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Photo credit: Grande Prairie Storm/Facebook.
By Curtis Galbraith
Grande Prairie Storm

Grande Prairie Storm open play at the Centennial Cup Friday night

May 9, 2025 | 2:52 PM

The Grande Prairie Storm open play at the Centennial Cup Friday night in Calgary.

They will take on the Greater Sudbury Cubs from Ontario. Game time will be 7:30.

Head coach Chris Schmidt says after getting over the disappointment of losing in the AJHL final, the players are looking forward to playing again.

“I think (they’re) excited. We had a good week of practice leading up to coming to Calgary, you know intense, (and a) lot of excitement to keep it going and hopefully do well here in Calgary.”

He adds that an extended break makes it hard to stay sharp.

“We gave them a handful of days right after we lost (in the AJHL final) just so the guys could recover from injury, recharge the battery, then got back into practice.”

“Of course, you’re trying to keep intensity levels up. It’s just hard because it’s not a game, and that’s the difference, right? We’re going to have to, as quickly as we can, get into game intensity.”

Schmidt says a lot of friends and family will be cheering on his team.

“I know leading up to it, that the (number) of people flying in, our player’s families (are) flying in, (means) we’ll have a pretty good contingent of friends and family (on hand).”

“I know there are some Grande Prairie hardcore fans that will be down here as well. It should be pretty good for us.”

Several Grande Prairie Police Service vehicles gave the Storm team bus a police escort out of Grande Prairie when the team left to play in the championship.

The Storm also play the Kam River Fighting Walleye May 11 at 7:30 p.m., the Trenton Golden Hawks May 13 at 4 p.m. and the Northern Manitoba Blizzard May 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Schmidt says he has seen some of the Storm’s opponents on video. He says this can indicate tendencies, but it is had to tell what exactly they are doing. They planned to watch some of their opponents when play opened on Thursday.

He adds worrying about their own game is the best approach for the Storm. When asked who he thought their toughest opponent might be, Schmidt says it could come down to the hottest goalie on any given night.

“In a short tournament with this many different teams that we haven’t seen, it’s maybe a hot goalie, maybe it’s a hot power play that we have to play against. It just depends.”

“For us, just let’s worry about our business and then we’ll see where the chips fall.”

The AJHL champion Calgary Canucks are also taking part in the Centennial Cup as the host team.

Updated scores and standings can be found here.

by Curtis Galbraith