By Shaun Penner

Storm Season

Storm officially kick season off in Fort McMurray Friday night

Sep 13, 2019 | 3:12 PM

The Grande Prairie Storm kick off their 2019-2020 AJHL regular season tonight, as they open on the road in Fort McMurray against the Oil Barons.

The squad will be looking to ride the momentum of strong showing in the pre-season into the regular campaign. The team went 5-1, including four straight victories to close out the exhibition schedule.

Head Coach Matt Keillor says his team has shown him that they are sticking to his game plan and keeping it simple.

“The main focus was to keep reinforcing our identity, which is just a hard working, aggressive team,” said Keillor. “We really felt that was consistent all the way through, even in our one loss in Trail.”

That identity will be that of a much younger squad this season, compared to last year’s. Out are the top 11 point-getters from last year (including Alex Nordstrom, who is currently in training camp with the Fargo Force of the USHL). That leaves a lot of gaps to fill in, especially up front.

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Keillor isn’t worried about having a younger squad, though.

“You look at the National Hockey League, it just gets younger and younger every year,” said Keillor. “Last year, Mark (Bomersback) and the scouting staff put together a lot of the ’01 group. Moving into this year, we knew we wanted to surround that 2001 group with some more players and really build around that core.”

That core being the likes of Nathan Morgan, Ethan Strang, Bryce Osepchuk and Lukas Konaschuk among many others.

Outside of the 20-year-old Sutton twins (Jarin and Devin), along with four 19-year-olds, including new captain Jackson Wozniak, the remainder of the roster is 18 or younger.

With this younger roster, Keillor doesn’t see the team taking a drop in the standings this year. Entering his third full season behind the Storm bench, Keillor has led the franchise to improvements on it’s record in each of those seasons. To take a dip would be unlike Keillor’s style, and making the playoffs is something he comes to expect from his team.

“We want to be a contender every single year, just like Spruce Grove or the Brooks Bandits,” said Keillor. “Everyone wants to win, and it’s been a big culture shift here. Now going into our third year, we’ve kind of established the culture that we’re looking for.

One area of consistency fans will see with the new-look team is the goaltending duo of Kaeden Lane and Lars Kaliel, as both return for their second seasons with the club. Though Lane got the bulk of the starts in the regular season last year, Keillor has been impressed by both of his goaltenders so far, which he says will mean more action for the Grande Prairie born Kaliel.

“We’re confident in both these guys, and I think you’ll see Lars get a lot more starts this year, especially early on in the season,” said Keillor. “Let these guys create an internal battle together. They work very well together, and they push each other, so we expect nothing less.”

Keillor did tip his hand though, saying Lane will get the start tonight in game one of the double header in Fort Mac.

Face off goes at 7:30 tonight, and game two of the double header will go tomorrow at the same time.

The team will play in Whitecourt on Tuesday, before they finally return home for their home opener on September 20, when they host the Lloydminster Bobcats for a double header.