PLK training camp wraps up
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An early start has the Pembroke Lumber Kings working harder and faster within a shorter time period to get ready.
With the season kicking off Labour Day weekend with the Central Canada Hockey League showcase in Kanata, the lads in red and white don't have a lot of time to get their act together, a fact coach and owner Dale McTavish acknowledges.
"We have a short time before the season," he said Saturday, following an inter-squad game during training camp at the Pembroke and Area Memorial Centre. "So, were wanting to get down to it sooner rather than later."
Before camp got rolling, McTavish said they already had been looking at the core of the team, and are now working hard to build around it. They have also reduced the number of players invited to camp due to the shorter time frame - as of Saturday, 41 players, which includes two goalies, are being evaluated, compared to the more than 70 which previous coach and owner Sheldon Keefe had run through their paces last year.
"You really have to know the team ahead of time," McTavish said, and to keep their focus in order to be ready in time. Keeping the camp small is a necessary step to achieving that goal.
So far, he and the coaching staff have been pleased with how the camp has been going.
"The guys have been working hard," McTavish said. "The plays are improving the intensity is getting better and their speed is going up."
With only a few slots left to fill on the team, the crunch really came down Sunday during the traditional Red and White game, which marks the end of training camp. How the players perform in this game will determine who will stay and who will be cut from the lineup, something the coaching staff will determine over the next couple of days.
McTavish said he plans to keep around a half dozen players for a round of exhibition games, which will serve as a shakedown cruise of the 2013-14 Lumber Kings, and help him and the staff finalize the roster.
The first game will be held in Carleton Place Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m., then the two teams head to Pembroke on Aug. 22 at the Pembroke and Area Community Centre with a 7:30 p.m. game.
Pembroke will head to Orleans to tangle with the Gloucester Rangers Aug. 24 at 2 p.m. and return to the PACC to host the North Bay Trappers Aug. 25 for a 4 p.m. start.
The regular season starts at the CCHL showcase in Kanata Aug. 30, and runs through the long weekend. The Lumber Kings will play three games: on Saturday, Aug 31, they face the Cornwall Colts at 4 p.m.; on Sunday, Sept. 1, it will be the Hawkesbury Hawks at 4:30 p.m.; and on Monday, Sept. 2 at 1:30 p.m., they round out the event by playing the Brockville Braves.
Stephen Uhler is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist