NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs forward Connor Douglas pulls back for a shot before scoring in the first period of the Cubs 9-3 preseason win Sunday at the Kinplex against the Coaldale Copperheads.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs are exiting the preseason on a high.
The team enters the 2022-23 Heritage Junior Hockey League season coming off of a 3-1 record in the preseason. They ended the exhibition portion Sunday with a 9-3 win at the Kinplex against Coaldale, a day after beating the Copperheads 6-2 on the road.
Cubs head coach and general manager Randy Wong said the four preseason games gave the team a chance to showcase the league to their younger players.
“We didn’t play many of our overage guys through the four games so it was a really good feeling-out process to see who could make the next step,” Wong said. “I was pleasantly surprised that lots of guys showed really well. Proof of that is the turnover we’re going to have from a team that could have brought back 22 guys, but we’re going to replace half the team basically, and not start over. I think we feel like we’re stronger with some of the younger guys who are going to be in the lineup this year.”
Wong was impressed with the intensity in practice and how the younger Cubs utilized their speed against the bigger teams in Coaldale and the Strathmore Wheatland Kings. He says they’ve cut the roster down to 27 heading into the regular season.
“I’ve got extra goalies here, we’re going to let them still battle it out a bit further in the first couple of weeks of regular season,” Wong said. “If you make a decision too early, you can regret it. Let the process happen, and that’s what we felt was the goalie situation – nobody played themselves off the team.
“The great thing about competition is that’s what you’re hoping for and that’s what they delivered … They forced us to make another decision and carry more goalies than what we maybe originally thought, and I’m all for that. The tougher they make it on us, the better our team is going to be.”
The Cubs open the season Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Kinplex against the Okotoks Bisons, the team they lost to in Game 6 of the semifinals last season. Wong says the focus in practice this week will be seeing who understands the systems and who can best implement them.
“We’ll probably let the veterans control the power play time, just because they know the formations and the systems we want. As we get those next few games in, the younger guys, we’ll start to see what we’re looking for and duplicate that,” Wong said. “It’s just making sure we’re ready to go and making sure the lineup is going to be set the way we want it for the first game.”
As much as Wong enjoys seeing his team form in preseason, he and the players are eager to get the regular season underway.
“Guys are hungry to get going and see where we stack up against the other teams,” Wong said. “Especially when teams have already started, half of our league has probably played some league games already. So they’re already looking on the scoreboards and seeing who’s doing what.”
