While the Mansfield High School hockey team is solidifying its defense and goaltending, the Hornets will be relying on their potent offensive attack to carry the team as it hopes to be a contender in the Hockomock League Large School Division and earn yet another berth in the MIAA Division 1 South Sectional Tournament.

The Hornets lost seven seniors, including five key performers, off a team that completed the 2009-10 campaign with an impressive 14-6-3 overall record.

Mansfield has to replace right wing Don Washburn (captain), center Jason McKenna, defensemen Greg O'Brien (captain) and David Roche as well as star goaltender Ryan Murphy. O'Brien and Washburn were All-Hockomock League selections a year ago.

Rick Anastos, who was an assistant coach with the Hornets the past three seasons, takes over as head coach this winter. Anastos' first year at the helm will be helped by the fact that Mansfield has 12 seniors on the team this winter.

And even with the loss of those two forwards from a year ago, the Hornets return almost all of their first three lines intact. Senior Andrew Anastos will center one line with junior forwards Mike Blackman and Steve Folan.

Senior captain Greg McCarthy will lead another line from his right wing position and is joined by senior left wing Tom Hurley and sophomore center Brendan Murphy.

Another forward line for Mansfield will feature seniors M.J. Connor and Colin Yanovitch at forward and sophomore Dylan Burns at center. Senior forward Kevin Davis is also part of this line, but is currently battling an injury and is out of the lineup.

"We have three solid lines this year," said Anastos. "We will basically have the same mix on offense as we did last year and we stress an upbeat tempo on offense."

Senior A.J. Callahan will also see time at forward this winter as will junior Thomas MacKenzie and sophomores Mike Rogazzo and Shane Walsh.

The defensive unit for the Hornets will consist mainly of seniors and juniors, including seniors Connor McGowan, Mike Connolly, Bob Joyce, Matt Colletti and Paige Harrington, along with juniors Jason Collins, Bryan Hurley and Dan Oser.

There are several players who are looking to take over in net this winter, including senior Matt Genova, junior Christian Debeauport and sophomore Richard Shipman.

"We have a team full of veterans," said Anastos. "Our strengths this year will be team speed and aggressiveness. We will be very aggressive this year."

"Our three forward lines are almost the same as last year, but we lost our senior goalie and two senior defensemen. I think we will still be pretty good defensively, but we are still working on our defense and goaltending. Those are our main areas of focus."

A year ago, the Hornets entered the Division 1 South Sectional as the sixth seed. They had to face league rival Canton in the quarterfinals and played very well before dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime to the third-seeded Bulldogs at Gallo Arena in Bourne.

Canton (19-3-2) would actually go on to the win the State Division 2 championship with a 4-2 victory over North Champion Newburyport at the TD Garden in Boston.

Mansfield also finished in fourth place in the ultra-competitive Hockomock League a year ago. Franklin won the title with a 13-0-1 record, while Canton was second at 11-2-1. The Hornets were fourth with a 7-5-2 mark with King Philip fifth at 7-7.

This year, the league is split up into two divisions. Mansfield is part of the Large School Division with Franklin, King Philip, North Attleboro and new league member Attleboro.

With Sharon not having a team, the Small School Division is made up of Canton, Oliver Ames, Stoughton and Foxboro. With the Bulldogs in the Small Division, the Hornets will have to deal with Franklin and King Philip if they hope to win the division title.

"We feel we have a good chance to win the division," said Anastos. "I see us being very competitive. The big thing for us this year is that we have to play all three periods. We want to be very aggressive on offense and with our fore-checking. We will score a lot of goals this year, but we have to be defensive minded and play team defense."

Mansfield's season got off to a terrific start on Saturday as the team defeated non-league opponent Cohasset, 10-1, in Weymouth. The Hornets out-shot the Skippers 32-11. Anastos and Tom Hurley each collected two goals and an assist. Folan had one goal and three assists. Shipman played well in net, registering 10 saves and picking up an assist.

Mansfield will head to the Cape to battle Dennis-Yarmouth in a non-league game on Wednesday at 7 at the Gallo Arena. The Hornets will then open their league slate with a game against North Attleboro on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the Foxboro Sports Center.