Copperheads head into camp, but keep an eye on COVID

By Dale Woodard on September 9, 2021.

If there’s a potential plus in having their season cut short after four games last year, the Coaldale Copperheads may have found one.

After losing the majority of their 2020-21 Heritage Junior Hockey League season to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Copperheads guardedly head into the 2021-22 campaign with the opening of their main camp tonight at the Coaldale Sportsplex.

While the pandemic iced the Copperheads’ season after four games last fall, there was still some time to establish a little familiarity between then first-year head coach Doug Paisley and his roster.

“Obviously we only got the four games in last year, but we did get to spend some time together and we did get to establish some of the accountabilities,” said Paisley. “I know a lot of the kids, so they are not brand new and fresh coming in with what my expectations are and that’s a bonus. Having some familiarity, I think, is an advantage because we’re not coming in fresh like we were last year and learning a bunch of kids and learning a bunch of names.”

Tonight’s ice time runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The camp resumes Saturday and Sunday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In addition to the familiar faces are some players moving to southern Alberta to go to school, another plus for Paisley and his crew.

“I think we are really fortunate that we have the college and the university here,” he said. “Obviously, if kids want to keep playing they have the option. I think because of our demographic and where we are located we are fortunate that way. There is the potential of five or six kids who have Junior B experience who are coming from other teams to go to school. They should be able to make the jump into our mould very well. Even though our camp numbers aren’t huge, it might be a case of quality over quantity.”

However, the rising COVID numbers prompting the province to go back to masking may look a little too familiar to the Copperheads from a year ago.

“Honestly, it may be a little bit of dŽjˆ vu,” said Paisley. “We’re just getting started and we’re feeling some restrictions, some masking and some uncertainty with mandates and what is going on with vaccinations. So I guess we may be a little bit sceptical just with what is going on in the province and what is going on in the country right now. But we are hopeful, we are optimistic and we are planning to move forward. Camp starts this weekend and we are back in the rink with masks and we’ll see how it goes.”

Players trying out with teams in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League and the Alberta Junior Hockey League could also affect camp numbers.

“Overall, it’s probably closer to 40 (players), but even with a KIJHL camps and the AJHL camps only going for a week we’ll probably see some kids filter back over the next couple of weeks. But we’ll get a good chance to look at what we need to look at here tonight, Saturday and Sunday. We skate Tuesday and Thursday next week and play exhibition next week in Redcliff against a Medicine Hat on the 17th.”

Despite keeping a close eye on the COVID numbers, Paisley looked forward to a sense of normalcy that comes with the hockey season.

“It has been a long time of uncertainty,” said Paisley. “I think people are just fatigued with the whole thing. So getting back to the rink and getting excited about the season and getting back to what feels like, to me, is a sense of normal with something to do two nights a week with practice and weekends with hockey.

“So I’m excited and looking forward to it. We are a little bit tentative and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we are optimistic we can go through it. Obviously with the experience we went through last year as a team dealing with COVID cases and having to shut ourselves down before the league or the province did, we gain some knowledge and understanding on how we want to keep our players safe and make sure we are doing everything in our power to make sure they are not exposed.”

Josh Elliott and Brendan Harper return behind the bench as assistant coaches, while Drew Owsley joins the staff as the Copperheads’ goaltender coach.

“When I reached out and talked to everybody about getting registered and getting ready to go, it sounded like they were pretty positive about wanting to come back,” said Paisley.”I feel bad for those guys in the 21-year-old category who didn’t get a season last year and am hoping for the best for our guys this year.”

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