Time to play...

Are they ready?
We think so...
...It's hard to tell, after giving everything they had at practice, almost daily, for two weeks, the players have to be excited to play on Friday. But are they ready to play? Yes, we're almost certain they are...but we won't really know until the puck drops for the first time on this 2012-2013 Winnipeg Ice season.

What we do know for sure, is that the players will be focused and they will not stop working between the whistles. The work ethic can't be questioned on this team. So long as the team has come together as much as it has seemed to have, the game on Friday will be a success one way or another. The pressure of opening night will be absent (that gets saved until Oct. 6th at 3:30pm) and the sheer excitement of competing together for the first time will take over and the players' desire to win will shine through. It won't be perfect, but it's a stepping stone that needs to be taken by every young team.

Despite being an exhibition showcase tournament, the stakes are still high. The team will want to get a good start to the season. There will be plenty of scouts in attendance. But above all else, this weekend is very important in the continuing formation of the team's identity. Will they achieve their goal of being a crazy hard working team? Will the others teams feel that they hard to play against? Will they all stand up for each other beyond all else? These questions won't be fully answered in only 4 weekend games in 3 days, but we will start to get a sense of what this team is all about...and the coaching staff could not be more excited! One thing is for sure, we will arrive in Portage as a team with nothing to lose, and we will leave Portage closer than we were when we got there.

Are they ready?
Yes they are...let's play!

~Coach