Exhibition play shows a lot of promise for the Whitecourt Wolverines

The Whitecourt Wolverines kicked off the home season with their first exhibition game at the Scott Safety Centre on Wednesday, August 28. A large audience of fans were out to see the players and to get a glimpse of what the team will be once the roster is complete later in the year. With only a handful of returning players still on the docket and a new coach at the helm, this year is shaping up to be a new birth for the hockey club.

Back in March, Shawn Martin was named as the third Coach/General Manager for the team. Martin previously served as the Assistant Coach/GM for the Wolverines over the last two years. Now that he has stepped up into the top spot, Martin said he is excited to bring in a new team for fans. “We’re a different hockey team than last year. We’re going to be a little quicker and a little more skilled.”

One thing that caught his eye on Wednesday was the crowd in the stands. “We would love to see attendance up.  Our inter-squad game was excellent, and this exhibition game is really, really good for attendance. The excitement is there for sure.” Over the next few months, Martin and the team will be making hard decisions on who stays and who goes. “We made a lot of changes already, so we are just trying to make sure we make the right decisions going forward so that we have the right 25 players here.”

When asked what he plans to focus on with the team, Martin said that he wants to bring in a more exciting brand of hockey. “We have to play strong defensively and add a little more entertainment for the fans.” He said that he hopes that will win them a lot more games. As they are still in evaluation mode, scores don’t matter much, but for fans, it’s always exciting to see the home team take a big win. 

Wednesday’s exhibition game against the Sherwood Park Crusaders ended in explosive fashion with the Wolverines winning 8-1. Fans hope to see more of that going forward. The regular season kicks up in just a couple short weeks with the home opener on September 13 against the Bonnyville Pontiacs. Martin invites fans to fill the seats to welcome in the 2019/2020 hockey season.