It may be mid-August, but the Moose Jaw Generals already have a plan in place for next April.
The Generals are hosting the Telus Cup Midget AAA western regionals in the spring and had a highly competitive camp this weekend to get ready for one of the biggest seasons in franchise history.
Following the camp, the local Midget AAA club have trimmed their roster to 22 players. If none of those players move on to play junior this year, the Generals may trim further.
“With us hosting this year we wanted to do things a little quicker,” said Generals head coach Ray Wareham. “We still have a couple (of decisions) to go, but a lot of that will depend on who we get back from the Western League.”
Hosting regionals made recruiting a lot easier for the Generals. Bryden Serafini and Tyler Mueller played in the league with Battlefords and Regina respectively last season. Carter Hansen, Tyler King-Cunningham and Cory Millette are 1995-born players who were all taken in the top-35 picks of this past WHL Bantam Draft.
“With our situation this year we had more guys interested in coming here than normal,” said Wareham who noted that the final cuts are that much harder this season because of it.
Team Blue beat Team Grey in the annual intrasquad game. Dayton Picard led Blue with a goal and two assists, while Millette and Brayden Holloway had a goal and an assist each. Joel Gellvear and Ashton Sautner also scored, while Mitchell Taylor added two assists for Blue. Hansen and Kyle Oleniuk scored for Grey.
The Generals begin their pre-season on Sept. 11 against Notre Dame.
For more please see Monday’s Times-Herald.
