After their second NWJHL championship in three seasons, the La Crete Lumber Barons are getting ready for another appearance at the Alberta Junior B Provincials.
Dion Knelsen, the head coach of the Barons, says they will leaning on the experience of some of their veteran players.
“Last time I thought we had a great showing but it was all very new to us. Now we feel like we know what to expect. We have a decent number of guys that were there before and you can definitely expect them to know what’s going to happen and to know what needs to be done. We’re all prepared for the challenge it is. It’s going to be a very tough tournament. Those are all very good teams.”
In their last trip to provincials two years ago, the Lumber Barons finished with a silver medal.
Knelsen says they play a bit of a different style than some of the other teams they’ll be up against.
“I see a lot of really good skating teams at this tournament, but a lot more straight lines and lots of shooting mentality from them. I feel like we have some pretty great playmakers. I don’t think we’re going to be the fastest team there at all, we’re gonna have to probably try to keep up. I think we play pretty sound defensively and I feel like the guys are bought in to the habits that they need to be successful and those translate to playing against any team.”
The tournament runs from April 1-5 in Lloydminster.
You can listen to the full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
