When the Kamloops Storm started the 2015-2016 season, they were a little light on junior experience.
The club had one player, captain Brett Watkinson, who had ever played a full season in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. A few others had played a handful of games as affiliate players, but were getting their first taste of a 52-game junior B campaign.
The situation will be much improved in 2016-2017, as the Storm embark on their first season playing at Kamloops’ Memorial Arena downtown.
Nineteen-year-old Keaton Gordon returns as the club’s elder statesman, embarking on his third full season with the club after a brief stint in junior A to start 2015-2016. He’ll be joined in the forward corps by fellow 19-year-olds Dallas Otto and Kole Comin, as well as 17-year-old Brendan Lane, all of whom played in the KIJHL as rookies last year.
“The guys we have back in Comin, Gordon, Otto, Lane, up front, those four guys will be unreal leaders,” Storm head coach Ed Patterson said.
“The best part about the four guys we have returning is they all are fantastic people. They know exactly what we speak about here and how we pride ourselves on different aspects of the game and things like that. They’re good guys in the dressing room to reiterate that message all the time.”
Kamloops is still waiting for news on a handful of players at junior A and major junior camps this week. The club has the potential to become even more experienced, harkening back to the roster makeup that helped it become a perennial KIJHL championship contender.
But even if the leadership group remains as it is currently composed, Patterson said the Storm will be in good shape when their KIJHL regular season opens against the Sicamous Eagles on Sept. 9 in Kamloops.
“Last year, we didn’t pull through as much as we should have, so hoping the older guys can step up and take control here,” Comin said.
“I think it will definitely help with all the older guys.”
The Storm will play their only pre-season game tonight in Chase against the Heat, the club that eliminated Kamloops from the playoffs in a five-game first-round series
last year.
After that, Kamloops expects to be in good shape for a new capaign.
“It feels good,” Gordon said of being back on the ice. He said the club should be young, talented, skillful and fun to watch in 2016-2017.
“We have a good bunch of young guys and it feels like we’re going to have a good year.”
Schedule change
The Storm will play all but two of their home games at a new time in the 2016-2017 season, to accomodate fans living on Kamloops’ North Shore.
The puck will drop at 7:35 p.m. at Memorial Arena throughout the club’s 26-game slate in the Tournament Capital.
Kamloops will play two Sunday home games this season, both of which will start at 5 p.m.
In addition to the more common Friday and Saturday games at Memorial, the Storm will play once on a Tuesday and four times on Wednesday, all of which will have 7:35 p.m. start times.
For the complete slate, click here.
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