at the Midwest Thanksgiving Classic on Friday at Chiller North. "We've got guys who can score, but we had tremendous scoring power last year."

The Patriots' defense will be led by senior Logan Singleton, juniors Anthony Bergamesca and Robert Koehler and freshman Gus Olmstead. Junior Keaton Allmaras, sophomore Pete Leonetti and freshman Noah Allmaras also are expected to be key contributors but currently are out with injuries.

Senior Nick Kerr returns for his third season as starting goaltender, but Hoogeveen said junior Bryan Finneran is expected to get significant playing time as well. Kerr had a .907 save percentage last season.

At forward, Zanetos, junior Jimmy Ruska and senior Ben Saylor are the top returning players. Senior Joel Standley has converted to forward after playing defense last season. Hoogeveen expects freshmen Marshall Oja and Drew Ash and sophomore Nick Ramsey to make an impact at forward as well.

Also expected to contribute are sophomores Mitch Helton (forward) and Reed Slinger (forward) and freshman Ethan Hollingsworth (forward).

"We've got both our goalies back and the majority of our defensemen, so that should get us off to a good start while our forwards are going through the learning curve," assistant coach Nick Kormanyos said. "But through the first two scrimmages, they've been very impressive. They're making great strides, and it seems like every practice, every week, it seems like everyone is getting better."

At a glance

•Coach: Jack Hoogeveen, third season

•Opener: Friday vs. Santa Margarita (Calif.) at Midwest Thanksgiving Classic at Chiller North

•Key players: Anthony Bergamesca, Nick Kerr, Robert Koehler, Logan Singleton and Nick Zanetos

Schedule

Nov. 27 vs. Santa Margarita (Calif.) at Midwest Thanksgiving Classic (Chiller North)

Nov. 28 vs. PRPC at Midwest Thanksgiving Classic (Chiller North)

Nov. 29 vs. Hilliard/Southwest at Midwest Thanksgiving Classic (Chiller North)

Dec. 5 at Cleveland St. Ignatius

Dec. 6 at Gates Mills Gilmour Academy

Dec. 10 vs. Dublin Jerome at Adam Allgeyer Memorial Tournament (Chiller Dublin)

Dec. 11 vs. Gilmour Academy at Adam Allgeyer Memorial Tournament (Chiller Dublin)

Dec. 12 vs. Centerville at Adam Allgeyer Memorial Tournament (Chiller Dublin)

Dec. 13 vs. TBD at Adam Allgeyer Memorial Tournament (Chiller Dublin)

*Dec. 18 vs. St. Charles (Dispatch Ice Haus)

*Dec. 19 vs. Thomas Worthington (Chiller North)

*Dec. 20 vs. Olentangy (Chiller North)

Dec. 26-28 at Bowling Green Tournament

*Jan. 2 vs. Upper Arlington (Dispatch Ice Haus)

*Jan. 3 vs. Olentangy Orange (Chiller North)

*Jan. 8 vs. Dublin Jerome (Chiller Dublin)

*Jan. 10 vs. DeSales (Chiller North)

Jan. 16-18 at Strongsville Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament

*Jan. 23 vs. Gahanna (Chiller North)

*Jan. 29 vs. Worthington Kilbourne (Chiller North)

*Jan. 30 vs. Dublin Scioto (Chiller North)

*Jan. 31 vs. Dublin Coffman (Chiller North)

*Feb. 5 vs. Watterson (Chiller North)

*Feb. 7 vs. Cincinnati Moeller (Chiller North)

Feb. 11-14 at Blue Jackets Cup (Dispatch Ice Haus)

*CHC game