The wait is over and Red Deer Optimist Chiefs hockey has finally returned.
The U18 AAA squad will begin the 2024-25 Alberta Elite Hockey League (AEHL) season this weekend when they welcome the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers to Servus Arena on Friday at 8 p.m.
Chiefs head coach Tyler Lightbown said the team has looked great throughout training camp and in the preseason games.
"We are just kind of wrapping up some final roster changes and we're pretty happy with how everything worked out. We're excited to get started," he said.
Red Deer struggled throughout the preseason losing all five of their games but Lightbown said their exhibition play isn't indicative of how they'll play in the regular season.
"Our team and a lot of other teams playing had a lot of players playing who didn't end up being on the final roster," he said.
"We definitely have some high-end guys who were still at junior camps that weren't skating with us. The preseason for us is more to get a look at some guys and work out a few kinks. We had a good game against NAX once we scaled down our roster a little bit. We're excited and optimistic, and we should be competitive this year."
Last year the Chiefs finished in fifth place in the South Division standings with a 20-14-0-1-3 record and went on to sweep the Calgary Royals 2-0 in the division quarterfinals before losing to the Calgary Buffaloes in the semifinals 2-1 in a best-of-three series.
Lightbown expects them to be just as or even more so competitive this season compared to last year.
"I think we've got the potential to be there again. We've got a handful of returning guys and then brought in a few really good young guys," he said.
"With the momentum they started to build last year with the returning guys coming back, everyone is eager to not just be as competitive as last year but be a little bit better than last year."
This year they'll have six returning players including four forwards and two defencemen. However, they could have had 12 but lost six players to the WHL.
They also picked up three players who played on the U15 AAA Red Deer Rebels last season including captain Crew Martinson and defencemen Brock Dingman and Finn Kelly, all of whom got drafted into the Western Hockey League over the summer.
"We're excited for all three of them. We also only have three 15-year-olds this year and last year we have five so we're a little bit older this year," he added.
"They're 15 but they're probably three of the bigger players on our roster who are eager to get going in our league... They'll definitely help."
Lightbown said they're hopeful and optimistic they're going to be one of the top teams in the division but explained it'll depend on how some of the other teams look early on.
"One of the things we like to preach regardless of skill level is just the effort. We want to really push the pace and be tenacious. It doesn't matter your skill level because you can always outwork the other team and that's something they're really buying into, especially on the defensive side," Lightbown said.
"We're excited to see how that looks come this weekend. We won't win every game but I don't expect us to get outworked in too many games."
Following their home opener on Friday, they'll head to Airdrie to take on the CFR Bisons on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Twin Arena.
