Warriors set sights on strong season with mix of youth, veterans

The Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors underwent their final preparations for the opening week of the regular season at the William Allman Memorial Arena. Like in training camp and preseason, there is great buzz surrounding the team with a blend of young and veteran players.

Head coach Dave Williams says the team has had excellent practices, and the game plan for the opener against the London Nationals is to provide simplicity and discipline established during the long-standing training camp.

"We just keep working on the things we've been working on here for the last three or four weeks,” Williams said. “We've had a long camp. So the benefit of that is it gives you a little longer runway to try and implement some of the systems and ideas that you want to play,"

"I think we've been practicing really well,” Williams continued. “I thought tonight was a really good skate. I think it's just to try and keep doing what we're doing, maybe just try and be a little cautious about getting too fancy, and just try and play a really simple game. It's a big ice surface, so it was minimizing puck turnovers and things like that."

Williams says the team is part of a conference that has no clear favourite and understands that any season prediction is bound to be inaccurate when made before puck drop on opening night.

"I think as you go through the first time through the league, you get a chance to see what everybody else looks like,” he said. “Everybody wants to guess how everybody's finished before the season even begins. There are a lot of good teams in our league. If we learned anything last year going from three divisions to two, it's that there's lots of parity.”

Jack McGurn, entering his second season with the Warriors, says the expectation is to aim for the top prize in the GOJHL.

"I think the expectation is to have a deep playoff run, and maybe going to the Sutherland Cup final, and beat some top teams that we battled with last year," he said.

Entering his second full season with the Warriors, Colin Slattery echoes his fellow teammate's championship ambitions.

"I think nothing short of a championship would be considered a failure at this point," said Slattery. "We had a deep run last year, one win away from moving to the finals, and it came up short. So we're looking to build on that one and win it all this year."

Recently named to the leadership group for this season, Joe Curtain says he is focusing on improving his skill set and wants fans to know the team will be competitive.

"My expectations are to get up on the scoreboard a lot more than last year, very solid defensively,” Curtain said. “This year, I'm going to try to step it up inside of the game as well as keeping a strong defence."

"Be excited. We're a young team. We have a lot of our returners and young guys are picking up quick, so we're going to be a very tough team," continued Curtain.

As of press time, the team has nine rookies on its main roster. Williams says he is glad the young talent played a game to get accustomed to their home soil as the home opener on Sept. 19 comes closer.

"There's a little bit of nerves for our first-year guys,” Williams said. “I think it was good that we played St. Andrews here a week or so ago for the guys to get a chance to play here."

"I think it's an exciting time, right? That's how they have to look at it,” he continued. “It's really exciting to get to play that home game. And there's no better spot to play your first home game this season than at the Allman Arena."