Given how successful the team’s spring camp was in April, Battlefords Sharks head coach Gary Berggren is eager to see what will happen at the Civic Centre next weekend during their training camp.
“We had a ton of young players come out to our spring camp and I expect the talent level to be the same,” Berggren said. “It’s been really good every year that I’ve been here and the talent level has been going up since I came onboard three years ago.
“We still have a few spots on the roster that we will need to fill and I think it’s going to be really exciting to see how those battles go.”
The numbers of players at the camp, which will take place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is still being determined as registration is ongoing.
“If it’s anything like the spring camp, we had players signing up right until the last couple of days and we ended up having a record turnout with 66 players,” Berggren said.
The camp will conclude with an inter-squad game Sunday, which is tentatively scheduled to get underway at 2 p.m.
The Sharks are coming off a 7-19-2 campaign and a quarter-final loss to the Prince Albert Northern Bears, who went on to win the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championship.
Although only two players left the team to graduation in forwards Jordan Kulbida and Dakota Peterson, Berggren expects the competition to be fierce in the battle to make it on this year’s roster.
“The number one thing we are looking for is good work ethic,” Berggren said. “We want everyone on the team to have that.
“Obviously you need a certain level of skill to play in this league, but being able to keep up with the speed of the game is important. Obviously you can’t change the game all of the time, but being fast enough to matchup with the other teams is important.”
Once the training camp is complete, the Sharks will hold a number of practices before travelling to a pre-season tournament in Calgary from Sept. 15 to 17.
Their regular season slate will begin on the road against the Melville Prairie Fire on Saturday, Sept. 30, with their first game at the Battleford Arena taking place on Saturday, Oct. 14 against the Saskatoon Stars.
The Sharks also have a neutral site game on their schedule this year, as they will travel to Wilkie to host the Notre Dame Hounds on Saturday, Nov. 11 at the SaskCan Community Centre.
“We had tried to have a game in Radisson last year but the ice didn’t cooperate with us, so we were eager to try and do it again this season,” Berggren said.
“It’s really cool to go to a community like Wilkie and have a game there to show them what the league and Sharks hockey is all about.”
