Dec. 8—MITCHELL — The Mitchell Marlins boys hockey team enters the new season in a place both familiar and unfamiliar.Familiar, because the program once again returns a number of returning letterwinners from last year’s group with 11, including key contributors on the defensive line.Unfamiliar, because for the first time in four years, the Marlins will take the ice without one of the most prolific scorers in South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association history.The departure of Parker Denne, South Dakota’s all-time leading scorer, leaves a massive void in Mitchell’s offensive identity. Denne earned his first career all-state selection in his senior season a year ago, finishing ranked No. 2 in the state with 43 goals and 68 points in 22 games, also adding 25 assists to his line. He ended his four-year Marlins career with 109 goals, scoring eight times in a win against Sioux Center (Iowa) on Feb. 22 to set the record.For a team that relied heavily on Denne’s finishing ability and leadership, rediscovering the Marlins’ scoring touch will be an early-season priority.”Yeah, those are some big shoes to fill because he did most of our scoring these past few years,” said Marlin boys hockey head coach Nick Lemke. “Our offense is very young now after graduating some key seniors on the front line, and of our 27 guys on the roster, I believe 19 of them are freshmen and sophomores. You could say a strength for us is our youth, but it’s going to take some time early on.”Last season, the Marlins posted a 12-13 record in SDAHA play and battled their way to a sixth-place finish at the state tournament. A respectable result but one that also highlighted areas for growth. As they shift into the new year, Mitchell will look to surpass those marks with a revamped lineup and a fresh team identity.With so many underclassmen stepping directly into varsity minutes, the early games of the season may show some growing pains. But Lemke believes that the combination of speed, energy, and internal competition will pay dividends as the season progresses.”We’re just trying to find what works for us and grow with each game we play this year to have some more success later on in the season,” Lemke said. “The last couple of years we have gotten to the state tournament, and we’ve been able to get a win but it would be nice to get two and not another sixth-place finish.”The forward lines, in particular, are almost entirely made up of freshmen and sophomores. Outside of two upper-class forwards in junior Drake Grenier and senior Everett Morrison on the first unit, the rest of the varsity attack will rely on underclassmen to step up and fill some big roles.While the forward group trends overwhelmingly young, the Marlins’ defensive corps tells a different story. Mitchell returns a trio of senior defensemen, which include Lincoln Zoss, Brennen Penne and Degan. Each of them will hold the back line, giving the Marlins stability in an area that’s crucial when working in a young group of forwards.Senior Gavin Polreis returns in net as the primary starter after backing up Ian Vaughn a season ago. Sophomore Sebastian Rieger gives the Marlins a developing but promising goalie who gives the team depth and resilience as the second option.”We’re going to ride our seniors and play every game like we are in a battle,” Lemke said of the team’s identity this year. “We’re going to try to be in the mix to qualify for state, and the biggest thing we’re really pushing more than ever is giving max effort to make things difficult for teams to play against us. We want them to have to earn it.””We might not be the most developed or most skilled because of our youth,” Lemke added. “But hopefully that plays to our advantage here in a couple of seasons when we have such a large number of upperclassmen.”