When Bantam B hockey coach Matt Franken was assessing the 2005-06 season in his mind last November, he now admits that he wasn’t setting his expectations too high.Franken, who had served as an assistant coach in the Bantam program for three years prior to taking the head coaching position this season, had reason to be reserved. He was taking over a team so short on numbers that it had to call up three potential PeeWee players in order to give the squad a 12-player roster.The situation was so grim that at one point Franken didn’t know if Luverne would field a Bantam squad this season.Based on the way the Luverne team has played, it’s a good thing the plug wasn’t pulled on the campaign before it even started.With a squad consisting of eight freshmen, one eighth-grader and three seventh-graders, the team surprised their coach by winning the District 4 regular season title with a 13-1 record.The team proved its performance in the regular season was no fluke when it won the District 4 Playoffs with three straight victories in Le Sueur three weeks ago.By winning the District 4 Playoffs, the team received an opportunity to make Luverne hockey history if it could win the Silver Region Tournament in Monticello over the weekend.When the Luverne team won three straight games to win the region crown, it became the hockey program’s first Bantam squad to qualify for the state classic that will be staged in Buffalo March 17-19.And after experiencing a successful 32-3 ride through the season, coach Franken has changed his tune when he sizes up his team."Going into the season, I didn’t expect a lot. We had to move up three kids from the Pee Wee level to have a team, and I didn’t know how we would do, because we had a wide range of ages on this team," the 1994 LHS graduate said."But, the way we’ve been playing the last month and a half, I think we have a good shot (at winning the state title). The big thing will be to win the first game, which puts you in a position to place first through fourth."Franken credits freshmen Phil Paquette, Zach Olson, Brent Dinger and Tim Connell for driving his team to succeed.Paquette, who leads the team in goals and assists, is an offensive spark plug. He scored seven goals and charted three assists at the region tournament.Olson and Dinger are defensemen with the ability to produce offensively. Olson had a big weekend in Monticello, scoring six goals and charting three assists.Connell, who played as a skater in prior seasons in the program, performed the ultimate sacrifice when he selflessly gave up his chance to score goals to play the goalie position for the first time."The goalie we had before quit, and Tim has stepped in as a first-year goalie and has done a great job for us. He (Connell) played as a catcher in baseball, and we thought playing as a goalie might be a good fit for him. As it has turned out, he actually looks like a goalie now," Franken said.Paquette, Olson, Dinger and Connell deserve a lot of credit for their success, but the contributions made by their teammates cannot be overlooked.Andrew Hemme, Connor Fitzer, Collin Rofshus, Justin Krueger, Nick Meyer, Matt Christensen, Derek Van Santen and Dakota Steensma have played important roles in making the Bantams a true team."These kids get along very well together and they work really hard. You can tell they trust each other, and that helps a lot," Franken said.Big hoops nightIf you have not taken in a Luverne boys’ basketball game this year, there’s no better opportunity than tonight.The top four seeds of South Section 3AA will play their semifinal-round games in the Cardinal Gym, with LHS taking on Redwood Valley at 6 p.m., and Windom challenging Martin County West in the second game.Take my advice and get there early. More than 900 fans attended Luverne’s game against JCC Saturday, and indications are the crowd could swell to 2,000 bodies for tonight’s double-header.Go Cards!