Neepawa Natives ready for rigours of regular season

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Published on Thursday, September 21, 2017

Will Blake of Winkler and Mackenzie Belinski of Neepawa  challenge for the puck in the 2nd period of an exhibition game on Friday, Sept. 15 at the Yellowhead Centre.

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The Neepawa Natives have been counting down the days until the start of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) regular season. The junior ‘A’ team has been quite busy over the past few weeks, with both training camp and a series of exhibition games.

The Natives closed out their six game pre-season with a record of 3-3-0. Head coach Dustin Howden noted that for the exhibition schedule, the coaching staff took a cautious approach in regard to the usage of their returning players, having them play in only a couple of games. He said that approach also allowed them to take a closer look at the large number of prospects that will be a big part of the team’s future. 

“We feel as though we have a very good core of rookies, so earning a chance with the team this year requires bringing something special to the program. When you dress an all rookie lineup, they can’t rely on veterans to pull the weight out there. They have to do it themselves, so that’s what we were looking for. We were looking to push our young guys to quickly become impact players and learn the game of junior hockey. And as well, ensure our veterans were heading into the regular season healthy,” stated Howden. “As for the results, it’s good to see these individuals making progress and turning into a solid collective unit. We’ve put some lines together; tried a few things in the pre-season. Most of the lines have at least two guys sticking together. The line of [Ashton] Anderson, [Justin] Metcalf and Nolan Richards, is not going to be altered. They have a solid chemistry.”

The club’s focus this past week has turned towards the first game of the regular season, a showdown with the Winkler Flyers at the Yellowhead Centre. Neepawa has already played Winkler in a pair of pre-season games, both losses. Howden said they’ll be searching for a bit of redemption out of this matchup, though also acknowledging that the Flyers will prove to be a tough opponent.

“The last two exhibition games against Winkler were disappointing, from the perspective of the final score, but we did see good things and things that our players could learn from and build off of,” Howden said. “As for the feeling within the dressing room, the veterans are just looking to get into the regular season. Those players had a solid end to last year, with the playoff push and the solid effort against Steinbach [in the playoff]. They really just want to rev it up here right now, prove that the end of last year was what this team can be moving ahead.”

The start time for the Natives game against Winkler on Friday, Sept. 22 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.