The preseason is over. Jason Alf was impressed with what he saw last weekend as the Dauphin Clippers played in the Glenboro tournament.
The team has been practicing for several weeks and come Saturday, it's time to play for real. Dauphin opens up the campaign in the Westman High School Hockey League on Saturday night when the Virden Golden Bears come to Credit Union Place at 8:30.
A definite strength of this year's team will be goaltending as they'll be led by Chase Glover. Chase has been with the Parkland Rangers program for the past four seasons, playing 27 games with the U-15 team before playing another 55 with the U-18 team. He won 18 games at the U-18 level and is expected to be one of the top goalies in the league.
Chase will be joined by Ben Miner and Ethan Myhre as the tremendous trio looks to push Dauphin in the right direction.
"We had a very good tandem last year which was led by Owen Chubka in his grade 12 year and you always wonder how you'll replace a guy like Owen," said Jason Alf. "To get a guy like Chase to come in during his grade 12 year is very exciting. We're also very pleased with how Ben and Ethan have looked, lots of excitement."
The rest of the team's roster looks like this.
Forwards: Will Busby, Ethan Zalischuk, Ronin Mouck, Jorden Braun, Layne Wolfenden, Julien Lopez, Noah Hanneson, Drayson Demeria, Jesse Hockridge, Kenai Mouck, Josh Beyette, Boston Karlson, Josh Yakielashek, and Ethan Carnegie.
Defence: Sully Fox, Cody Zurba, Samson Bourgouin, Riley Durston, Thomas Schmidt, Jaxon Bodnar, Norman Lacquette, and Lyric Smith.
"We're pretty confident with what we have seen from our guys," said Alf. "We believe that a combination of starting 20 guys will be quite successful this season."
The team's coaching staff includes Josh Yaschyshyn, Curtis Yaschyshyn, Drew Kulcheski, Rob Dreger, and Alf. Mitchell Rauliuk will serve as the team's trainer.
"Josh is extremely hungry after last year's top 4, he has been waiting to get back on the ice and has worked with Curtis for a while," said Alf. "Drew has some experience with us so a solid three there. Rob brings a ton of experience, he has been off and on since I started with the Clippers more than 20 years ago. Mitchell does more than just a trainer, he's an extra set of eyes and notices things that others don't."
Saturday's home opener is the first of two games this weekend as Dauphin heads to Neepawa for their first road game on Sunday. The team will host their 'Every Child Matters' game on November 1 to start a three-game homestand. Their last game before the break is the 'Christmas Classic' against Neepawa on December 20 at Credit Union Place and they return from the break on January 5 against Major Pratt. The team's regular-season finale is an all-Parkland matchup as Dauphin plays Swan Valley in town on February 23.
"We have a good veteran group that is coming back and is ready to go," ended Alf. "We have a few guys that played as grade nine affiliated players and didn't look out of place, they've come back strong. Based on our performance in Glenboro, we will be a fast, hard-hitting team."
Dauphin will play in the Victoria Inn tournament from November 28-1 and the Piper Classic in Winnipeg between January 9-12.
Keep it locked to 730CKDM all season long as we keep you up to date with everything Clippers hockey.
