The Red Deer Vipers are ready to kick off the 2024 Heritage Junior B Hockey League (HJHL) season.
This Sunday, Sept. 22 they'll face the Ponoka Stampeders on the road to begin the campaign on the road in Ponoka at 2:30 p.m.
They're fresh off a solid preseason where they posted a 2-2 record after beating the Strathcona Bruins and Rocky Rams.
Vipers head coach Matt Michalezki said the team is looking very good so far.
"We have built a team that will push for the top of the North Division and league title for the next few years to come," he said on Thursday.
Not only have the Vipers welcomed back Michalezki but also assistant coaches Mark Dobler, Daryn Hebert, and Brody Kalinowski after leading their first season in 2023-24.
Red Deer has many key returners including Captain Bosten Lajeunesse and Keaton Mackenzie-Clermont among others. However, they will be without goaltender Josh Hilts to start the year after he suffered an injury during the summer.
The Vipers also recruited over half a dozen players from the U18 AA level who competed for Red Deer in the Alberta Elite Hockey League last year.
"We have kept our main leadership group and higher-end skill players from last year," Michalezki added. "We built on that with some very high-quality 18-year-olds that graduated from Red Deer Minor Hockey last year."
Last season the Vipers were disappointed in how their year ended. With a 12-26-0 record in the HJHL, they finished two points short of a playoff spot with a young team.
"last year was disappointing but we knew that needed to happen to get the program moved back in the direction of success. It was an abnormally light year for players graduating out of U18 AA and AAA which left the talent pool light," he said.
"We've added a handful of players that compete at an elite level, which will push this team back into contention."
The Vipers bench boss said they are a fast team who plans to play fast and force their opponents to try and keep up.
"We will play with maximum compete and be relentless," Michalezki said.
"From what I've seen so far, that will be our identity and it's going to be hard for our opponents to deal with... I'm excited for the season to get underway, excited for Red Deer to have a quality Jr. B team that they can get behind, and I'm excited to watch my players succeed."
