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New Battlefords AAA Sharks head coach Gary Berggren found himself with a good problem to have over the weekend at the Civic Center.
With a total of 61 players taking part in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League team鈥檚 camp, Berggren and the rest of his coaching staff were forced to make some tough cuts for Sunday鈥檚 inter-squad game and in setting the roster for the 2016-17 season.
鈥淚t was a super competitive weekend,鈥� Berggren said. 鈥淭here was a lot more talent than what we were expecting and that was great to see.
鈥淭here were quite a few players that could have been in the game on Sunday that are just not quite there yet. However, I鈥檓 sure they will be right in that mix next year and we鈥檙e excited to see how those players develop over the course of this season.鈥�
Coming off of a tough 3-23 campaign last season that saw the Sharks finish at the bottom of the eight-team loop, there鈥檚 nowhere to go but up for the team.
Going into this weekend, Berggren had a good idea of what he was looking for when building this year鈥檚 squad.
鈥淚 really wanted to stress that we wanted girls who really wanted to be here and who wanted to play at this level,鈥� Berggren said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to raise the skill level from the previous years. In past seasons we've had hard-working players but they didn鈥檛 have quite enough skill to play at the AAA level. Our goal was to find players who had strong skills this year.鈥�
That skill level was noticeable in the inter-squad game Sunday afternoon as a number of players came flying down the wings and found the back of the net.
鈥淕oing into this season we have four strong lines and any of them could play in the top spot for us,鈥� Berggren said.
鈥淥bviously there have been a few players that have played better than others during the camp, but we鈥檙e a really even team on offence. Any of the four lines can score for us.鈥�
The Sharks鈥� defence will have a different look than in the past with Berggren going for a more dynamic approach.
鈥淲e鈥檝e gone more to players that can skate and think the game and I think we will do really well with that mindset,鈥� Berggren said.
However, it will be a young group trying to slow down the other teams in the league. Three of the defenceman and both goaltenders are bantam-aged players.
鈥淚t will take a few games for them to figure things out playing at a higher level, but I expect they will be on top of things pretty quickly,鈥� Berggren said.
The Sharks will now prepare for their first tournament of the season. They will be in Portage la Prairie, Man. from Sept. 23-25 for the Central Plains Capitals Tournament.
鈥淲e were there last year and the field consisted of teams from Manitoba and Saskatchewan,鈥� Berggren said.
鈥淭he schedule there worked out very well for us last year as we played a lot of teams that we had never played before or that weren鈥檛 in our league. It鈥檚 a great tournament and we鈥檙e excited about going back.鈥�
That tournament will also be a golden opportunity for a young Sharks team to get their legs underneath them before they go out on the road Oct. 15 to begin their league campaign against the Melville Prairie Fire.
鈥淭he speed and the size of the players are going to be the biggest differences that the girls will face,鈥� Berggren said. 鈥淲hen we had the inter-squad game we saw that for some of the girls that the speed factor was something they needed to adjust to, and then there were some girls where that wasn鈥檛 an issue at all.
鈥淚 expect that to be the same thing once the regular season begins as they should be able to jump right in and adjust to that speed. However, the AAA league is a little more physical so they will have to get used to that right away.鈥�
