HANCOCK — Last season, the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey team took a big step forward, going 8-17-2 and clinching a playoff berth in the NCHA playoffs. Though they were swept by the St. Norbert Green Knights in the series, the team earned some valuable experience.

At the same time, the team lost a significant portion of their leadership group. However, head coach Joe Burcar is confident that his team has found another group to build around in newly-named captain Connor Hannon and assistants Dylan Paavola, Cory Richardson and Blake Peavey.

Hannon and Paavola are local skaters with Hannon having graduated from Houghton High School and Paavola from Hancock.

When Burcar started his second tenure with the Lions, players like Hannon and Paavola were the types of players he was looking for.

“First and foremost, I mean, all my years here at Finlandia … it’s always been important for us to have the local kids,” Burcar said. “I mean, there’s so many good kids coming out this area, talented kids that are raised by such good families. Connor and Dylan are just two great examples of what is raised in this area. One, they bring talent to the team, but (two,) their leadership. It was easy for the coaching staff this year to pick our captains. They stood out.”

Hannon, a senior, transferred to join the Lions in January 2017. Since then, all he’s led the Lions in scoring with three goals and nine points in 2017-18 and then finished second on the team in scoring last season with six goals and 15 points.

The former Gremlins star is the son of former Huskies scorer Brian Hannon. He also spent a lot of time around the Lions from a young age, so he was a natural fit when Burcar convinced him to come play.

“His dad, he’s still one of the all-time top scorers at Michigan Tech,” Burcar said. “(He) goes on to have an amazing career in a top division in Germany for 13 years. Brian and I have been friends and his wife and family since Connor was a little kid. Connor would come watch our practices I remember as a squirt and a peewee.”

For Hannon, the chance to be a part of the leadership group as a senior means a lot to him.

“It’s a it’s an honor to be a part of Finlandia men’s hockey,” Hannon said. “Being a leader is obviously such an honor. Both of us have kind of been leaders before and we knew that, coming in, we want to try to step into that role and take the program the direction that we think is the right way.”

In Paavola, the Lions have a former captain of the Bulldogs during their most recent state championship run. A steady defenseman with strong instincts in his own end, Paavola, who is the great nephew of former local hockey star Rod Paavola, had one goal and four points as a freshman. He developed into one of the Lions most consistent defenders last year.

“It’s honor in the way that the coaches put trust in me and Connor and Richie and Peavey, the other assistants,” Paavola said. “We’re going to try to do our best job not worry too much about the superficial aspects of the A and the C on the jersey, but more just being leaders and leading from the back.”

Burcar said Paavola does a tremendous job living up to the family name.

“Paavola has his great uncle’s on the 1960 Olympic team, the gold medal team,” Burcar said. “He was an assistant coach for Don Miller my senior year. So I got to see the gold medal and the Swiss watch and he was part of our team my senior year. It’s just funny how life becomes a full circle in some ways.”

Hannon has already taken his leadership role very seriously, setting up a volunteer effort for the team with Habitat for Humanity, a cause that Paavola believes highly in.

“He’s kind of the guy that’s doing the stuff behind the scenes,” Paavola said. “When we did Habitat for Humanity, Connor set all that up doing all the stuff behind the scenes. People don’t see (it), but it’s the stuff that Connor and I are doing.”

The pair are hoping they can help the Lions take the next step this season after making the playoff run last year.

“Last year, coming in, our whole main focus in mind was making that playoffs,” Hannon said. “We did that. Now it’s like, okay, we’re legitimate program. We played with any team in the country. I think we want to build on that and go bigger and better this year. I want to bring that that playoff championship trophy back home to Finlandia.”