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by Darcey McLaughlin

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JUNIOR A HOCKEY — The Miramichi Timberwolves are back on the ice at the Miramichi Civic Centre tomorrow night, where they take on the Summerside Western Capitals in a pre-season match-up as players fight to make the 2008-09 team.

The T-Wolves opened training camp last weekend at the Lord Beaverbrook Arena with 40 hopefuls hitting the ice, looking for a limited number of roster spots. By Wednesday that number was down to approximately 25.

Players were put through their paces by the coaching staff from the start of camp, with fitness testing, on ice drills and inter-squad games.

After registration and fitness testing last Friday, new faces and returning players began to arrive at the LBA just before 8 a.m. Saturday morning for a return to the ice. Old players joked and laughed as they made their way to the dressing rooms, while new players, looking somewhat nervous and bewildered, had to ask for directions as they entered the arena.

One player stopped to inquire about any sporting good shops that may be open at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, after realizing he showed up without a stick.

Just after 8 a.m. the players made their way onto the ice to be put through their paces by the T-Wolves coaching staff.

Players gathered around to watch and listen as assistant coach Jamie Henderson explained drills they would be running, while new head coach Bill McGuigan observed from off ice. Henderson put his team through a series of increasingly harder drills and making it clear that there would be no hand holding at this camp.

“Don’t [mess] this up. If you don’t know the drill get off the ice,” Henderson said at one point.

Two separate groups were put through this process before taking a break and moving to the MCC for a run, then returning to the LBA for the first inner-squad game of camp.

The players returned Sunday to do it all over again.

As McGuigan prepared later in the week for a slate of pre-season games he said he was impressed by the calibre of players that tried out for the team, even those who didn’t make it.

“Our camp was pretty competitive so no kids were really out of their league but obviously not ready to play junior A yet. But we were pleasantly surprised with some of the kids who came up to try out,” he said.

He said a few of the players new to the team impressed him.

“There’s a few guys who have looked real good in camp. We’ve got Nick Brown and McKenzie Kierstead, two ‘91 defencemen who have come in, and they’ve had real strong camps.

Nathan McQuaid has had a real strong camp,” he said.

He said he was also impressed by the returning players. He said the veterans came into camp in shape and clearly committed to playing their best this coming season.

Brad Dyke will be back between the pipes for Miramichi. After starting camp with three other goalies, two are now battling it out to be Dyke’s backup this season. McGuigan said for him keeping the puck out of the net is as important as scoring.

“I like to build from my net out and have the best possible defensive group of guys I can put together. I like my forward groups to have a little bit of grit, a little bit of toughness, a little of skill.

Guys will fit into certain situations and roles and we’ll go from there,” the coach said.

For the moment McGuigan said he is happy with the look of his defense and as a result didn’t bring a lot of defencemen to camp.

‘”With our D we’re pretty much set on our back end so instead of taking 20 extra kids coming in that don’t have a chance we just brought in our draft pick Nick Brown and our guys from last year,” McGuigan said.

He added he expects to get offense from a number of sources and won’t be leaning on one or two players to score for the team.

Fans can also expect to see a new sheriff in town this year with the addition of Graham Telford, a 6’5, 215 pound enforcer from Williams Lake, B.C. who is expected to join the team next week.

“Not only is he a tough kid but he’s played major junior ... he’s not coming here to be the goon or anything like that but he’s coming here to be a policemen and he’s going to look out for his teammates.

We’re real excited to have a guy like him. He’s a real good kid, a good natured guy. He likes to hunt and fish so Miramichi is a great fit for him,” Mc- Guigan said.

The Timberwolves start the pre-season tonight with a trip north to Campbellton to take on the Restigouche Tigers. McGuigan said how players perform these pre-season games is key to their staying with the club.

“Obviously we’re looking at some guys to rise to the challenge of a game situation. Inter-squad games are one thing but now their going into a game versus another team in the the league that is coming in looking to play gritty and tough and we’re going to have to match them,” he said.

McGuigan is also excited for the chance to play Summerside Saturday night here in Miramichi.

“Summerside looks to be the power house in our division. They seem to be the team out of the gate right now looking like the power house and it’s fortunate for us we get to play the best team in our division right off the hop.

We want to be right there with them and before the season starts we get a good test. And it’s the first time they’ve come up here for an exhibition game,” he said.

The Summerside game goes at 7:30 p.m. The T-Wolves are back in action on home ice again for a rare Monday night game beginning at 7 p.m. With the Tigers in town.

The regular season begins for the T-Wolves Saturday, Sept. 13 when the Truro Bearcats come to town for Miramichi’s home opener.