Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KIJHL HOCKEY

Kamloops Storm preparing to kick-off exhibition games under new COVID-19 rules

Oct 14, 2020 | 5:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — There’s a buzz inside the Mac Island Sports Centre these days. For the past five weeks, the Kamloops Storm has been practicing. Then practicing. And practicing some more.

“September 8th, we started our training camp,” Storm Owner and GM Matt Kolle says. “Since that time, we’ve got our roster down to 27 hopefuls. we are carrying 25 [players] this season, so we are pretty close to carrying the line-up we’ll be carrying forward.”

It’s not that often a junior hockey club gets five straight weeks of practice to open a season. Storm Head Coach Steve Gainey says he’s pleased with how his players have handled the delayed start to the season.

“Then guys are in good spirits,” Gainey says. “They’re getting along really well, which we love to see; the camaraderie builds over that time. We like to think that we’ve come a ways, but it’s hard to tell without that competition.”

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That competition will arrive later this week. The Storm heads to Revelstoke to take on the rival Grizzlies on Thursday night before both teams return to Kamloops for the back end of a home-and-home exhibition series on Friday. Safe to say the players are hungry for a game.

“We’ve been waiting, waiting, for so long,” forward Payton Kelly says. “The last, like three weeks we’ve been waiting just to get into a game, have some fun with the guys. See how we’re going to do.”

“We’re pretty eager,” goalie Jakob Drapeau says. “The boys have been looking forward to getting on the ice and proving what they can actually do.”

For now, these exhibition games will be played in a bubble. No fans will be allowed in either building to take in the first action of the new season.

“The way it looks now is it’s the fifty participants included on the ice, as well as the ten operational staff in the building to run the game,” Kolle says. “So no fans, for now.”

The Storm’s head coach says his players are used to playing in a rink that’s less than full capacity.

“The last few years playing at Memorial Arena, we haven’t been used to playing for full crowds,” Gainey says. “Shouldn’t be too much for us as an organization to get used to. That’s not to say we’re not excited about the feeling of having fans one day.”

With the move back to the friendly confines of the Olympic ice at Mac Island and a team full of local hockey products, Kolle says he’s excited about what this team could accomplish.

“We are absolutely a heavy Kamloops team this year,” Kolle says. “When you look at our roster, the majority of our roster, this year – there’s a lot of prospects for the next level on this club. Players are coming to the rink ready to play, they’re eager to get to the next level. They want to be hockey players. That’s part of the excitement with this roster, this year.”