The St. Albert Merchants are banking on fans getting their money’s worth at the team’s junior B home games at Akinsdale Arena.
“The biggest thing we want to do is make it more entertaining for the people that come and watch our games,” head coach Terry Moser told the Gazette Wednesday. “Hopefully we can attract more people to come out and help support the Merchants.”
Sunday’s home opener against the Stony Plain Flyers starts at 8 p.m.
“The guys are already talking about it,” Moser said. “They play so much better when they get a crowd behind them at home. That’s what we’re hoping for, but to do that we can’t have what happened last year.”
The Merchants are coming off arguably the most controversial season in team history. They finished a disappointing 11-25-0-2 for sixth place out of seven teams in the west division. Their 5.39 goals-against average was the second-worst in the 14-team circuit. They were also the runaway penalty minute leaders with 1,476 in 38 games, as six players surpassed the 100 PIM mark. The next closest sin-bin team was the Sherwood Park Knights at 1,106.
“There is a total change in ideology from last year,” Moser said. “There is going to be more emphasis on the skating and following our systems.”
Moser replaced first-year head coach Adam Sharpe in December, with the Merchants a woeful 7-17-0-2 in the standings and 1-11-0-1 on home ice. They also had to default a Dec. 6 game in Spruce Grove because of a shortage of players.
Moser promises the Merchants will be the talk of the town for all the right reasons.
“We’ve got an awesome crew of hockey players in that dressing room,” said Moser, who joined the Money Men last season as an assistant coach and was promoted to bench boss when Sharpe resigned. “There is a lot of work put into this, to where we are today. There are a lot of changes and the players have responded to those changes in a positive way. It’s going to be a tight club all the way around. There will be a lot more community involvement with the players too.”
The Merchants had 27 players in the fold for Friday’s season debut in Spruce Grove. Three were 21-year-olds, one short of the league maximum. Ten were also returnees. The deadline to get down to 25 is Dec. 10. The 23-man roster has to be finalized by Jan. 10.
“We’ve got an excellent crew that came up through the midget program and we’ve got a very healthy base of returning players. When you have that, it makes the decisions for the coaches very hard for who you’re keeping. There have been long hours by the coaching staff to scale it down to the 27 players we’ve got now,” Moser said. “The level of players we have is excellent and the coaches are ecstatic. We’re extremely excited about what the season is going to bring and the possibility of what the season could bring. We’re all on the same page and moving forward in having a successful season.”
Friday’s score from Spruce Grove was unavailable at press time. The Regals and the Flyers recorded 18 wins apiece last season.
“Spruce Grove and Stony are two very good clubs so we’ve definitely got our work cut out for us,” Moser said. “Actually, right off the get-go during the remainder of the month of September, it will be an excellent test for the young guys and a refresher for the returning players.”
In pre-season play last weekend at the Fort Saskatchewan tournament, the Merchants auditioned about 30 players.
“I was very impressed with their overall attitude, dedication and their enthusiasm. They were all excited to play,” Moser said. “You could see they were already gelling in the dressing room and on the ice. You can see the difference in the attitude and the difference in the atmosphere from last year.”
The team’s record was 1-2 as the coaches went with three junior B rookies in net. Also part of the goaltending mix in training camp was veteran Curtis Ronaldson (3-13, 5.76 GAA). A couple of returnees were also part of the blue-line brigade.
“It wasn’t so much if we won or lost, it was more or less the opportunity to see all the players in action,” Moser said. “We did a mixture of first year players and returning players, just so we weren’t having all first year players playing at once. It was a healthy mixture and it worked out reasonably well.”
