DIDSBURY - The Mountain View Colts are off to a strong start with four wins compared to a single loss.
That record puts them tied with Airdrie and Red Deer at the top of the Heritage Junior Hockey League's (HJHL) Northern Division with one game in hand.
Veteran forward Josh Gette is off to a strong start with nine goals and 11 points in the first five games. Gette was selected as the league's top player for the first week of the season.
The news isn't all great for the Colts. Veteran defenceman Corbin Houchin went down with an arm injury in the team's last game on Oct. 5 in Red Deer.
Head coach Gord Olson said he expects to know more about the extent of Houchin's injury and how long he could be out later in the week.
"He's had X-rays," said Olson. "He hasn't given me the final results. They had to wait for the swelling to go down to get a better, more accurate picture. It doesn't sound very good."
Olson said the team will miss the 21-year-old's leadership on the blue line.
"We'll miss him all around," he said. "It's one of those things. It's unfortunate but we carry a few extra players so hopefully the other kids will step up and we'll be just fine."
Nonetheless, Olson said he's pleased with how the team has done so far.
"After five games we're very pleased with the outcome," he said. "We played Sylvan Lake, Red Deer, Stettler, Coaldale, who we lost to. They're the South Division champs and they're pretty good. I'm pretty happy overall with how we started the season."
Olson said they've got some good contributions from their top line as well as throughout the line-up.
"Josh Gette won player of the week in the HJHL," he said. "His line is scoring quite a bit but we've had other contributions on offence. Our defence is fairly big and strong and our goaltending has been good too."
Olson said the team will be working on honing their defensive skills and special teams play.
"We'll just have basic hockey practice working on our defensive zone, attacking the other team's zone, our power play and penalty kill," he said. "Those are pretty crucial, so that's what we'll be working on."
The Colts were scheduled to play Ponoka on the road Oct. 12 (after press time). The Colts then travel to Airdrie to take on the Thunder on Oct. 18.
