There haven’t been a lot of surprises for Mike Vandekamp at the Cowichan Valley Capitals’ training camp.
Even though this is his first camp as Cowichan’s head coach, Vandekamp had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the majority of the invited players.
“I think a lot of it has been predictable,” the coach said. “You usually have a good idea of what guys are about before you get started. This year is unique; I had a little less knowledge going in. There have been more surprises to the pleasant side than the other way, but a lot of it has gone as expected.
“There’s not a lot of guys you don’t have a decent idea about before you go into camp. You’re not going in as blind as you used to.”
The first week of camp wrapped up last Friday with the inaugural Bill Dellebuur Cup game. The Caps renamed their annual intersquad game in honour of the longtime volunteer who died on Aug. 14 at the age of 84. Dellebuur’s sons Brent and Barry, and daughter Kristy (son Brad was not on hand), presented the cup to Team Red at the end of the contest, which also raised $900 for the Cowichan District Hospital Foundation.
The following night, the Caps played host to the Powell River Kings for their first exhibition game of the B.C. Hockey League preseason, winning 5-4 in overtime on Adam Conquest’s second goal of the game. The teams were tied at two goals apiece after one period, three goals apiece after two, and four goals apiece after three. Conquest potted the deciding marker just 17 seconds into OT. In addition to Conquest’s pair, the Caps got one each from Joel Brandinger, Luc Wilson and Brendan Cherwalk.
Following the weekend games, Vandekamp narrowed the roster down to 27 players, with cards available for 23 to start the season. The coaches have four games this week to help them make their final decisions. Training camp, Vandekamp noted, is a time for both preparation and evaluation.
“At the same time, we’re trying to prepare the team for the regular season and learn more as we go, and to evaluate not only who’s going to be here, but also what roles they’re going to play,” he said. “It’s a busy two weeks.”
As much as a coach can know about players he has never seen in action, it’s still important to see them all in action before making cuts, Vandekamp emphasized.
“Your opinion of a guy may vary from day to day,” he said. “You want to make sure to have patience and give everybody a fair chance. You want to make the right decision and not rush into it.”
Players from outside the current group could still factor into the roster the Caps begin the regular season with.
“There’s also the whole idea that we have to ice the best team that we can,” Vandekamp said. “I don’t think we know if we need to [add players from outside the group] yet, but if we need to, the option is still there.”
Teams tend to make a lot of changes between opening day to the end of the season, but Vandekamp would prefer to make as few moves as possible.
“I’m not a big fan of the revolving-door kind of thing,” he said. “The most successful teams I’ve had are the ones where we used the least number of cards and made the fewest number of changes.”
The Capitals’ preseason will continue this week as they play a home-and-home with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Tuesday (at the Island Savings Centre at 7 p.m.) and Wednesday (in Port Alberni), and another against the Victoria Grizzlies on Friday (at the Island Savings Centre at 7 p.m.) and Saturday (in Sooke).
Seven of the players left in camp didn’t play against Powell River on Saturday, but they’ll still see lots of action.
“Everybody should get into between two and four of the games,” Vandekamp said. “That should be enough for us to get a feel for what we’ve got and make the right decision.”
The Capitals 2018-19 regular-season opener takes place on Friday, Sept. 7 when the Bulldogs visit the Island Savings Centre.
