This year's Sarnia Sting team will be a younger and more inexperienced squad, but they're still looking to build on the momentum from last season's historic playoff run.
The club opens its Ontario Hockey League schedule on Friday night as they host the Windsor Spitfires at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The Sting had a strong preseason with four wins in five games, including two against Windsor.
Head Coach Alan Letang is excited to get the campaign underway.
"It's been a long training camp, but it's been a good training camp for our group," said Letang. "Our guys are excited to get going for real. The wins and the goals are going to count now. We've had some good practices and I think they're looking forward to getting started."
Letang said despite a lot of fresh faces, he's optimistic the team can have a successful season with the returning players having an extra year under their belts.
"They knew what it took last year and I think they feel that we fell a tad short," he said. "I think they're excited to get going. We've been working with a real good group of young kids that have come in with the attitude of hard work trumps a lot of talent."
Letang said it'll take a full team effort to be competitive.
"We're going have to be a group of 22 players night in and night out and every night there's going to have to be a different guy that's going to step up. That's kind of what our identity will be."
Letang knows the Spitfires will pose a tough test.
"I think it's going to be no different than when we played them last year," he said. "They're going to play a fast paced transition game and they've got some dangerous forwards. We want to limit their scoring chances. They're coming off of a season last year where I think they also felt they fell a bit short. They've got a little bit of something to prove. When you get off to a strong start, you can bank a few extra points. I expect them to come in and play hard. They're dangerous on the powerplay."
Last season was the Sting's best in franchise history. They advanced all the way to the OHL's Western Conference final before being eliminated by the London Knights in six games.
A look at this year's roster can be found below:
As always, you can hear every Sarnia Sting game on CHOK with Leigh Cunningham and Patrick DesRochers.
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New additions:
Andrew LeBlanc
Jacob LeBlanc
Roman Kukumberg
Ryan Brown
Daylen Moses
Lane Sim
Hughston Hurt
James Barr
Nathan Omeri
Dennis Lominac
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Confirmed returning players:
Ben Gaudreau
Nick Surzycia
Marko Sikic
Cooper Way
Zach Filak
Sandis Vilmanis
Easton Wainwright
Tyson Doucette
Lukas Fischer
Mitch Young
Owen MacDonald
Joshua Hoover
Carson Hall
Sean Doherty
Karsen Chartier
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Players who won't be back:
Ryan Mast
Nolan Burke
Ethan Ritchie
Ty Voit
Nolan Dillingham
Christian Kyrou
Luca Del Bel Belluz
Ethan Del Mastro
Sasha Pastujov
Marcus Limpar-Lantz
Brenden Anderson