It may still be August and the sun is (intermittently) shining, but hockey season is just around the corner.
The Grand Forks Border Bruins begin their training camp this week with a sign-up on Aug. 28 and ice sessions from Friday to Sunday (Aug. 29-31).
The Bruins also have a couple of exhibition games on the weekend. On Saturday, they travel to Fruitvale for a game against the league champions from Beaver Valley. On Sunday, the Bears travel West for an evening game against Osoyoos.
The first home action for Grand Forks is Tuesday, Aug. 2 when the Bruins host Osoyoos.
Expect an exciting new team with new coach and general Brad Snyder. Snyder comes to the Boundary after several years of coaching at various levels including Junior A in Manitoba.
“We want to get Grand Forks going in the right direction,” said Snyder. “The people I’ve met here—everyone seems to be pretty happy with the Bruins. We just want to make it more successful.”
The regular season starts on Friday, Sept. 12 when the Bruins host the first of three straight home games. GF hosts 100 Mile House on Friday, Spokane on Saturday and Castlegar on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“We have a lot of quality returning players coming back to the Bruins,” he said. “They’re looking forward to getting back on the ice and just want to prove themselves. We’ve also got an exciting crop of new guys coming in. We’ve got a few from the United State, a few from Manitoba, a few from Saskatchewan. I think it’s going to be a good year.”
Snyder said there are about seven or eight players signed on from last year’s team including centre Michael Rand, who finished fourth in Bruin scoring last year, rugged winger Tucker Brown, and big defenceman Reid Robertson.
“We’ve also get several players in junior A camps and if that doesn’t work out they could be back,” added Snyder.
