Rome wasn’t built in a day is a popular adage for a reason.

The River Falls High School hockey team certainly knows that to be true, as the Wildcats are amid the second year of rebuilding a program that had been torn down to the studs. River Falls currently holds a 3-9 record, but for head coach Cam Wilken, it’s too early to measure success by wins and losses.

“As far as the season goes, if you are objective and don’t look at the win and loss column, we are playing better than last year, especially defensively,” Wilken said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of a team that plays as well defensively, but is as snake bitten as we’ve been this year. We just haven’t gotten any puck luck on the other end of the ice for the most part.”

As made famous by the Philadelphia 76ers, River Falls is trusting the process. Trusting that the systems and philosophies that coach Wilken has spent nearly two years installing are exactly what this Wildcats team needs.

Throughout the first year of the rebuild, the 2021-22 season, coach Wilken spent the year analyzing talent on the roster and developing a plan for how to improve moving forward into this 2022-23 campaign. He spoke about some of the better and more challenging parts of the first two years of the rebuild.

“It feels like this year has been harder for sure,” Wilken said. “Things like practice and off-ice expectations are much smoother because the boys know what to expect. It’s been changing to a new set of systems and team philosophy that has been tricky. The most difficult part about it is being patient and letting the winning come when it does.”

Although River Falls is still establishing its identity as a program, the Wildcats have emerged as a physical, defensive-minded team. Perhaps no player has been more impactful defensively than senior goaltender Jayden Serene, who currently holds a .930 save percentage, the second-best of any goaltender in the Big Rivers Conference.

Through the first month of the season, Serene had a save percentage north of .960. For reference, anything above .915 is typically considered elite. Serene has often kept the Wildcats in games that they otherwise wouldn’t have been competitive in. Wilken spoke about Serene’s play in goal.

“He’s unbelievable and having a remarkable year thus far,” Wilken said. “We really think he’s the best goalie in Wisconsin. Some of the things he does back there for us you can’t make up. We absolutely have a chance to win every night with him in net. On some of his most truly spectacular nights, you can leave the rink just shaking your head in disbelief. I hope people at the next level have him on their radar because he’s a special player.”

While River Falls has had success defensively, the offense has struggled through the first six weeks of the season. The Wildcats have only scored four goals in five Big Rivers Conference games thus far, which has led to an 0-5 record in such contests.

The players are operating in a fairly new system and have been on the wrong side of more than their fair share of unfortunate puck bounces. Coach Wilken spoke about how the offense has struggled this season.

“Our offense has been our Achilles heel thus far,” Wilken said. “We’re not built as a team that will go out there and put you in an 8-6 track meet. We try to play the best defensive game around and grind out a 2-1 or 3-2 game. But unfortunately, this year the puck just hasn’t found its way into the net yet. It hasn’t been from poor positioning or bad play. We’ve just been unlucky.”

It doesn’t help that River Falls is going through a rebuild in the Big Rivers Conference, which is unquestionably the best high school hockey league in Wisconsin. The BRC had two state champions last season, including Hudson’s 6-2 win over Edgewood in the D1 championship and Rice Lake’s 4-3 win over St. Mary’s Springs in the D2 title game. Hudson has won four state championships since 2017.

While Hudson and Rice Lake are perennial contenders on a state level, New Richmond appears to be the class of the conference this season. The Tigers are 11-2 overall and have a perfect 5-0 record in league play thus far. New Richmond has outscored opponents 32-2 in conference play this year.

The bottom line is that the BRC is the most talented conference in the state – bar none. Coach Wilken spoke about some of the benefits of competing in such a talented league.

“Our conference is undoubtedly the best hockey conference in our state,” Wilken said. “When friends, family, or people who don’t know a lot about hockey here ask me about who we play, I say it’s like the SEC of hockey in Wisconsin. Always at least two or three teams in the top six every year. It’s such an advantage for us at the D2 level. We get to see the best competition every night. Most of the teams that we compete against for a state tournament berth, don’t play that tough of a schedule.”

River Falls’ most recent game action was at home against West Salem on Saturday, Jan. 15. The Wildcats scored four goals in the second period en route to a 6-1 victory to improve to 3-9 overall. Wilken spoke about the win.

“We’ve gotten a glimmer of hope (offensively) in our most recent game against West Salem, where we scored six goals,” Wilken said. “Hopefully we’ve opened the floodgates a bit with that performance.”

River Falls was back in action on the road against the Hudson Raiders on Tuesday, Jan. 17. That contest was slated to begin at 7 p.m.