The Steinbach Pistons main camp gets underway this Saturday September 3 till Thursday September 15 as players will be fighting for spots on the Pistons regular season roster.
Players will be coming from all over Canada and a few from the US to compete and prove their worth to make the final roster. Camp consists of both scrimmages and practices and four exhibition games against other teams in the MJHL. The Pistons first exhibition game is on September 5th against the newly added team the Niverville Nighthawks in Niverville. The Pistons then have two games against the Winkler Flyers on September 7 and 9, the 7th being a home game and the 9th being an away game. The Pistons will round out their exhibition games with another game against the Nighthawks in Steinbach on September 10. The Exhibition games are used to give all the players some ice time and to give them a taste of MJHL hockey and to see where their skill level is at.
“I am excited to be opening camp on Saturday and getting to see everyone in a competitive environment again” Head Coach and GM Paul Dyck commented on his thoughts going into camp. “There is always a tremendous amount of energy the first few days of camp with everyone working towards making an impression.”
Commenting on who will be attending camp this year; new and old, Dyck stated, “we have 13 players from last year’s team in camp which means we will have roughly 25 new faces here this weekend varying in age from 16-20.”
With players slowly coming in over the past week Paul has liked what he has seen with them on the ice, “it’s been beneficial to see the guys back this week on the ice as it’s given us a glimpse of what the group might look like to start the pre-season. We have been encouraged with what we have seen and anticipate another level once we hit the ice on Saturday.”
Following main camp, the Pistons start the regular season with a home and home against the Niverville Nighthawks with the home opener at 7:30PM on Friday, September 16.