Air Academy

A pair of No. 1 goalies and seven returning defensemen will have the Kadets playing defense first and hoping the scoring will come.

Cam Maceau anchors the blue line and Cameron Duba is a forward. Both are four-year players and are Kadets captains. Goalies Marcus Harbison and Luke Lindsay-Brisbin, both fourth-year players, will split time in net.

Up top, the Kadets will need to find scoring among their returning forwards.

Cheyenne Mountain

No surprise, the Indians have depth. Cheyenne Mountain returns 12 lettermen and has three solid lines, possibly four.

All-state forward/defenseman Michael Lewis, returning leading scorer Trevor Isbell and defenseman Bryan Koppa are all back. The Indians also return four other defensemen to stack in front of a new goaltender. The Indians haven’t settled on a starting goalie, but three of them are locked in a battle.

Joey Johnson is expected to add some scoring for last year’s semifinalists.

Coronado

The Cougars come in with high hopes. Their four wins last season came in their final seven and were capped with a win over Lewis-Palmer.

Nick Lang scored 17 goals as a sophomore. He, fellow junior Trevor Lim and senior center Michael Kamnikar will carry the load offensively for the Cougars.

Coronado has six freshmen and has four returning sophomores. Travis Parker is expected to start in net after seeing playing time in about 10 games last season. Senior Ryan Wooldridge will lead the defense, while first-year player Dalton Adams will help on the blue line.

Doherty

Doherty brings back 10 starters from last year’s playoff squad. Led by all-conference first-teamer Braden Johnson, the Spartans are looking to put up a lot of goals. Johnson, a junior, had 31 points last year (18 goals, 13 assists), tying him for fourth in the conference.

Junior Dylan Hassell had 10 goals and 15 assists, and sophomore Corey Kachel tallied nine times and added 15 assists. Senior forward Garret Ashcroft is expected to add to the scoring.

Fountain Valley

The Danes missed the playoffs by a mere four points last season. That could change this year, with 15 returning players, including senior goalie Richard Church, who was named second-team all-conference, despite playing on a four-win team in its second season.

Leading goal scorer Eli Karp (seven goals, five assists) returns, as do sophomore defenseman Sean Johnson (nine points), senior Hayden Bally (eight points) and senior forward Mason Ford (seven points).

Liberty

With an influx of club hockey players to the program, the Lancers are upbeat about the upcoming season. An increase in team speed is expected to lift the Lancers’ attack.

Among the returning forwards are junior Stephen Miller (seven goals, eight assists) and Corey Lorenz (four goals, 10 assists). Senior Jacob Fitzpatrick, junior Mike Tabrum and freshman Zack Watts are expected to add the offensive attack.

Senior goalie T.J. Hill had an .861 save percentage last season. Hill might be busier than last season, with few returning defensemen on the blue line in front of him.

Palmer

The Terrors are going to be young and small. But they’re also going to be fast.

Ten first-year players make their debuts this season. Palmer’s strength will be in junior goalie Dylan Slizewski. Sophomore goalies Cody Smith and Josh Stevens will push Slizewski. Captains Kirk Van Arkel, Max Kay and Jeff Doersch will be the on-ice leaders. Sam Hesselberg and Brad Kosely will try to help the Terrors get past their first-round playoff jinx — consecutive triple-overtime losses in the past two seasons.

“Teams will want to play physical and think we’ll run away,” Palmer coach Bob Davidson said. “But the thing I like is if they do that, better have their skates on, because they have to catch us first.”

Pine Creek

The Eagles need all-conference goalie Chris Dylewski to be at his best if they want to make the playoffs.

For the first time in a while, Pine Creek coach Ken Martel has a team with a good, deep group of upperclassmen. Captain Chad Gary returns in a forward/defenseman role. Junior captain Xander Hoskins will be a threat to score, as will Cody Hill. Junior Luke Grignano will be solid on defense. Martel said freshman Justin Watson is “as good as any freshman anywhere.”

Rampart

The Rams are going to rely on their goaltending. And that won’t be a problem for junior goalie Brock Vosburgh. Last year, Vosburgh posted a .918 save percentage as the Rams went 13-7 and reached the playoffs.

Forwards Matt Avila (10 points), Daniel Mitchell (nine) and Daniel Fullerton (nine) will shoulder the offensive load, while senior defenseman Anthony Apodaca (12 points) will anchor the point. Freshmen Ian Johnson, Walt Perea and Josh Baker are expected to contribute.