The Sarnia Sting will drop the puck on a new season Friday night in Kitchener.
This year's hockey club features 19 returning players and six newcomers, including rookies Porter Martone and Carson Campbell.
Sting General Manager Dylan Seca said the team wants to have the identity of a hardworking hockey club.
"We'll be relentless," said Seca. "We should see a ton of effort in all situations and a team that's not willing to give up easily. We know it's a tough season, we know our division and our conference is really difficult and the Ontario Hockey League is the best junior league in the world. So, it'll be no easy nights and that's how we're approaching things."
Earlier this week, four Sting players were returned from NHL training camps including Ben Gaudreau, Ty Voit, Ryan Mast and Sandis Vilmanis. Seca said the energy level at Wednesday's practice was high following the return of those players.
"I think for anyone to go away to NHL camps it's a great experience, it'll raise their game, they'll have had the chance to be around great players and great coaches, so they'll bring that back to our group and hopefully that helps us as we need it down the stretch."
The Sting went 0-4 during the preseason and were outscored 20-10. Seca said he saw some pockets of decent hockey and some improvements from some players.
"But, if I said I was impressed? No. Do I put a lot of stock in the exhibition? No. We had lots of guys away and now finally we're all back together and our messaging has just been we're going to approach day to day, hour to hour, and let's go play hockey and be tough to play against, and let's see where the chips lie after 62 games."
Seca said the team will see an improved Kitchener Rangers team in their season opener.
"They gave us some trouble last year and they were around us in the standings, so we expect a really competitive game Friday."
The Sting will then head to Windsor Saturday night to face the Spitfires.
"They were obviously the best team in our conference last season," said Seca. "And the last time we saw them it left a bitter taste in our mouth in that playoff game. Every game that we'll play in our conference is going to be difficult."
Both games can be heard on CHOK (103.9FM/1070AM).
The Sarnia Sting finished eighth in the Western Conference last season and were eliminated by the Spitfires in six games in round one of the 2022 postseason.