The Toll Gate hockey team experienced some growing pains last year. The young squad took its lumps, finishing 2-15-0-1 in Division II.

But after encountering their fair share of struggles, the Titans are hoping to turn the corner this year.

Toll Gate’s schedule will be a little bit easier this time around, as four of D-II’s top teams a season ago – Cumberland, Lincoln, North Kingstown and Prout – have all moved up to Division I Eccleston for this year.

Another positive for the Titans is that they only graduated two seniors from last year’s team in Jesse Butler and starting goalie David Stachurski.

Stachurski is the biggest hole that Toll Gate will need to fill.

That’ll be difficult, however, as the Titans didn’t have a player with any goaltending experience try out for their team.

They’ll look to fill the void that Stachurski left by inserting freshman and first-year goaltender Brendan Aunchman in the net.

When head coach Mike Champagne was looking for someone to play in-between the pipes, Aunchman answered the call and offered to give it a try.

“He’s only been in pads for four days now,” Champagne said. “He’s getting better and better each time. If we play some good hockey in front of him, we should have some success.”

Offensively, the Titans will lean on their first line, which is comprised of some of their top returners from last year’s squad.

Senior forward Jack Sullivan will headline that group along with junior Sean Vittum.

Sullivan led the Titans with eight goals and 13 points last year, while Vittum was second on the team in scoring with four goals and eight assists for 12 points.

Sullivan is a big body that uses his size to his advantage, while Vittum is more of a skilled player and is very versatile, as he can put the puck in the net up front, but can also play defense when Champagne needs him to.

Rounding out the top line for Toll Gate is sophomore Kyle Palumbo, who gained some experience last year as a freshman.

“He’s one of the smartest players that I’ve coached for his age,” Champagne said.

The sophomore, junior and senior are all different players that do different things well, which is something that Champagne is excited about.

“It’s a good mix of players,” Champagne said of his top line. “They can each bring something unique and different to that line.”

Toll Gate’s defensive core will be led by senior Anthony Ottone, who has logged a lot of minutes on the blue line over the past three seasons.

“He’s a great skater with great vision,” Champagne said. “He’s not a big player, but he’s smart and uses his body well.”

Other main contributors will be sophomore defenseman Connor Cabral, senior forward Stephen Octeau and junior defensemen Nolan O’Brien and Jake Stachurski, if he’s healthy. He sustained a shoulder injury during the football season this fall, but the severity of the injury is still to be determined.

“We have a lot of returners which is helpful,” Champagne said. “A lot of the guys coming back have grown, but we still have a lack of experience in some areas.”

Other players on the roster are Anthony Calise, Maximillian Fields, Chris Williams, David Beaumier, Sean Eagan, Jakob Francois, William Fox, Connor Sullivan, Cameron Allpach, Bradley Meunier, Andrew Martin, Troy Pearson and Daniel Mowry.

The Titans will begin their season on Friday, when they face-off against intra-city rival Pilgrim.

The Patriots are in a similar boat as the Titans, as they are hoping for some more success this season after going just 2-14-1-1 last year, finishing just one point ahead of Toll Gate.

It’ll be a great opportunity for one of the Warwick schools to start the season out with a win.

Champagne acknowledged that starting the season against Pilgrim on the first night is exciting for both teams, as there will be many familiar faces on both benches.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Champagne said. “Guys see that on the schedule and they get up for that because a lot of guys know each other through Warwick Junior Hockey.”

The puck will drop at 6 p.m. at Thayer Arena.

“It’s nice to have some excitement from day one,” Champagne said.