The Lakers’ organization would like to announce that the 2010-11 season will be dedicated and played in honour of assistant coach Bob Mainville, who passed away unexpectedly in a boating mishap this summer.
Fans will see the initials “BM” on the Lakers’ helmets and left shoulder of their jerseys.
We also will have a ceremony, and lift a Lakers’ jersey with the name Mainville #37 to the rafters in the Ice For Kids, on Tuesday, Oct. 5 prior to our game against the Duluth Clydesdales.
The #37 comes from the last number Bob wore with the Hoppers Bruins’ liniment league team. This will be a special night for the Lakers’ organization.
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Well, the pre-season has come and gone. Our players put forth a good work ethic and were rewarded with a string of five victories.
Things as coach that I liked out of us were the attention to detail in our own end, special teams, work ethic, and ability to get the little things done that mean a lot in the game of hockey.
I was very pleased with the play of defencemen Phil Jennrich and Marty McFadden and forwards Blake Boaz, Jon Sinclair, Zach McCool, and Tyler Stevenson, to mention a few.
Numerous other players looked good, but our first real test as a team in this young season is going to come this Friday (Sept. 17) versus the reigning SIJHL champion Fort William North Stars at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
They are at the top of the mountain until someone takes them off, and this game will measure where we are at as a squad.
With a strong week of practice and a few more days to go through our systems, we will be ready for the challenges come Friday. The team will sit at two goalies, eight defencemen, and 14 forwards this week.
We still have a couple of tough decisions to make, and will be looking at players that are coming available on the trade wire before our roster actually is finalized in the next couple of weeks.
We would like to set up our team for a top three run in the league and push in the playoffs for a championship. We also would like to be in a good situation to return a huge part of the team for next season (2011-12) as the Dudley Hewitt Cup returns to our league.
We will set some goals this week as a team, with the first being a victory on opening night in front of our local faithful fans. We also would like to set a goal of 500+ fans to cheer us on against the North Stars.
If you haven’t had the chance to see us play this pre-season, come out Friday night. I believe you would be encouraged by our team’s play and work ethic.
The team also will have goals on where we would like to be in the standings throughout the season, goals against, and special teams, to name a few.
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Besides Friday night’s game, and other upcoming ones against the Dryden Ice Dogs (Sept. 21 and 28) and Wisconsin Wilderness (Sept. 25), be sure to mark Sunday, Sept. 26 on your calendar as the Lakers’ hold a fish fry at the Couchiching multi-use building.
Our Lakers’ golf tournament, which was to take place this past Saturday (Sept. 11), was cancelled due to the poor weather and lack of participants.
We thank those people who showed up on the cold morning ready to support our team and battle Mother Nature.
As it was, about 19 of us had a fun nine-hole scramble and made the best of the day together.
Meanwhile, we still have “400 Club” tickets to sell, with the first draw being Friday at our home-opener. Get your ticket at $50 for the chance to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes.
The home-opener will pay out somewhere around $800.
If you don’t have a ticket, I have a few more to sell and all board members have them.
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