The Dunkirk/Fredonia Steelers open their Western New York High School Club Hockey season tonight at 8 p.m. at th outdoor rink at East Aurora, with plenty of new faces.

Of the 17 players on last year’s squad, 11 graduated, leaving six returning players.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Steelers coach Jay Bishop said. “It’s a little bit of a rebuilding year, getting sophomores and juniors up to speed with our system and the culture we have had for a while. It’s a great group of kids. I really like them. They are hard working and respectful. I can teach these kids.”

This year’s edition has 19 players, with seven seniors.

The seniors are captains Nick Formanowicz and Bryce Gifford, along with defensemen David Woloszyn, Trevor Grupa, and forwards Tyler Rebmann, Mike Johnson and Hans Schober.

“Nick (Formanowicz) is great at puck possession and is a great team player,” Bishop said of his captain. “Bryce is a quiet, solid stay-at-home defenseman. He brings a lot of respect from the other kids. They are two great captains. They are two great kids with character and leadership skills. I look for Dave Woloszyn and Trevor Grupa to step up and help us succeed.

“Mike Johnson is a great skater and Tyler Rebmann have done a great job,” Bishop noted.

Schober spent last season as a member of the Jamestown Raiders’ hockey team, and spent some time this season on the St. Francis team, before returning to the Steelers.

“I think he has received great goalie coaching at St. Francis and had a good year at Jamestown, and that will benefit the team,” Bishop said. “I am looking forward to seeing him perform. I feel really good having two goalies. It gives us more stability for the team and ups the level of competition.”

Also looking to see some time between the pipes is junior Joe Caine.

Once again, the league has some shake up with the divisions. Divisional opponents for the Steelers this year consists of East Aurora/Holland, Wilson/Newfane, Eden/Lake Shore/Pioneer/Springville, St. Joe’s and Williamsville.

“We definitely have a lot of inexperience at the varsity level with seven seniors, but I am looking at the first few games to see our test of character and maturity, and see how players rise to this level. I think we will be competitive and be as successful as last year.”

With 12 underclassmen, a valuable asset to Bishop’s coaching staff is last year’s jayvee coach, Mike Formanowicz.

“He has his hand on the pulse and can help me learn the kids and tell me their strengths and challenges, and how to make them better players.”

Also joining the coaching staff are SUNY Fredonia’s coach Jeff Meredith and Alex Kaluzny.

“Jeff Meredith is with us which brings us to a new level,” Bishop said. “He is teaching the little things in hockey and has been a great asset. Alex Kaluzny is studying journalism and sports coaching. He wants to coach hockey for a living. He helped with jayvee last year. He brings passion and enthusiasm. I am really hoping we can give him a good experience and develop him into what he wants to do for a living.”

With several unfamiliar faces and only a handful of practices, the challenge for Bishop is finding the right line combinations.

“We have preliminary lines and that may change,” he said. “I’m sure the lines will be fluid and kids will play in or out of the top lines. The more they work, the more ice time they will get. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone can do. I have high hopes for Mike Meredith who played a few games for us last year as a freshman. He will be a real offensive player to watch and Ryan Thompson is a sophomore who is a big kid. Mike Szalkowski is a defensemen and he hits like a ton of bricks.

“I think we are going to have to play stay-at-home, defensive-minded hockey,” Bishop concluded. “We don’t have a lot of natural goal scorers at this point and hopefully this will change. We will adjust during games and practices accordingly.”