CALGARY – A slow start, a key late-season injury, and a tough playoff match-up ultimately plagued the 2007-08 Calgary Dinos men's hockey squad that had high expectations and significant potential.
Following the program's 11th consecutive second-round playoff exit, Dinos coach Scott Atkinson enters his eighth year behind the bench with a renewed focus on defence and goaltending.
The biggest loss from a year ago is Jared Aulin, a CIS first team All-Canadian, who had just a single year of eligibility following a brief NHL career. A late season concussion kept the former Los Angeles King from playing in the conference semifinal against the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon, which ultimately factored into the team's hard-fought series loss. Aulin finished with 34 points in just 16 games.
Also gone is five-year forward Ryan Annesley, the reigning Canada West scoring champion who together with Aulin led the Dinos to a 15-3 record in their last 18 games of the year.
While the loss of Aulin and Annesley will certainly be difficult to replace, the Dinos boasted five of the top 10 scorers in Canada West last season and six with 27 points or better. Brett O'Malley, Reid Jorgensen, Torrie Wheat, and Aaron Richards all return to the line-up, and Atkinson is confident that new additions to this already solid group will help the team become an all-around force in Canada West.
“We ultimately wanted to get faster and grittier out there, which will enable us to play solid hockey on both ends of the ice,” said Atkinson. “In a big rink, it's important to play with speed without sacrificing any toughness.”
The Dinos will continue to play on the international-sized ice surface of Father David Bauer Arena.
The top line of Jorgensen, Wheat, and Richards should have no problem creating offense for the Dinos. It is the athletes behind them that will need to step up quickly this season.
“We put together great depth behind a very competitive top line, which should help us become a more complete team,” Atkinson continued. “The new guys all have significant WHL experience, which is a key in the CIS.”
The highlight of the 2008 recruiting class is Russell, Man. native Brock Nixon, a former Kamloops Blazer who ended his junior career with the Calgary Hitmen. He scored 213 points in his five-year WHL career, including a 79-point outburst in 2006-07. In last season's playoff run with the Hitmen, Nixon scored nine goals and added nine helpers in 16 games, finishing second on the team and eighth in the league post-season scoring race.
The addition of Nixon and defenceman Ryan Gillen brings the total number of former Hitmen playing for the Dinos to seven.
Newcomers Karey Peiper (Coronation, Alta.) and Andrew McBride (Barrie, Ont.) join a veteran offensive nucleus to create a very dynamic mix of size, skill and speed amongst the forwards, while defensemen Trevor Koverko (Toronto) – a former draft pick of the New York Rangers – Gillen (Golden, B.C.), and Jerrid Sauer (Medicine Hat, Alta.) are the first year players who will provide depth on the blue line.
An interesting sub-plot with this year's squad will be the competition for playing time between the pipes. The goaltending situation remains a question mark for the Dinos, who have been without a solid number-one netminder for several seasons. Ottawa native Jeff Weber returns after backstopping Calgary to a solid second half of last season, but he will be pushed by the addition of Dustin Butler, who will return to his hometown after a five-year stint with the Prince Albert Raiders.
Veterans Jordan McLaughlin and Nathan Deobald will also be in the goaltending mix.
The Dinos open Canada West play with a two-game series at home against the UBC Thunderbirds Sept. 26-27, the earliest start to a season in conference history. Puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights at Father David Bauer Arena.
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