It's not all that long now until the Olds Grizzlys open camp for the 2019-20 Alberta Junior A hockey league season.
Camp runs Aug. 23-25.
"I think we're going to run a smaller camp this year than has been run in the past," head coach-GM Joe Murphy says. "So coming out of our top 40 game, you know, we'll probably carry — ballpark — 30 players within that first weekend.
"But then we'll be cutting down pretty quickly and pretty aggressively, getting down to 25 right away, so that we're able to get some games in for our returning guys."
They open up on the road. Their home opener doesn't occur until Saturday, Sept. 21.
Murphy agrees the 2018-19 season was a tough one for the Grizzlys, but he puts that down to a rebuilding process after the team went through an ownership change in 2017, then went through another change of players and personnel.
"Last year was year 1 of trying to correct things. So where we maybe lacked junior skill last year and certainly junior experience, I think out of that fire and chaos, I really do think we have a 10-player foundation here — so half our team — that are very good junior hockey players," Murphy says.
"And so, even if you look to last year, we had seven returnees coming. We're already better off, I think, in terms of our experience. I think we're better off in terms of young players last year learning how to play faster; a junior brand of hockey.
"And with all due respect to our recruits last year, I feel this crop is just deeper. They have — I guess they're more well rounded in general terms than perhaps some of the ones we had last year. And that's just the reality of junior hockey. Some players don't translate or some do translate.
"Last year, from an organizational standpoint, we had a couple of gentlemen doing the lion's (share) of scouting for us and we just didn't have enough tentacles to kind of explore a wider range of player," he adds.
"This year, the organization has done a good job of having more eyes out there, so I think the players we've brought in have had more looks. There's more a body of work to draw on and see what their floor is and anticipate a ceiling, so you know, I think a better general quality of athlete and then just more experience."
Murphy says he's grown as a coach too.
"I've lived a lifetime in this sport. There's so many things that you put away and quite often you forget about them until you really have time to reflect," he says.
"I think our approach last year was very responsible to start; I thought we did a good job preparing the guys. But when some chaos hit the club in November, I think maybe we just became pretty reactionary as a group and became a little bit too conservative and if I could go back in time, I would change that.
"However, I wouldn't change the lessons that I learned. It was a good opportunity to kind of just re-centre back and really honestly to have the confidence. Like, I've played lots of hockey and it all applies, so I'm just more comfortable in that role."
