MJHL’s Blizzard still skating up a storm

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This article was published 08/04/2021 (1884 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OCN Blizzard GM and head coach Billy Keane wasn’t content to watch the spring slip away without an on-ice outlet for his players.

To that end, a group of the team’s players, draft picks and prospects have been spending time together to develop their skills as best they can after the MJHL season was put on hold and later cancelled due to pandemic health restrictions.

Keane, who was hired as the Blizzard’s boss last summer, moved the club’s off-season operation to southern Manitoba to be closer to the majority of his players.

Outdoor sessions were on ice at Winnipeg community club locations such as Varsity View and Tuxedo.

“We’ve got such a pretty vibrant bunch from Winnipeg and a vibrant bunch from Pembina Valley and they were totally into doing the outdoor rink stuff from basically mid-November until the first week of March,” said Keane Thursday.

“And since we lost our (outdoor) ice, we’ve been doing skills and scrimmage in Rosenort, which is kind of halfway between Winnipeg and my Pembina Valley guys. We’ve been doing Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays since March and we’re gonna do it until April 24.”

Keane also conducts Zoom workouts for his players and is joined by eight to 10 players at the Rosenort Arena. With ice costs in Rosenort less than half of the $250 per hour fee at Winnipeg arenas, Keane charges his players $33 per session and that allows him to generate a nominal amount for the club.

With the permission of the Dauphin Kings and Winkler Flyers, some players from those teams have joined the OCN group. Keeping players active has been the main point.

“We’re just trying to try to do what’s best for the kids and get them on the ice and keep their development up and everybody in our league is totally supportive of doing what’s best for the kids,” said Keane. “So it’s been fun.”

Dauphin has been running a similar program for his players but also billeting those from out of town.

“(Kings GM and head coach) Doug Hedley has been very diligent with it, too,” said Keane. “Our teams have had a hard time with facilities where most facilities closed so they know they weren’t able to even offer programming but the league is still trying to do due diligence to provide some skill development work for our players.”

For teams without an off-season program or no ice in their building, a new option was presented this week.

The league is offering ice time at development camps in Virden, Portage and Winnipeg with 12-16 on-ice sessions per player. The program continues through April and into May.

Each player pays $236 to take part.

The Portage Terriers, despite having loaned nine players to clubs in other Junior A leagues, have had seven players join the league workouts while the Neepawa Natives have five players participating.

Oil Capitals GM and head coach Tyson Ramsey was on the ice for Wednesday’s session in Virden. Seven players and two goaltenders took part with the possibility of up to 20 players for future sessions.

“They’ve capped it at 10 (players), obviously, until there is a bit of a wait list and until the numbers get to a point where we could have two groups of 10,” said Ramsey.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14