It’s all too perfect!!! The Clubbers find themselves coming out of the off season full of renewed vigor. With the last season behind them it seems that there is a new sense of excitement this year. Captain Iginla is no longer alone, while the top line has seen little change from last year, it has seen significant improvements in 2 key players. Veteran Jason Arnott has been working on his puck control and passing, this has opened the ice for him more and has translated into better scoring opportunities. Zdeno Chara has finally blossomed into dominating force that the Clubbers desperately needed last year. If the preseason is any indication (8 hits in 22mins), the season will be long hard one for opposing players. Even the emergence of Denis Gauthier has been a pleasant surprise, his strong play has vaulted him onto the top line ahead of journeyman Adam Foote.

And what can be said about Cechmanek, the Clubbers believe that they finally have a presence in net that can keep them in close games, while Roman was brought to the Clubbers to provide stable goaltending, his value as a mentor to the young Fleury has been invaluable. With the drafting and subsequent signing of Fleury, Gm Porter was estactic “As far as I am concerned Marc-Andre was the steal of the draft, the kid is unpolished and still makes a lot of rookie mistakes but he is the future of this franchise. His skills and poise in net remind me a lot of a young Patrick Roy.”

The free agency market saw no immediate action from Clubbers management, while testing the market several times, GM Porter found the frenzy for UFAs a little too fiscally unreasonable. Instead the focus was on signing the rookies to long-term contracts, thus insuring the future. Over the past couple of seasons the team has slowly shifted from the finesse players of yesteryear to physically imposing players they have today. Currently the team has converted to the crash and bang style reminiscent of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 70’s. With a team average 6’2 -213lbs the Clubbers will send a lot of bodies flying this year. Coach Nolan claims “the key this year to the teams success will lie with their ability to grind the opposing teams players while avoiding costly penalties. We made a lot of mental mistakes last year, this year we are more mature and will not fall to those same retaliation penalties as we did last year.”

While Hopes seem high this year for some play-off hockey on The Rock, the rabid fans of the hockey club will surely love to see the cup come to St. Johns for the first time in their 3 year history.

Mike Oxolong

CBC News