At the beginning of the season, Central Catholic hockey coach Kevin Zielmanski had a problem.

The Vikings had lost 12 players from their 2003-04 Penguin Cup semifinal squad. Gone were forwards Connor Hickton and Ed Martin for Georgetown and Ohio, respectively. Defensemen Andrew Wroblewski and Billy Conley now play for Bucknell and Pitt, and even high-scoring Matt Urso left a year early to play hockey for Gilmour Academy, near Cleveland.

To make matters worse, the Vikings had to open the season against always-tough Plum on Nov. 4. The Mustangs took advantage of Central's inexperience to the tune of a 4-1 victory.

"That loss might be the worst loss we've ever had here," said Zielmanski, who has experienced only 32 losses in his eight seasons as coach. "There was one instance where a Plum player fought off three of our players to put a shot on goal."

So Zielmanski did what most coaches in his situation do. He started making lineup changes.

His problem was not so much that he had 14 varsity rookies. He believed the talent was there, but the size was not.

"In amateurs, you play against people your age. Here in high school when we play freshmen, we're asking them to play against seniors and fight through the checks," he said.

"They have to adjust to the physicality and the speed of the game."

But Zielmanski does have a senior all-star defenseman by the name of Matt Grabowski, who is known for his intensity as well as scoring touch. Why not, then, pair him with promising freshman John Houston?

"John can cover Matt when he has to step up into the play," Zielmanski explained.

And why not put three quick freshmen -- C.J. Stellabotte, C.J. Burke and Doug Dietrich -- together on one line to create a flow that should last the Vikings for a few seasons?

The results have been positive. First, the Vikings were able to shore up their defense enough to engage in a rare scoreless tie against Meadville in their next game four days after the Plum loss. A key figure was goalkeeper Brian Adamczak, a senior who started the majority of the first half of last season before sustaining an injury.

While the tie came against the very team that knocked them out of last year's PIHL playoffs, it was a disappointment after the Vikings outshot the Bulldogs, 25-13. So a fired up Central team dominated Erie Cathedral Prep on Veterans Day, 3-0, outshooting the Ramblers, 34-7.

Burke then became the hero on Nov. 16 by scoring in overtime against Seneca Valley in a 4-3 triumph to give the Vikings a 2-1-1 record heading into their tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving at Harmarville.

At this point, Zielmanski tweaked his forwards again, putting juniors Ryan Gebler, Joe Kerr and freshman Andy Hanno together on one line and sophomores Jacob Roberts, Chris Urso and junior John Buczkowski together on the other.

Following a tournament-opening tie against Thomas Jefferson, in the second game Dietrich netted a power-play goal against semifinalist Bethel Park to tie their contest with 9:17 remaining and Buczkowski added the game-winner from Urso and Grabowski 1:22 into overtime.

"To our young guys it could be a big boost of confidence," Zielmanski said.

But, showing growing pains, Central then followed up that performance by falling behind DeMatha Catholic, a defending Maryland state champion, 5-0, before rallying with the last three goals of the game.

The Vikings then topped a struggling Class AA Pine-Richland, 4-1, in Sunday's consolation game.

After traveling to Cleveland this past weekend to participate in the Junior Jacks tournament, the Vikings will face perhaps their toughest stretch of the PIHL schedule in the first week of December. They will play Upper St. Clair tomorrow, Mt. Lebanon next Monday and Bethel Park on Dec. 9, all Penguin Cup contenders.

"We have a brutal schedule coming up," Zielmanski said. "But with the goalies we have and defense, we shouldn't give up too many.

"Our system is kind of boring, but until the guys mature, that's what we're doing."