MUSKEGON TWP. - Different players on the Reeths-Puffer hockey team have come up big at different times this year.
Guys like Tyler Tindall, Ayden Hartzell and Hayden Taylor have taken turns scoring goals in bunches, helping the Rockets to an impressive 12-4-1 record.
But junior Connor Anderson has been on fire all season, on both ends of the ice.
Anderson, a defenseman, does a great job in his natural preventative role, making if difficult for opponents to mount much of an attack.
As R-P head coach Dustin Langlois put it, "The kid doesn't get scored on!"
There's much more to Anderson's game that that, however. He's also become a powerful force in the R-P's offense, scoring 10 goals with 17 assists (which is second on the team) so far this season.
R-P's Connor Anderson
His big highlight was a three-goal hat trick against Hudsonville last week, but his name is on the scoresheet just about every game.
So what's the overall measurement of Anderson's effectiveness?
He has a team-leading plus-24 rating, which means the Rockets have scored 24 more goals than their opponents when Anderson is on the ice.
Other teams have a much better chance when he's resting on the bench.
So how does a second-year varsity player do so well, offensively and defensively?
Some of it obviously has to do with Anderson's speed and overall athletic abilities, according to Langlois.
The rest comes from his brain, the coach said.
"He's probably the most consistent player that I have coached in a long time," Langlois said. "He doesn't make many mistakes at all. He knows when to jump in (offensively) and when to back out. The fact that he's more offensive-minded this year, but is still a plus 24 - which is an unbelievable number - shows that he thinks through the game, and he sees things develop much faster than other players.
"He doesn't play with much emotion. He's even keel, never too up or too down . Everything is very calculated with him. He's just so methodical in everything he does.
"I have had a lot of smart players who didn't understand hockey as well as him, or weren't able to check their emotions before decision-making like him."
The fact that Anderson is a student of the game is really not surprising, considering his academic success.
He currently has a great 3.9 grade point average, and gets mostly A's in all of his classes. He said he favorite subject is physics, and his best is math.
Anderson says he takes the same approach to hockey as he does academics - he thinks his way through it, which makes everything a little easier.
"I usually always try to find out what I can learn and how I can get an edge on other teams," he said. "I like to think the game. A lot of guys just go out and go 100 percent and work hard, but I try to think about the best play to make in different situations. I always try to think about my options."
Anderson admits it was exciting last week when he scored his hat trick, which was his first in hockey since he was a little guy playing in youth leagues.
He says he enjoys being part of the offensive attack, but defense remains his first love.
"Two of my biggest strong suits have always been speed and my shot, so I have always generated some offense," he said. "But I've been a defenseman since I was seven-years-old. It's just that feeling of reading the whole play and stopping somebody. I have always liked that more. The speed helps on the back end, too. It's hard for other people to get breakaways, because I can keep up with them."
Langlois said Anderson is a quiet kid who doesn't waste a lot of words during practice or games. That may not sound like a typical description of a leader, but when the time came for the Rockets to pick co-captains this season, the players wanted Anderson to have a C on his jersey.
"We sent a survey to all of the players (before picking captains) and it was almost unanimous for Connor," the coach said. "When he talks, everyone listens. He has everyone's respect."
Anderson and the Rockets, winners of six in a row, will face a big challenge on Wednesday night when they face Grandville in an O-K Conference Fischer Division showdown at Trinity Health Arena. Grandville is in first place while R-P is in second.
The Rockets' recent hot streak came on the heels of a very uncharacteristic slump, when they posted a 1-3-1 record in five games.
Anderson said the team met after that game for a serious talk and a very tough practice, and it obviously made a difference, because R-P hasn't had a loss or a tie since then.
"We got off to a great start this season, and I think everyone got kind of cocky, and our practices were not the best," he said. "We thought we could just walk in and do whatever we wanted. 
"So we sat down with the coaches and they got us back on track, then we skated the whole practice, with no pucks. It wasn't supposed to be a punishment. It was more of a way to see who was dedicated.
"It was exhausting, but it had to be done. Our season wasn't headed in the right direction."
Anderson thinks the Rockets, who advanced all the way to the Division 1 state semifinals last year, are capable of making an even longer run this season, if they go about their business the right way.
"If we put in the work, I really believe we could have a state championship," he said. "It's just about sticking to our systems and having discipline."