Steelers goalie Nick Novelli secures the save during a regular season varsity hockey game.

If they want to win a third straight state championship, the Dunkirk-Fredonia Steelers high school varsity hockey team will have to make up for the departure of nine seniors and longtime head coach Jay Bishop.

New coach Mark Taylor thinks the combination of incoming seniors with extensive playoff experience, and a returning goaltending duo, put the team on the road to that goal.

“We have three players who won two championships, and 13 players returning from the previous team,” he said. “Guys coming up from the JV team developed into the same style of players that won the championships, so it should be pretty seamless.

“We are hoping to make it back to the state championship round,” he added. “From there, it’s a little luck, such as injuries and game times, and a lot of how the game plan goes.”

Bishop was Steelers varsity coach for 10 years, and Taylor was one of his assistants. Taylor said Bishop’s previous work set the team on the path to success this season.

“You do your own thing (as head coach), but I’ve worked with Jay in the high school program for five years,” he said. “Jay built a great foundation with this organization and I am just going to keep it going to the best of my ability.”

In 2016-17, the Steelers followed a 13-6-2 regular season with a playoff run that culminated in a 2-1 defeat of Iroquois on March 4 for the team’s second state title in a row.

The Steelers’ seniors last season were Taylor Mattoon, Dawson Rafan, Cole Tippens, Austin Lewis, Chris Michalski, Christian Michalski, Ryan Thompson, Mike Meredith and Christopher Buchanan. Thompson, Meredith and Buchanan were the team’s top line, combining for 51 goals and 41 assists in the regular season.

Taylor is looking to his new first line of Carter D’Agostino, Nolan Mages and Nick Pchelka to make up for the loss in scoring.

“Nolan Mages is going to be a big part of that … Mages is going to be our center up on our first line,” he said. “Coach Bishop converted him to defense the last few years because we had a gap there, but we put him back at his natural position because now we have more defensive talent coming up.”

D’Agostino was on the second line last season, but got promoted for 2017-18. “He’s done an exceptional job in the offseason working to get ready,” Taylor said.

As for Pchelka, “he scored the game tying goal in the state semifinal and the game winning goal in the championship, so we know what he can do,” the coach said.

Although Taylor feels good about his top line, he knows they alone won’t carry his team to a “three-peat.”

“One thing I learned from Jay is you have to utilize your whole team,” he said. “You’re not going to win a state championship by using just two lines.”

Taylor has his eye on freshman forwards Jacob DiFonzo and Tyler Sillanpaa. “I look at them as the next talented forwards to come through the system,” he said. “We’re going to start getting them in this year.”

On defense, Taylor said he counts his top pairing of seniors Zach Rybak and Jackson Taylor as two of the Steelers’ three top leaders, along with Mages. Those three will be wearing the captain’s “C” on their sweaters during the upcoming campaign.

Mike Persch and Austin Venn will be playing a larger role on defense this season, the coach added. He’s also high on junior Jim Rush. “We brought him up (from the JV team) for our Christmas tournament last year, and he showed some real promise,” he said. “We think he’ll pick up some of the slack for the seniors who left.”

Goalies Nick Novelli and Gabe Persch, both juniors, return this season. Although Novelli started the majority of the games last season, Taylor said he and Persch are competing for the No. 1 goalie spot this training camp.

“Gabe’s giving Nick a run for his money,” the coach said. “I would call Nick the No. 1, but it’s more of a 1a and 1b.”

Whoever winds up the starter, he has his coach’s confidence. “They’ve got a lot of experience under their belt. They’re two returning championship goalies,” Taylor said.

The Steelers have three hour-long scrimmages today against various Buffalo-area teams at the Northtown Center in Amherst. They open their regular season with two tough road games: Nov. 18 at Cheektowaga and Nov. 19 at Orchard Park.

“Having those tougher games during the regular season is the way I wanted to do it — to get them used to playing tougher competition,” Taylor said.

With plans to continue the run of playoff excellence that Bishop left them with, Taylor said that will be important for his team.

“We want to go to Super Sunday and the state playoffs, and then with luck and a few bounces we’ll see what happens from there,” he said.