Emery will deal with what he has and likes what he sees.

"Our freshmen last year showed major improvement as the season went on and we expect them to continue to improve," he said.

"Those include forwards Joey Wilson (12-4-16), Andrew Willock (2-13-15) and Phil Farrow (4-8-12), along with defensemen Ward Smith (1-11-12) and Tom Breslin (1-13-14).

"But, the key for us is how well our juniors play. We need juniors like Shawn Dennis (8-12-20) and Mike Thomson (9-12-21) to produce right from the get-go."

Other forwards returning include seniors C.J. Tozzo (2-8-10), T.J. Cooper (7-2-9) and Mike Baccaro (0-2-2), and sophomore Jason Gorrie (1-1-2). Tozzo, Cooper and Baccaro represent the lone seniors on the team.

Smith, Breslin, junior Nick Rolls (3-20-23), sophomore Eric Greene (2-2-4) and junior Ryan Burke (0-1-1) give the Cardinals experience on the backline.

"I expect us to be strong on defense," Emery said. "The key for us is will we be able to get points up front."

Plattsburgh State returns junior Chris Molinaro and sophomore Dennis Harrsch in goal. Freshman newcomers Simon LeBlanc (6-1, 162) and Bryan Hince (6-0, 178) will also be in the mix.

"We'll have good competition in goal," Emery said. "I'm beginning to think that goaltending is 80 percent of the game. If the team feels confident in its goalie, the players don't grip the sticks as tight and play with more and more confidence."

The Cardinals have added 10 newcomers in all, including forwards Marc Pilon, Mike Schiavi, Eric Satim, Dan Sliasis, Kyle VanDermale and Dylan Clarke.

"We have some very talented freshmen forwards who put up big numbers on their previous teams," Emery said.

"But, we need to play good team defense early on."

Emery is expecting freshmen defensemen Ryan Corry and Devin Bancroft to be key additions.

"We have some experience on defense and (Nick) Rolls came on for us last year," he said.

"We didn't have that offensive-minded defenseman, however, and Corry gives us that. And, Bancroft is a lot like (Rick) Janco."