RDP Kings hockey head coach Trevor Keeper has to smile when asked about this year’s edition of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference squad.
The Kings have a solid 26-man roster with 16 veterans, including league scoring champion Jason Kendall.
A year ago Keeper was in the midst of a rebuild with only five true veterans on the roster and a defence in shambles.
“I’ve never seen a year like that,” said Keeper. “We were rebuilding to start with then late in August we lost three defencemen who decided not to come which left us with just five to start the season.
“Then injuries and we were forced to use some of our best forwards on defence.”
Still, the Kings played well, finishing the season with an 8-4-2-2 record and in third place. However, the injury bug was evident in the playoffs as they were upset by Briercrest 2-0 in the best-of-three league quarter-final.
“This year the cupboard is restocked,” said Keeper, who has four of his top rearguards returning — Ty Ettinger, Konrad Belcourt, Layne Toder and Brennan Davis — and added former Medicine Hat Tiger Parker Gavlas among the four new faces.
Gavlas played the last two seasons with the University of Saskatchewan.
“He was looking for a fresh start and was interested in our school program,” explained Keeper, who also added Tanner Sklaruk and Tyson Janzen from the Yorkton Terriers of the SJHL and walk-on Liam Stalwick who played junior B two years ago.
“Liam asked for a tryout and he fit right in,” said Keeper. “He has the size (six-foot-three, 240-pounds) and is a good athlete.”
The Kings look strong in goal with Arik Weersink back for his fourth season and Kristian Lyon for his second. Weersink was third in goals-against-average (2.96) and save percentage (.916) last season.
Newcomer EvanFradette from the Trail Smoke Eaters has good size at six-foot-four and 200-pounds and was one of the top netminders in the BCHL.
“He played a lot of games for them and has looked good in camp,” said Keeper. “We feel we have three quality netminders and if we have an injury or one is struggling a bit we’ll be more than comfortable with the other two.”
Kendall, who won the league scoring title with 21 points on nine goals and 12 helpers, leads a 10-man veteran group up front.
Erik Miller and Tucker Scantlebury tied for third in league scoring with 18 points last season. Miller, who tied for first with 13 assists, is returning while Scantlebury graduated.
Jacob Wozney returns after missing last season and is in his fourth season along with Chance Longjohn. Regan Doig is a third-year veteran with Kendall, Miller, Hayden Clayton, Jaxon Steele, Chase and Easton Haygarth and Sean Michalevich in their second.
Four of the new forwards played in the SJHL —Ryland McNinch and Dylan Esau with the Battlefords North Stars, Nolan Doell the Melfort Mustangs and Holden Knights the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
“Both Knights and McNinch were captains and Esau and Doell had over 60 points last season so there’s a lot of talent there,” said Keeper, who also added former Red Deer minor hockey product Deegan Mofford, who ended last season with the Blackfalds Bulldogs of the AJHL.
“Deegan started in Kelowna last year but had an ankle injury and missed the first half of the season. He felt he wasn’t going to play much so requested a trade to Blackfalds and finished strong for them,” said the veteran coach.
“Deegan adds size (six-foot-three, 220-pounds) which we can always use and has scoring ability. He also plays with speed.
“In fact, I feel we have good team speed, especially on defence, which improves our transition game and have the ability to jump into the play and create points from the back end.”
Keeper feels the Kings can get back to the level they were playing at prior to the pandemic.
“Pre-pandemic we were consistently improving every year then had the rug pulled out from under us. We lost a lot of guys through graduation or just moving on.
“This year you can see the guys are hungry … we’re taking a step back toward where we were in 2019-20 (with a 20-6-2 record).”
The Kings play six preseason games, opening Saturday at Concordia University in Edmonton, They host SAIT Sept. 23. Their regular season home opener is Oct. 14 against Augustana.
“We’re starting a bit slower than usual. Last year we barely got on the ice when we played the University of Alberta twice in high level games and came away with several injuries,” explained Keeper. “This year we’ll be on the ice for three weeks and be better prepared.”
The Kings play a 24-game schedule — 12 in each half.
“They also want to add a women’s team and it appears as if they want both to come in in the same season,” said Keeper, who has four assistant coaches in Terry Welch, Trevor Costello, Cody Reynolds and Shawn Germain.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter and member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame who can be reached at danrode@shaw.ca