The Olds Grizzlys are looking to improve upon their Alberta Junior Hockey League semi-final appearance last season, when they were ousted by the eventual league champion Brooks Bandits.
Brett Hopfe, the Grizzlys head coach, said he is satisfied with the roster going in to the season, and there will be subtle changes to the roster going forward to get the best team on the ice.
“I’m happy with the guys that we brought in. There still will be some tweaking, I think, as we go on here, but at this point right now I’m very happy with the players we have on our roster,” he said.
Hopfe said everyone on the team will be playing to keep their spot until league-imposed first roster cuts are made on Dec. 1.
“The first three or four months of the season are going to be pretty important for these players to show us they’re going to be capable of playing at this level and playing our type of hockey,” Hopfe said, noting the Grizzlys will be a hard-working team difficult to play against.
The Grizzlys have added more skill this year to complement the hard-working squad it hopes to be. On defence, a key addition in August was the acquisition of Matt Hanger, a 6-foot-one-inch defenceman from the Calgary Canucks. Hanger will now be closer to his hometown of Three Hills.
In nets, Hopfe is confident in the tandem who will start out the year, with Brandon Thiessen coming back for his third and final year with the Grizzlys, while newcomer Ethan Jemieff will also see some action this season. Jemieff comes to the Grizzlys after having played the past two seasons with the Mountainview Colts, a Didsbury-based Junior B affiliate in the Heritage Junior Hockey League.
Hopfe said the Grizzlys will be focusing on the small details of the game to propel them forward.
“We have high expectations and that’s the way you have to be going into a year,” he said.
