Skip to content

Creston Valley Thunder Cats hosting training camp, exhibition games next week

The Creston Valley Thunder Cats return to the Jon Bucyk Arena for two exhibition games on Aug. 30 and 31...
40063crestoncreston_valley_thunder_cats

It’s been over six months since the Creston Valley Thunder Cats were last on the ice, having lost 5-3 to the Columbia Valley Rockies on Feb. 16 in their final game of the season.

But they will return to the John Bucyk Arena for two exhibition games next weekend, hosting the Beaver Valley Nitehawks on Aug. 30 and the Rockies on Aug. 31, giving spectators a chance to see hopefuls who remain after the Monday-Wednesday training camp.

About 50 players are expected at the training camp, nearly doubling the mere 28 who attended last year’s.

“We have a few coming to camp that are supposed to be high-end players that I haven’t seen yet,” said head coach and general manager Josh Hepditch, returning for a second season.

Along with those are up to about 16 returning players, including locals Jaymes Veitch, Matti Jmaeff and Colby Livingstone, although the latter two will be trying out for Junior A hockey after the Thunder Cats camp. Other locals trying out will include Nick Mottl and Curtis Luke, and 15-year-olds Ethan Plotnikoff and Logan Wullum will train with the team this season, with the hope of having them join in the 2014-2015 season.

Other hopefuls are Maverick Lynes, a 17-year-old defenceman from Grand Forks, who attended the Thunder Cats’ spring camp.

“He shows a lot of good potential,” said Hepditch. “He’s a smart, good-skating defenceman.”

Dillon Bogart, who played for the Missoula Maulers, is also a potential Thunder Cat, along with a goalie and forward from Notre Dame, and three boys who played Junior B in Calgary.

“They showed pretty good potential at the spring camp,” said Hepditch.

Hepditch was also hopeful that Brandon Formosa, a top scorer from two seasons ago, would return.

With a possible core of over a dozen veterans, this season could prove to be successful.

“We would expect to start right up where we finished,” he said. “We have good players coming back who know the style of game I like to play.”

Last season, the Thunder Cats finished at the bottom of the Eddie Mountain Division, with 17 wins and 28 losses, many roster changes resulting in a slow start.

“We had a really tough start last year,” said Hepditch. “Between October and November we had two big losing streaks that dug a big hole for us, too big to get out of coming down the stretch.”

Two big losses late in the season made advancing to the playoffs impossible, but Hepditch feels that the season was a positive one regardless.

“I would call it a winning year — from a start with 28 kids in camp to beating some of the top teams,” said Hepditch.

During the off-season, Hepditch remained involved in the sport, playing hockey in the U.S., and assistant coaching the B.C. Aboriginal team, which won the national championship in Montreal.

He was also a coach on the reality show Hit the Ice, which gives Aboriginal kids from across the country three weeks of training, then has them play in front of scouts. During the course of the program, they are helped taught by over a half-dozen NHL players.

“They get to do some big-time stuff,” Hepditch said.

He’s now looking forward to starting a new season with this year’s Creston Valley Thunder Cats.

“To have 16 come back is a nice start,” he said. “They’re hungry to get going again.”