Season Preview: Swan Valley Stampeders

Today, Swan Valley Stampeders' Head Coach/GM talked about their upcoming season.

CS: Guy, you've talked about how important a balanced scoring attack is this year, with Stephane Vigier being gone. It looked like you got that in the pre season, especially in your last game when 5 different guys scored to beat Wayway 6-1.

GV: Yeah, you know Pre Season is what it is, we tried to put some guys in some different situations, and some of our younger guys found a way to step up and get the puck behind the goalie. It was spread out pretty good through the Pre Season, and we're still counting on some guys to put up numbers for us, but anytime someone else chips in it's certainly a plus, that's for sure.

CS: Just to clarify, you're without Myles Stevens for the first two games?

GV: Yeah, Myles Stevens got a 2-game holiday for a misconduct he received in Game 7 of the playoffs last year, and that certainly doesn't help. But he didn't play the game when we got the 6 goals (in Wayway), so hopefully he's motivated come the middle of next week when he's ready to get back at it, and we're looking forward to him, because we've certainly gotta do a few things by committee when he's out of the lineup, that's for sure.

CS: I'm sure you had him slated as your #1 centre, and he plays some point on the powerplay. Who do you look at to take some of those minutes?

GV: We've got Dalane Lamb playing centre with Kyle Severson and Brad McDonald this weekend, kind of taking Myles' spot, everyone's moved up a spot or two. In a couple days of practice it looks like he's always been a good puck mover, and we're going to hopefully rely on him this weekend to do some things. On the back end, we didn't get Myles playing the point on the powerplay until late in the year, so we're going to give our 'D' men every opportunity to find that role, and try and keep smiles on everybody's faces.

CS: You've got Wayway at home on Saturday, home opener, always an exciting time. Do you have to guard against getting TOO excited? It's going to be one of the biggest crowds of the year, and guys have been away from regular action for 5 months so it's always an exciting time.

GV: Yeah it is, we're going to be geared up. We played Wayway a couple exhibition games, so we've got a pretty good idea what they're going to bring. Of course Jason Bowles didn't play either game and we're expected him to lead their team. We're certainly hoping to be excited, we'll have to concentrate on some defense first, and we're going to chip away all year, try to get a little better. A bit of novelty is (Wayway Coach/GM) Barry Butler, we're celebrating our 10th Anniversary, along with Wayway. So it's kind of fitting both of us are on either bench, when 10 years ago each of us handed cheques over for membership into the league, so there's a lot to be proud of, and hopefully we have a good showing.