The Parkland Rangers are set to hold their training camp ahead of the 2023-24 Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League season, next week.
The Rangers will practice and scrimmage, Sept. 12 and 13, before hosting a modified intrasquad game, Sept. 14.
The team will then play two games at the annual preseason tournament hosted by the Southwest Cougars in Souris, Sept. 15 and 16.
Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said a lot of players are trying out for junior teams in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, as well as the Western Hockey League.
“That will give everybody a chance to get their feet wet in junior camps. When they come back, they’ll have been on the ice for a good portion and then we’re going to get right into it,” he said, adding there are just shy of 30 players registered for the Rangers camp so far.
Registrations were slow in coming and, at one point, Carefoot said management was wondering why.
“But a few kids have now registered, so things are looking a little bit more positive,” he said.
This time of the year is always exciting, Carefoot said, with graduates from the U15 program coming up and the veterans looking to improve enough to crack junior rosters in the future.
One thing Carefoot is looking for from players trying out is their commitment to the program.
“We want kids that want to be Rangers. We want families to buy in and support the program,” he said. “After that, the kids that are buying into the program, they want to be coached. They want to get better. These are the kids that are willing to sacrifice their high school years to play competitive sport. When you get athletes like that, they’re usually a lot easier to coach. But the number one thing is we want families to buy into the program and, for the most part, the families that are choosing to be Parkland Rangers are all good people. Our role as a coaching staff is to help develop them for the high levels of hockey, but also help develop them to be good human beings.”
Although the last couple of weeks have been stressful, Carefoot is looking forward to getting back on the ice with the players.
