It's an exciting time for many as the Parkland U18 Rangers will hit the ice in game action on Friday, October 16. Late last week, the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League announced its Phase 2 of the Return-to-Play plan which highlights the changes that will be in effect for the 2020-2021 season.
A couple of changes include the number of games played. A modified 36-game schedule will be used for each team and teams will be split into divisions. The West Division will include the Rangers who will be joined by the Yellowhead Chiefs, Brandon Wheat Kings, and Southwest Cougars.
The Central Division includes the Central Plains Capitals, Pembina Valley Hawks, Interlake Lightning, and the Eastman Selects. The East Division includes the Winnipeg Bruins, Winnipeg Thrashers, Winnipeg Wild, and Kenora Thistles. The Norman Northstars aren't in a specific division.
Rick Freese who will coach alongside Tyler Carefoot had this to say on the news.
"We're really looking forward to our main camp later this month, this is great news," said Freese. "I know a ton of players are chomping at the bit and Tyler and I are as well. We're just happy that we're going to play a season, even though the schedule is a little bit smaller than normal."
Playing 36 games cuts off a quarter of the team's normal schedule as all member Clubs would play 48 games in a normal season. 26 games were needed to make the playoffs last season in a 48 game season. With 36 games ahead, a number lower than that could be expected but regardless of the number of wins it takes, Freese knows how important it will be to get off to a solid start.
"We know the importance of it and I know we're ready to rock and roll here," continued Freese. "Some of these kids have shown their commitment at our conditioning camps that we've been running and that's a positive moving forward."
Ahead of their training camp, the Rangers were very well represented this past weekend as the Dauphin Kings held the Prospects Camp. The first two days consisted of drills and scrimmages which were followed by an intrasquad game on Sunday which was decided when Aidan Brook scored the game-winning goal with just 48 seconds left on the clock.
In that game, Brayden Dube, Carter Zalischuk, Kyan Grouette, and Jayden Jubenvill all scored goals and the four will all be at Rangers camp later this month. Keaton Ziprick was great in net making 20 saves while Rylan Gibbs and Madden Murray picked up the assists. It's safe to say that many Rangers made great impacts over the weekend and that's what many are expecting to happen throughout the season.
"We had some guys that looked really good and it showed that they worked extremely hard this summer and we're always taking note of that," ended Freese.
The one final hurdle the league needs to get over for the season to begin on October 16 is approval from Hockey Manitoba.
