The Sarnia Sting make their home debut this weekend with a pair of games at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The Sting host the Flint Firebirds on Friday night, and welcome the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds to town on Saturday.
Sarnia won the season opener 6-2 in Saginaw on Saturday night, after high winds postponed their game in Sault St. Marie the night before.
Co-Owner and Associate Coach David Legwand expects the Firebirds to be hungry after getting hammered 12-1 by the Erie Otters last weekend.
"Obviously, they're going to be a little pissed off with what happened in Erie on Saturday," said Legwand. "I think we're going to have our hands full on Friday night but hopefully our kids are ready. Obviously, it's the home opener, it's going to be exciting. It should be loud in the arena, it should be full, and we should be ready to play."
Legwand said the team has the chance to have a strong season. He disputes some expert projections that have the team out of the playoffs by the end of the year.
"Our kids are ready to compete and ready to prove themselves. I think the Western Conference is wide, wide open," said Legwand. "There's not really one team that's going to take the bull by the horns. I don't see that, I think it's wide open for the taking. I think it's going to be a different atmosphere a little bit with the team. We're losing a player like Jordan Kyrou who can kind of do some things on his own, and this year we don't really have a guy like that. It's going to be doing it by committee and everyone doing it together."
Right now, the Sting have four overagers in Anthony Salinitri, Franco Sproviero, Theo Calvas, and Mitch Eliot. They can have all four on the roster but can only dress three of them.
Justin Fazio, Connor Schlichting, and Jordan Ernst won’t be back after playing as 20-year-olds this past season.
Returning players like Ryan McGregor, Hugo Leufvenius, Adam Ruzicka, and Sean Josling will be relied upon to provide offence.
The trio of Aidan Hughes, Blair Coffin and rookie Ethan Langevin will start the year in net.
The lineup features a lot of rookies, including Jacob Perreault, Justin McCombs, Theo Hill, and Ashton Reesor.
As always, you can hear all of the action live on 103.9FM and 1070AM CHOK.