LACONIA, NH -- The New England Wolves headed into their Thanksgiving break on a bit of a high, coming out of a two-win weekend at the EHL Showcase in Hudson, N.H., and a close loss in overtime to perennial power the Northern Cyclones.

After the showcase, they lost five in a row, but one of those losses was in overtime and another was by one goal. On Dec. 10, they got a huge win over the 16-11-3 Northern Cyclones.

“Those were much-needed points, though I wasn’t happy with the showcase game in between the wins, against the [New Jersey] Rockets,” said Wolves head coach Brett Tryder, in November. “We have five points in our last five games, so we’re hoping to get ourselves going in December. We have new guys coming in.”

The Wolves, with four wins thus far this season, didn’t return many players from the 2015-16 season, and then concussions and other injuries began to eat into an already short lineup.

“We’re learning how to play as underdogs – to finish our checks, hunt pucks and get after it,” Tryder added. “When we don’t get after it hard, we can’t compete. But if we do have that, it’ll be a one-goal game one way or the other.”

A big plus for the Wolves this year is the team unity, which finally paid off in terms of wins in Hudson in November.

“We’ve had one guy who asked for a trade. The guys are sticking with it, and having the faith that things are going to be better. We’ve made a couple trades, and we were looking at a couple of scorers who are coming in [to start December],” said Tryder. “We’re just one or two guys from being in it. Our roster will be deeper and probably more competitive.”

The improvement in the roster depth begins with getting Will Lebel back from injury. He’s missed three games, but while playing, he’s scored nine points in 23 games. On the other side, the team lost one of its big-time returners from the 2015-16 season, Evan Ferraro, after seven games (in which he scored four points).

Bringing in Brian Lange this year from the New Jersey Titans program has been a big help. He led the team with 17 points in 24 games.

“He has been everything I thought he’d be coming in. He’s a guy who hunts pucks and is tough to play against,” added Tryder. “He’s played on the power play and penalty kill.”

Goaltenders Joe Morgan and Kevin Lacroix have also done their part to keep the Wolves in games this year.

“Joe’s really capable of having a shutdown day. Kevin is more consistent, you’ll get 27-30 saves out of him every night,” added Tryder.

Read more at usajuniorhockey.com.