NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs head coach Randy Wong addresses the first group of skaters at the Jr. B club's spring camp starting Friday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There’s no rest for the wicked or the Medicine Hat Cubs.
The Jr. B club welcomed 60 players to athree-day spring camp which got underway Friday night at Big Marble Go Centre with a practice and scrimmage.
Cubs head coach and general manager Randy Wong said he hasn’t stopped thinking about hockey since the Cubs season came to a close in March after losing their HJHL conference finals series 4-1 to the Okotoks Bisons.
“It’s one of those things, once a year is over you look at next year fairly quickly,” Wong said. “You prepare by looking for the new players and you start your thinking and your thought process in what next year entails, what do you need to do to make next year a better year.”
Wong said the camp features a crop of 2004-born players which could challenge for a spot on the Cubs next season and also features 2006 and 2007-born players who are there to experience a junior camp and absorb what it takes to be part of the team.
Heading into the 2022-23 season, the Cubs have seven overage players and will have to bring that number down to four. Wong said there will be changes made to the roster in those over-agers cut and potentially other moves to push the team toward the ultimate prize.
“I said at the end of last year, we didn’t win, so we have to make changes. We could return everybody except for those three over-agers, but I expect some young guys to push for spots and that’s what you need to do to be a successful junior team,” Wong said. “We’re no different, we want to want to be a championship team and to do that, you have to compete for your spot and earn it.”
Wong said this weekend is an exciting one for him because of the interest the Cubs received while scouting. He credits the work done on and off the ice for instilling the Cubs’ brand in potential players heads.
“We’re not a third, fourth-wave option anymore, we’re now fitting into that one, two spot. That’s what’s been exciting about it, is that the program is alive,” Wong said. “There’s some good players here and I think they’re excited about being here. We have over 60 guys in camp and three quarters of that group can actually play here like they can. They’re competing for spots.”
Wong said he had no problem recruiting returning players to come help referee and coach the camp and joked he’s going to see how Jacob Milne and Colby Friedrich do behind the bench.
The spring camp is open to any Cubs fan interested in watching with the weekend wrapping up Sunday at 3 p.m. with their top-40 game. Wong said that game incentivizes players early in the camp.
“It makes the earliest of the early days of camp mean something that we’re trying to evaluate,” Wong said.
Once camp ends, the next step for the Cubs is inviting players to main camp in the fall and potentially signing some of the players out of camp. Until then Wong said he’s off to Kelowna for a week to move his son to Calgary before enjoying some time in Banff and surrounding area. His summer plans revolve around playing a little golf, spending time at the lake and thinking about the upcoming season.
