Phil Croasdale calls his Manchester West boys hockey squad a team of the future. The trick is making sure it’s still one of the present.

With four freshmen and 12 sophomores – several of whom are seeing regular time – the Blue Knights are certainly built to succeed for years to come.

Second-year forwards Jonathan St. Charles, John Mulvey, Ryan McDonough and Devin Greaney all help make up Croasdale’s first two lines, while goalies Kyle Dauphine and Michael West both wait in the wings as senior Derrek Shorrock carries the load in net.

Yet, as much as West is focused on building, that doesn’t mean it intends on missing the Division I playoffs, either. Coming off a 5-4 overtime loss on Saturday, Jan. 6, at Hanover – where they outshot the defending state champs, 37-35, and hit the post twice in the extra session – the Blue Knights enter a stretch in which they intend to improve upon their 1-5 record and climb back into postseason contention.

Starting with a showdown on Wednesday, Jan. 10, against a Nashua South squad with a 2-4 record, West’s road through January includes a stop on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Trinity, a one-win team entering Wednesday; a Jan. 20 home date with Manchester Central, a two-win team as of Jan. 10; and a Jan. 24 game at Exeter, which collected just two wins through last weekend.

Though the schedule gets much tougher thereafter, starting with a game at rival Manchester Memorial on Jan. 27, the Blue Knights intend to build enough momentum the next few weeks to erase their slow start. That solid effort at Hanover was a start.

“I think the kids are pretty resilient,” said Croasdale, who led West to a 7-10-1 mark last season before narrowly falling to Berlin, 4-3, in the first round of the state tournament. “We could have scored three or four more goals against Hanover, and the kids know it. We just have to find some goal scorers.”

Luckily, West may already have. After senior forward Ian Law went down with a broken hand – an injury that ended the season of the team’s only veteran playmaker – the load has shifted to junior captain Zachery Ouellet, who has since responded with a goal in a loss at Pinkerton Academy on Jan. 3 and three more at Hanover.

On the other end of the ice, senior defenseman and captain Jimmy Ahern “is probably one of the better defenseman in the league,” Croasdale said, while Shorrock has proven to be steady, if not spectacular, in net. He battled the flu and a relentless Pinkerton attack before turning away 30 Hanover offerings on Saturday.

If it all comes together, West could reach its goal of five to six wins, which would almost certainly mean a playoff berth.

“The way the league is set up this year, it’s Bishop Guertin and everyone else,” Croasdale said, referring to the only undefeated team in Division I entering Wednesday. “So it’s (about) getting into the playoffs and anything can happen. Berlin proved that last year. They were the eighth seed and went to the final. So get to the playoffs, that’s all we’re looking to do.”

Now that would be a bright future.