Spirits were high as the Fort St. John Huskies wrapped up training camp on Sept. 3, but head coach Todd Alexander is keeping himself cautiously optimistic.
“I’m sure if you went around the league at this time and asked how they’re doing everybody would say their team is good, but it’s been a pretty good camp,” Alexander said.
Alexander has reasons to be positive, including the return of 16 players. The strength of the team looks to be defence, with five returning players from last year’s group.
“That will be a good battle to watch,” Alexander said.
He also said the team will be strong in goal, with five goalies attending camp and the team having some tough decisions to make at the position.
No position is guaranteed, however, even for returning players. Alexander said he will take the guy that is most deserving of the spot.
“That’s how we always look at it, but it is nice to definitely have a good base coming into camp like we did this year.”
As for camp itself, the players improved each time they hit the ice. It takes some time for the players to get used to playing hockey at this level again, as the few ice times they may have in the summer aren’t at this quality and aren’t nearly as physical.
“There’s a few things that are still a little bit sloppy, but definitely overall the boys improved every night,” Alexander said.
The camp featured three ice times, with two highly competitive inter-squad games. The hitting was hard and the speed was evident as plenty of fans took in each game, happy to get a glimpse of their team. Each team had three lines of forwards and six defencemen, making for a large group attending camp. However, many of those players came up from midget ranks and will go back and play for their respective teams for the majority of the year.
The Huskies are also waiting on a couple of players, mostly forwards, that are away attending Junior A camps.
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