(Photo: MOB players listen to Head Coach Tom Keca on August, 27, 2015 at the Casman Centre during training camp. Bradley Karp / REPORTER)
After a shorter off-season than usual with the Western Canada Cup, MOB fans will get a first look at the 2015-16 squad tonight as the Oil Barons kick off their pre-season schedule against the Whitecourt Wolverines.
The club has 31 players left in camp without any cuts as five players are taking part in various Western Hockey League Camps; including Mark Drohan in Tri-Cities, Landon Welykoholowa with Victoria, Kole Gable is in Edmonton, Jayden Pannu is with the Giants and Jarred White with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“The guys that have left us for right now have prevented us from cutting guys,” said Tom Keca, Head Coach. “Do I expect some of those guys back? Secretly yes, but right now we’re planning like they won’t come back so if they do it’ll be like Christmas morning.”
The MOB only has 11 returning players in camp including the departed Gable and Welykholowa and just three 20-year-old players featuring new goaltender Ravi Dattani, a former Oil Baron in Connor McCallum, and Tyler Dea. It’ll be a young team that Keca along with assistants Dave Dupas and Mike Brodeur will mold to play a hardworking game.
“With our younger guys specifically we’ve got a [16-year-old] group here, three or four guys that have really stepped up a couple of real dynamic [17-year-olds], it’s important for us to pick players that can skate well, that are intelligent and can compete,” said Keca about the wave of young players in camp this year. “Some are ready to make the next step and some maybe are a year away.”
Keca expects a big portion of his team’s success this season to come from outworking the opposition, that includes a heavy off-ice training regimen which has already caught some of his players off-guard.
“We’ve hammered home dryland this year and Ravi [Dattani] said ‘I’m not used to working like this through the course of the season’. Dave Dupas […] has done an outstanding job in trying to get these guys ready.”
The Oil Barons will play five exhibition games ahead of the season opener on Sep. 11, including this weekend’s doubleheader against Whitecourt.
“We’re looking for guys that do something that shows us they wanna be here, it’s not enough to just take up a roster spot and wear a jersey,” said Keca. “If you’re a goal-scorer… score goals, if you’re a banger… bang, if you’re a defensive guy be a defensive guy but we’re looking for individuals that try and do their role to the best of their ability.”
Fort McMurray takes on the Whitecourt Wolverines at 6 p.m. both tonight Aug. 28, and tomorrow Aug. 29, at the Casman Centre. Tickets are available online or at the Oil Barons box office.
If you can’t make Saturday’s game we’ll be carrying it live on Rock 97.9 as MOB hockey returns to its original radio home this season.
