The start of conference play hasn't been kind to last season's conference champions in the Big Rivers and Western Cloverbelt conferences. Rice Lake (1-4 overall) is off to a somewhat surprising 0-3 start in BRC play, while Gilman (0-6 overall) is 0-4 in the WCC.
The Warriors were expected by many, including yours truly, to be a contender for the Big Rivers title. But they've run into three other contenders right off the bat, falling to Eau Claire North, Chippewa Falls and Hudson. Even though Rice Lake does return two of the league's best players in Alex Culy and Andrew Lochmann, it's important to remember the Warriors also lost a lot of talent to graduation. Not only are all-Northwest performers Dan Culy and Sam Elliott gone, but so are valuable contributors like Rob Berger and Greg Lancette. That means a lot of players who don't have much varsity experience are being thrown into the fire. Once they get the hang of varsity ball and increased minutes, Rice Lake will be just fine.
Gilman, on the other hand, isn't likely to jump back into the conference race any time soon. The Pirates just lost too much. First Jacob Doro, Michael Mudgett, Joel Kulesa and Derk Hauser graduated. Then Trevor Rosemeyer tore up his knee playing football. That's the unfortunate nature of small-school athletics. It goes in cycles.
Both teams can earn their first conference wins tonight, which features a good slate of games. Rice Lake hosts Eau Claire Memorial and Gilman hosts Osseo-Fairchild.
- Joe Ziemer
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