The Dauphin Clippers hockey team will spend their weekend in Brandon beginning tomorrow. The team will play in the Vic Inn tournament which is played at Westoba Place, Enns Arena, and Kinsmen Arena.
Dauphin will go into the tournament with all sorts of confidence. After dropping their first two games of the season, the Clipper ship has rallied off eight straight wins. That record has them atop the North division, something they've become quite familiar with. Last year, they won the North division pennant.
"We've definitely been playing some really good hockey lately," said Trevor Robak. "We played in Killarney and Hamiota and stole two points from those teams in their barns which was great for us. The kids have really stepped up."
A big reason for the team's success this season has been obviously Riley Hammond and Logan Storey who own the top two spots in league scoring. But, the return of Wade Kopytko has really lifted the team. He missed the first two games of the season and has played the last eight. In that span, Wade has 19 points.
"That was really big to get him back, he's a really big part of this team and he leads the backend," added Robak. "He turns pucks over in the neutral zone and he's really smooth with bringing the puck out of our defensive zone. We just seem to play with so much more confidence when we have a full roster."
The Clippers will begin their mini-two game round robin tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. They play Westwood in their first game. At 8:15, the Clippers battle with Prairie Mountain. Obviously, Dauphin really doesn't know much about these two teams going in.
"I don't think we're really preparing for them, we're just trying to play the best game we can," said Robak. "We need to keep working on the little things and just work as a team. If we do that, we'll have success."
"We don't really have big expectations for this weekend because we don't know what the other teams look like, we just want to play our game," he added. "Our main goal is to get better this weekend. So when we come back to league play, we'll be ready to fire on all cylinders."
Stay tuned all weekend long for updates on how the Clippers do.
Dauphin next plays at Credit Union Place on December 11. They welcome Major Pratt to town.
