The 2018-19 season for the Weyburn Red Wings is just around the corner. Training camp opens up this weekend and offers a chance for players to showcase their skills, as well as for coaches to evaluate them.

General Manager for the Red Wings is Tanner McCall and he had a busy off-season. Seven players on the team graduated from the SJHL last year and those spots will be up for grabs. McCall is excited for the return of hockey season.

“I’m pretty excited to have all the boys back on the ice, and get a look at all the returning guys and see who put it in the actual work and commitment in the summer, to make sure they come to camp in shape and take a big step forward,” he said. “We lost a lot of key pieces from the roster last year, so there's some holes to fill. I definitely believe we have some guys that can step up and fill them. It’s just a matter of making sure everybody did what they were supposed to do over the summer, to ensure that they’re ready to go.”

The returning players will be relied on to continue to produce. SJHL Rookie of the Year Cade Kowalski had 60 points last year, while Weyburn native Ben Hiltz had 28 goals and 55 points. McCall and the coaching staff know the importance of those players to the team.

“We got a lot of scoring last year from 18-year-olds. I want to get all those guys back – Kowalski, Hiltz, Kazymyra, Brown and if you keep going further down with [Sean] Olson. There’s a bunch of guys we need to step up and continue to produce. We definitely can’t have guys having a sophomore slump in their second season,” he said.

With a great crop of younger players headlining the roster, adding a veteran presence is always a key. McCall did just that by acquiring 20-year-old Burke Johnstone, who hails from Yellow Grass. Johnstone spent last season with the Dryden Ice Dogs, winning the league championship.

“Burke is a guy we know a lot about. Being a local kid, we’ve watched him play for years. We’re very excited to add him into the fold,” McCall said. “Burke is a quality young man with great leadership qualities. He’s won a championship just about everywhere he’s went. When you can find a young guy like that that’s local, it’s a no-brainer to bring him in.”

Even with a solid nucleus of returning players, McCall made it clear that nothing is guaranteed with this team. He wants his player to know that are more than a few roster spots up for grabs.

“To be honest, every one of them is available. I’d love to have a situation where we got guys coming in that are taking roster spots. That means we’ve done a great job recruiting and we’ve done a good job of finding camp invites that are able to put some heat on returning guys. We graduated a good number of guys last year, so everything is wide open and camp is going to be very competitive,” McCall explained.

With some key losses of Arik Weersink in net, plus Mike Eskra and Erik Olson on the blue line, the Wings will need someone to step up.

“We definitely need to try and make sure we have guys capable of filling those shoes. I think we have that, it’s just a matter of making sure guys are ready to go, and making sure they know their roles and responsibilities,” McCall said.

Weyburn should be in a good position to compete for the Viterra division title this season. The Estevan Bruins lost numerous key pieces after their run to the finals. Yorkton will be improved, but still unlikely to make the huge jump from worst to first. The Melville Millionaires could be in for another long season.

One of the biggest question marks for an otherwise deep Red Wings squad is the goaltending position. Rookie Cody Levesque is a promising netminder who could play significant minutes this year. Incumbent Liam McCloskey will look to build off of his starts late in the season last year.

McCall is hopeful his goaltenders can fill the big shoes Weersink has left behind.

“Liam finished the season with us last year. He had some good starts. He’s a guy that's been around a long time and played some real quality minutes long before his time with us. Cody Levesque will be coming in. Cody had a great season last year in midget AAA with Swift Current and he’s been a part of our system since we drafted him. We’re very excited with Cody,” he said.

Aside from Levesque, there are a number of rookies that McCall has brought in that he’s excited to see. He didn’t mention any names but did say he’ll be keeping a close watch over everyone at camp.

“We have a pretty good recruiting class this year, in my opinion. Guys are going to have to come in and produce from day one. There’s lots of opportunities. We brought in a handful of forwards and a couple D,” McCall explained. “We’ve announced a bunch of signings already. There will be some other guys that will come into the fold as we continue to go along. Guys possibly fall out of the Western Hockey League and some other different places. We’re very excited with how it’s looking, and we expect our rookie class to come in and contribute from day one.”

Some of those rookies McCall hinted at include former first-round pick Mkyllan Couture, 18-year-old Sven Schefer, defenceman Carsen Roberston and 17-year-old Bryce Krauter. Despite the depth of the Red Wings, all will have a legitimate chance at cracking the roster.

Training camp may seem like the boring practices and scrimmages before the real games, but McCall can’t emphasize enough how important it is for both the players and the coaching staff.

“During camp, it’s important to get a look at all of your prospects, not just the returning guys or the older boys. We’re going to have our most recent draft picks there, as well as lots of the boys that have been previous draft picks,” he stated. “We’re evaluating everybody to see the steps they’ve taken and the summer they’ve had to ensure that everyone is continuing to develop and improve. It’s a tough league to play in and there’s a lot of steps along the way that have to be accomplished as a 15-year-old, 16-year-old, 17-year-old so that guys are ready to play when we need them.”

Training camp will officially get underway on Saturday, September 1. The Red and White game will happen on Monday afternoon. The Red Wings will then play four exhibition games the following week, with home games on September 4 and 7. The first regular season games will be the home opener on September 14.