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Optimists close in on final roster

After coming up just short of reaching the Telus Cup tournament — the midget AAA hockey national championship — last season the Red Deer Optimist Rebels are extra motivated to get the job done this year.
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After coming up just short of reaching the Telus Cup tournament — the midget AAA hockey national championship — last season the Red Deer Optimist Rebels are extra motivated to get the job done this year.

“I think we have the potential to be every bit as good as we were the last couple of years,” said head coach Doug Quinn.

“That’s the goal. At the start of the year we aren’t looking to be just a good team, we’re looking to be one of the best teams and certainly put ourselves in position to compete for a provincial championship.”

The Rebels’ coach is comfortable talking about these kinds of expectations after winning two straight Alberta Midget Hockey League titles.

He has turned the team into a perennial power in his two years on the bench. Two years ago they made it to the Telus Cup in Quebec and last season they made it to the Pacific region final before falling to Vancouver NW.

This year the tournament is almost in their own backyard just up the highway in Leduc.

Unlike those previous teams, this one will be built with youth with only six returning players still in camp — Cole Barreth, Stephan Danielson, Brady Bakke, Jonathon Finnigan, Nicholas Glackin and BJ Duffin.

“We’re going to be a bit on the younger side,” said Quinn. “There probably won’t be as many 17-year-olds as I’ve had in the past. There will be a number of 16-year-olds and a good chance will take some 15-year-olds.”

That group of six, however could grow to as many as nine, depending on the fate of Dylan Hollman, Joel Topping and Scott Feser, all trying to make the WHL.

But Quinn likes the mix and the potential of the players in camp.

“From what I’ve seen so far it has been real positive,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of tough decisions. There’s going to be a couple of guys that I know who can play in this league and probably could have played in other years, but aren’t going to play just out of pure numbers.

“Our defence is going to be real strong but we are going to have some size and some good skill on the front end too.”

The strength of the team will be it’s blue-line — a unit that would only be stabilized further if Topping returns from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. It has also been the strongest battle in camp with eight rearguards still trying to make the final cut.

This weekend in Strathmore, Quinn will get the first real taste of the kind of hockey his team will be capable of with a pre-season tournament where they are guaranteed at least five games. He will need them all as he whittles down his roster with 28 bodies —three of them injured — still in the dressing room.

“We’re going to cycle the kids in and out of the line up and it will give us a good opportunity to see who can play,” said Quinn. “Up until this point we’ve just played intrasquad and had scrimmages and it’s hard to get a good read. This tournament, the speed will be a little bit faster than what they are used to playing so it will be an opportunity for some kids to step up and then your going to find out some kids just can’t match the increase in speed and the intensity. So maybe there’s going to be some separation between them and it will help us make our decision.”

jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com

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