BROOKINGS — The Brookings Rangers have won four straight South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association state championships, but entering this year, they’ll need a new cast to step up to make it five in a row.

The Rangers’ roster may be different, but the foundation hasn’t changed. Rangers coach Garrett Gerstner believes that a message instilled in his players from the first time they put on the skates can help them become a force again this winter.

“We have this saying in our organization that culture doesn’t graduate,” Gerstner said. “We have so many former players that are coaches in this organization so the kids know the expectation and they’re pretty much taught that from the time they’re 12 what our expectations are.”

The Rangers will have a healthy mix of younger and older players as the season begins. Brookings lost plenty along the blue line including captain David Brink, Chase Karch and Ren Jacobsen, but are looking to some of their veteran defensemen including Luke Honkomp, who finished second in the SDAHA with 42 assists and ninth with 48 points to carry the load.

“As a former defenseman, I think it’s really tough to come in and play defense as a young guy,” Gerstner said. “We’ve got a couple of freshmen and sophomores that we’re going to try to get looks at, so that might be a little bit of a concern. But we preach defense. They’ve been hearing about it for the last four, five, six years whatever it is. So I think it might be a little tougher transition, but it’s not something we’re too worried about at this point.”

The presence of Egan Jensen in goal will be a big help for the defense. Jensen will miss the opening portion of the year as he recovers from an injury suffered during football season, but he was a First Team All-State selection with an 11-0-0 record, a 0.91 goals against average, and a .932 save percentage while splitting time with departing senior Addison Ronning last season.

“He split time pretty evenly [with Ronning] last year but in the state tournament, Addison took over,” Gerstner said. “Egan played the same number of games as Addison last year but he’ll be our starter this year. We’re looking forward to getting him back.”

While the blue line settles in and Jensen recovers from injury, it may be the Rangers’ offense that needs to take over. Brookings lost Owen Schneider, who led the state with 33 goals and finished second with 63 points, and Jacob Kahle, who was fifth in goals a year ago. But the Rangers will also bring a large chunk of their offense back including forward Jay Harris (12 goals, 23 assists last season), Talon Hyde (11 goals, 19 assists) and Cooper Deatherage (five goals, 11 assists).

“I think even though we graduated some top scorers in the league, we’re still really deep at forward,” Gerstner said. “We’re going to have four lines that we’re going to be able to roll out at any point in the game and feel confident that they’re going to be able to get the job done.”

If their season opener against Sioux Center was any indication, the Rangers will not have any issues scoring goals or preventing them as they claimed a 15-0 win on Sunday morning. But leading the young players along will require captains Honkomp, Deatherage and Riley Linstad to have a more vocal role.

It’s a process that takes place frequently in high school hockey but few do it as seamlessly as the Rangers. While another state title is a goal, the bigger picture is helping the young players along for a team that seems to reload more than it rebuilds.

“They’re the future of this program,” Gerstner said of his underclassmen. “Obviously, we’re very thankful to win four state championships [in a row], but we’ve preached to them that it’s not normal and it shouldn’t be. You shouldn’t expect to go in and win a state championship just because you play here. Like the kids we’ve had before us, they’ve earned everything they’ve had.

“We’ve just let them know that it’s not going to come easy and for the older guys, they know we are just keeping the foundation and not get away from who we are. We’re just making sure that culture is established and that’s really big for those older guys.”