- February 11, 2026
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Their jerseys with red, gold and black stripes now hang in closets or remain tucked away in drawers.
Those uniforms are no longer needed by the Lakewood Ranch High boys ice hockey players, who went through a rebrand ahead of the 2025-26 season, which included embracing the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs' colors and leaving behind their past as the Manatee Admirals.
Lakewood Ranch Coach Peter Sibner said his players are proud of where they live, along with the reputation they built in the past as the Admirals on their way to two Lightning Cup titles.
Now as the Mustangs, Lakewood Ranch has shown it has established its own reputation, that of a champion.
Lakewood Ranch (20-1-0) trounced Newsome (18-3-0) in the Lightning High School Hockey League championship, 6-1, at Benchmark International Arena Feb. 6. It was the third time in program history, the group lifted the Lightning Cup.
The triumphs of 2018 and 2015, though, came under the former identity. This time, it's all green, white and black.
“We play hard for each other,” said Sibner, who completed his first year as coach after two as an assistant with the program. “There’s a lot of sacrificial mentality throughout the locker room, and we’ve got some guys who can definitely put the puck in the net.”
Lakewood Ranch entered the playoffs as the West Conference’s No. 1 seed after losing just one game during its 18-game regular season. To earn the right to play on NHL ice, the squad crushed Seminole, 9-0, in the Feb. 2 quarterfinals and then edged Steinbrenner, 6-5, in the Feb. 4 semifinals.
Steinbrenner historically has been a bother. The Mustangs fell to the Warriors in the semifinals in the last three seasons — always ending just short of a championship berth.
The fourth time was the charm.
Newsome thus became the final obstacle. For much of the first period Feb. 6, the East Conference champions struggled to create quality shots or earn extended time in their offensive zone. A tripping penalty with six and a half minutes left in the opening period, though, put Newsome on the power play.
In response, Lakewood Ranch didn’t get conservative and took a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal scored by Sergey Mirolyants Jr.
Another Lakewood Ranch defenseman — Jackson Ellis — found the net with a shot from the blue line when the Mustangs had their own power play advantage in the second period. Raising his hands to the sky, the junior was mobbed by his teammates as they took a 2-0 lead into the final period.
“We do very well separating from each other,” Ellis said. “We stretch the zones very well, our forwards come back, and we all flow. We create two-on-ones and odd-man rushes all the time. We’re able to pick apart teams that way.”
However, a low-scoring affair would devolve into something far more frantic. During a span of 43 seconds midway through the third period, the horn sounded three times.
Junior defenseman Milton Sibner seemed to deal the dagger with a power-play goal, for a 3-0 Lakewood Ranch lead, but in a flash, Newsome caught the Mustangs in a two-on-one situation close to the net. The Wolves were on the board at last, down 3-1, with over nine minutes remaining.
“We had been running some of our top guys pretty hard,” Sibner said. “I thought they were going to mount a serious challenge, but all along this year, we’ve always had an answer.”
Mustang Liam Johnston beat the goaltender on the team’s next trip down the ice for a 4-1 lead that put the game on ice. The Mustangs stayed on the gas with goals from Chase Koski and Carter Bagshaw for the eventual 6-1 final.
The pair of forwards wrapped up their respective junior seasons as the Mustangs’ points leaders. Koski had a team-high 22 goals to complement 15 assists, while Bagshaw pitched in 17 goals and 18 assists.
Defense proved just as key as the high-powered offense as Lakewood Ranch junior goaltender James DeVriendt stopped 20 of 21 shots. He finished the season with a 2.23 goals against average and .873 save percentage.
“I knew the boys in front of me were going to pull through, so I was pretty confident,” DeVriendt said of his defenders. “That allowed me to soothe the nerves. I was dialed.”
The Mustangs averaged 6.19 goals per game in 2025-26 while allowing 2.33. In the LHSHL championship, six different players scored, while assists came from five different sources.
It’s how Lakewood Ranch blazed through the league en route to a nearly perfect season.
“We’re like an '80s rock band — full of energy,” Sibner said. “Youth gone wild, if you will.”
Sticks banged on boards as the clock inched closer to the final horn.
Mobbing DeVriendt, the Mustangs bathed in their moment. One by one, they held the Lightning Cup during the postgame ceremony, hoisting it proudly.
“Even though we’re not a new franchise, we’re creating a new name for this team,” DeVriendt said. “We just want to go out and show that we’re a powerhouse.”
