If nothing else, Dave Williams and the Stratford Warriors are somewhat familiar with how this all feels.
Just a year ago, Williams and the coaching staff found themselves coming into the 2023-2024 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League season having to replace a large chunk of their roster. Questions like where would the goals come from or who was going to help stop the other team were at the top of his mind.
And now, only 12 months later, those same questions are back on Williams’ mind.
“Last year, we came into the season having lost some really key players from the previous year,” the head coach said. “To our guys’ credit, they took the opportunity to play and ran with it. We had guys who had really good seasons, and even though we fell a little short in the playoffs I think everybody was happy with the type of season we’d had.”
This is the way it is in junior B hockey, as Williams now has to replace a large chunk of his roster once again – including his top four scorers in Carson Harmer, Brayden Stumpf, Michael Denney and Camden Daigle. Cole Lewis (21 goals, 25 assists) is the top returning forward.
Williams points out the Warriors were young last year when compared to other teams in the league, and losing guys like Harmer, Casey Bridgewater and Evan Yale (Ontario Hockey League) will be felt. Just like Jackson Broda and Stumpf (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) will be, as well as goalie Matthew Perdue (NCAA Div. III). But it’s not about looking at what won’t be back … rather, Williams is focusing on what he and the other coaches can do to shape another new crop of talent.
“Yeah, we’re a little bit back where we were a year ago, and having lost some significant pieces from that team will mean guys coming in should have a pretty good opportunity if they want it,” he said. “We’ve had some good competition during the pre-season, and having Cole back is going to be good for us. It’s going to take some time, maybe once through the league, to see what we’ve got here.”
Williams is hoping to use the Warriors’ youth to their advantage once again, getting the team to put in the hard work during practice so their growth will show in games. He admits it’s a big jump for some players to handle but has the confidence they can handle what the coaching staff is asking of them.
“It’s a big leap forward, going from U16, U18 and some of those different levels to step up and play here,” he said. “We know that we’re going to have to work with some of the guys and break some habits in order to get them playing the way we want them to. But I think the big message is that with such significant turnover from last year’s team, our guys are talking about wanting opportunities.”
While the new Warriors earn their stripes internally, Williams will have to pilot them through a new two-conference schedule that will see Stratford take on traditional rivals Elmira, Kitchener-Waterloo and Listowel but see former Western Conference teams like LaSalle, Chatham, St. Thomas and St. Marys on a regular basis.
The conference shuffling is going to present Stratford with some chances to bond on longer road trips, Williams said, but it’s also gifting them a new regional rival in St. Marys. Games against the Lincolns – who the Warriors split a pair of pre-season games against – are ones he’s already looking forward to.
“That’s going to be a nice, close rivalry game because we would only typically see them in exhibition season, so making this switch is going to offer us some huge benefits and synergies,” he said. “But it’s definitely going to put us on the bus more, and I think that’s going to help our team dynamic. We’ll get to spend more time together and gel more. Plus seeing all these new teams is going to freshen things up; things would get stale when you saw the same teams over and over in the regular season.”
For now, it is simply waiting to be a work in progress for Williams and his staff. They know it’s a bit of the unknown once again, as they wait for players to rise up and claim their roles, but he’s enjoying things as the process plays out.
“We had a few returning guys who’ve been able to elevate their game, but we’ve also had three or four new players come in and show us some things,” he said. “That’s part of the excitement, I think, when guys come in and they show you they want to play here. So right now the concern for me is finding new guys to help fill the holes we’ve got.”
Stratford opens the season tonight when they host the Elmira Sugar Kings at the Allman Arena at 7:30 p.m. The Warriors then head to Komoka Saturday for the first of a back-to-back set against the Kings. The puck drops at the Komoka Wellness Centre at 7:15 p.m.
