Five-on-five, the Westerville Warcats club hockey team believes it can play with just about anyone.

Four-on-five? Not so much.

Coach Brandon Fackey said he thinks the Warcats have the talent to match every team in the Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League, but staying out of the penalty box has proven to be the biggest hurdle so far.

"We had some penalty issues at the beginning and we had to gain our composure and control ourselves," Fackey said. "We had to realize that you can't win hockey games by being in the box. We had to get control of our discipline. Now that we have control of our discipline, the sky is the limit with our team."

Fackey is in his first season after taking over for Derek Graziosi, who coached the team the past two seasons. Fackey played hockey at New England College in Boston for the 2005-06 season and played at Ohio University from 2006-2008. He was an assistant with the Athens club team last season.

After a 1-4-2 start, the Warcats improved to 4-4-2 overall heading into today's game at Newark. Westerville is 3-4-2 in the GCHSCHL, including a 1-0 win over defending state champion Newark last Friday.

"It didn't start out exactly as we planned," Central senior John Brosnahan said. "We thought we were going to run teams, and it just didn't click. But we're getting it together now and the new system is starting to take hold."

Last season, the Warcats finished 11-12-2 overall. They were fourth in the GCHSCHL at 7-11-2 with 16 points, behind Newark (13-5-2, 28 points), PRPC (10-4-6, 26) and Hilliard/Southwest (9-9-2, 20) and ahead of Northeast (6-10-4, 16) and Athens (7-13-0, 14).

In the Blue Jackets Cup, Westerville lost 4-3 to Northeast in the first round and was then eliminated by Hilliard/Southwest 2-1 in the loser's bracket.

The Warcats have a young team, with just six seniors out of the 21 players on the varsity roster, which could explain some of the penalty problems early in the season. Overall, though, Fackey said the group has shown to be an easy one to coach.

"I think they pick things up very quickly," Fackey said. "I'm a lot younger than a lot of the coaches these kids have had in the past. I'm 25 years old, and most of these kids are 17, 18 years old. I feel like there is a generational gap with a lot of coaches, and I'm kind of more their generation. I feel like our attitudes toward each other have really helped us bond together."

With so many players graduating from last season, it took a few weeks to develop the chemistry among this group. Players said improved chemistry has started to pay off in the team's play.

"In the beginning, we didn't really have that team chemistry," Central senior Matt Taggart said. "But now that we've spent more time with each other, we're starting to get to know each other and the team chemistry is clicking a lot more. It's showing more on the ice, really. You can tell we're working together more."

Among the veterans on the year team are Brosnahan, Taggart and North junior Dylan Thompson. Brosnahan, a forward, played on the varsity last season and is an assistant captain this season. Taggart, a third-year varsity player, also has started at forward and is the captain this winter. Thompson also is in his third year on the team and has converted from forward to defenseman this season.

Central senior Alec Iberg (defense) and Central senior Jordan Melvin (forward) are others who return after playing key roles last year.

South junior Garrett De Salle has started at center and has had several critical goals in the team's recent wins.

Defensively, Central senior Tyler Brunetti has been a key contributor and is an assistant captain.

At goalie, South junior Pat Ladue and Central sophomore Matt Knapp have been splitting time for a second consecutive season.

Last year, Ladue had a .891save percentage and Knapp had a .863 save percentage.

Also on the roster are North senior Martin Jensen (forward), South junior Rawahneh Zeid (forward), Central juniors Eric Schulze (defense), Jake Simmerman (defense) and junior Matt Spies (forward), North juniors Cody Siemer (forward) and Eric Vermeire (defense), South sophomore Brandon Boll (forward) and Central sophomores James Bradshaw (forward), Brendan Brosnahan (forward) and David Veltum (forward).