After years of simply overwhelming opponents with superior skill and talent, the Pine-Richland High School hockey team doesn't have that luxury anymore.

But the Rams and their coach still believe they're good enough to contend for another PIHL championship.

"I know it's hard, because the last couple years, we were always at the top," Rams coach Matthew Richert said. "We didn't have to work for it as much. But we certainly have to work a lot harder this year than the past."

Richert said that for many games this season, the Rams' lineup will contain eight freshmen and two sophomores, with only one junior and five seniors. Pine-Richland graduated 12 seniors from last season's 18-1-3 team, the program's second at the Class AAA level after being a powerhouse in previous years in Class AA.

Seven of the team's top 10 scorers from last season graduated. The result so far has been more losses than the Rams (2-3-1) had all of last season -- and the regular season is only roughly one-fourth complete.

Still, plenty of talent remains, both in the form of elite returnees such as Bryan Watt, Nolan Trombetta and Dan Szymanski and from new additions to the team such as Scott McAliney, Nelson Warner and Hunter Livingstone.

"They're really just playing hard every game," Richert said.

"We've had to battle through some adversity, lost a couple players due to injury already, some guys due to illnesses, stuff like that.

"Given the fact we really haven't had a complete team yet, we've done really well adjusting with new guys and the new system. We're battling through right now.

"We have a good core of guys returning from last year, and we brought up a couple decent players from the JV team from last year who have given valuable contributions. It's a mixture of new guys and returnees, and I think we're doing very well so far."

Even though the Rams won only two of the first five games they played, they had three of PIHL Class AAA's four leading scorers heading into the week.

Despite playing in only four games before a 6-5 loss to Plum on Monday, Watt had 17 points and 10 goals to lead all Class AAA players.

The team's captain, Watt led Pine-Richland in scoring during the 2008-09 regular season with 18 goals and 20 assists in 18 games.

"He's a natural goal-scorer," Richert said.

Trombetta, whose brothers Phil and Dylan starred for Pine-Richland earlier this decade, was second in Class AAA in scoring heading into the week with 14 points in five games. A sophomore who led the Rams in assists last season, he is a linemate of Watt's and junior Ryan Hanahan.

Hanahan had 12 points through five games.

"Those guys are feeding off each other and doing phenomenally right now," Richert said.

Senior Sean Bogosta is an alternate captain, and he centers a line with Warner and sophomore Luke Wagner.

Senior Steven Brooks, another alternate captain, is the most experienced of a defenseman corps that includes McAliney, Drew Krall, John Willard and Hunter Livingstone.

McAliney has experience playing for the AAA Junior Penguins team and is playing for the high school team for the first time.

Goalie Szymanski was selected for the PIHL Class AAA all-star game last season, when he went 15-1-3 with a 2.11 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. Richert also listed him as an alternate captain.

"He's been wonderful. He's one of the true leaders we have on the team on the ice and off the ice," Richert said. "He's always getting the guys motivated, always working with them. He's the reason we're in a lot of the games that we are. He's making the simple saves, and he's making the hard saves for us as well. He's certainly doing very well for us."

The Rams experienced plenty of roster turnover after last season, but by the end of this season they strive to end up in the same place they've become accustomed to for much of this decade -- at Mellon Arena for the Penguins Cup.

"There's a lot of competition in our [classification] right now," Richert said. "I think anybody has a chance of winning it all this year."

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