Pistons push ahead in season planning

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2020 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spending six weeks, involving three teams, Steinbach Pistons GM Paul Dyck finally pulled the trigger on a major trade last week as the team works towards playing hockey this fall.

In other words, an actual hockey season, as the Manitoba Junior Hockey continues the planning for what they hope will be a normal 60-game season in the coming year.

Various scenarios are being drawn up and considered, but it`s looking more and more likely that there will be Pistons hockey this season, beginning, according to tentative plans, with the season opener on Sept. 25, which would be about a week later than last season. But that Sept. 25 league kick-off is the approximate date the league has started in some of the past years, so it is not really unusual.

Meanwhile, as most of the world went into a lockdown this spring as COVID-19 spread its wings, after the initial shock of the Pistons’ season coming to an abrupt end, eventually the Pistons and the MJHL looked ahead to a possible resumption of play in the fall.

As most of you will recall, the Pistons were on a mission last year, well on their way to possibly winning their third league crown, when the pin was pulled on the season. The Pistons had posted the best regular season record in the loop and had just completed a four-game sweep of the Winnipeg Blues in the first round of the MJHL playoffs.

Last week, the Pistons announced they had traded one of their top players, forward Carter Loney to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL, in exchange for Matthew Osadick, a former standout forward with the Swan Valley Stampeders.

Osadick, from nearby Grande Pointe, is no stranger to the area as he played ‘AAA’ Midget Hockey with the Eastman Selects before joining the Stampeders and played against the Pistons two years ago when they defeated the Pistons in the playoffs enroute to the MJHL finals that year.

Osadick, 20, comes to the Pistons with a pedigree of scoring. In his final year with the Stampeders in the 2018-19 season he had 63 points in only 45 games, including 29 goals. And in their playoff run that year that passed through Steinbach, he had 11 goals and 17 points in 18 games.

This was a complicated trade that Dyck says was six weeks in the making. Loney, the only MJHL player listed by NHL Central Scouting for this year’s NHL draft, had 50 points in 52 games and was the MJHL Rookie of the Year last season.

But he had requested a trade to the BCHL for next season, where he had family connections. Dyck says he has a texting trail of about 200 messages in trying to solidify this trade, which also involved the Trail Smoke Eaters, which is where Osadick was last season.

“Carter is an electric player,” said Dyck, “he will have a great future. You’re not always sure what you’ll get in return, we are very pleased that it worked out as well as it did.”

After that 2018-19 season in Swan Valley, Osadick had also requested a trade to the BCHL, where he was subsequently traded to Merritt and then on to Trail.

But Osadick told The Carillon this week he was happy to be back in the MJHL, “I have heard nothing but good things about the Pistons, it’s close to home and I grew up with Troy Beauchemin (Pistons forward).”

Although he had heard rumblings that the Pistons might be interested in him, his plans were to return to Trail next season. “It was still a surprise when I got the call.”

“The atmosphere playing in Steinbach has always been very good, especially in the playoffs, it’s something I’m looking forward to.”

He says doesn’t know who he will be playing with in the Pistons’ line-up and for that matter Dyck says that is something they will be working on throughout the course of training camp and into the season, “but he will play a prominent role in our line-up, he is a tremendous skater.”

Osadick will be one of six 20-year-olds in the Pistons line-up. At the recent MJHL AGM, the league reduced to six the maximum number of 20-year-olds on a team for next season, down one from last year. This completes the process where in the past teams were allowed nine 20-year-olds, which has subsequently been reduced by one each year and now will align with CJHL standards.

Meanwhile, plans continue for the upcoming season. The MJHL is currently working on the schedule for the coming year, and expect to release it sometime this month.

“We expect to have a normal 60-game schedule this season,” said Dyck.

With that being said the league continues to work on and tweak their Return to Play Protocols which will be finalized in the coming weeks as the league moves towards a full plan for the return to hockey in September.

The end of June also marked the departure of longtime MJHL commissioner Kim Davis, who has given way to Kevin Saurette, the MJHL’s Director of Operations the past four seasons. In recognition of his 18-year contribution to the league, going forward the MJHL Rookie of the Year, will be awarded the Kim Davis Trophy.

The league also announced that the 2020 MJHL Prospect Development Camp will go ahead this summer, to be held again at the Seven Oaks Arena Complex in Winnipeg, July 23-25. The camp is by invite only geared towards current MJHL Prospects born in the years 2003 and 2004 and who are eligible to play in the MJHL for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, the Pistons annual golf tournament will also go ahead this year and will be held August 26 at Quarry Oaks. However, due to the COVID restrictions there will be no banquet this year (players will be fed throughout the day) and also instead of a shotgun start, tee times will be held throughout the day, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

The Pistons are planning to open camp with the Prospects Camp on Sept. 5, with their rookie game against the Selkirk Steelers on Labour Day, followed by the opening of the main camp on Sept. 8.

As far season ticket sales for the coming season, Dyck says renewals have been very strong, perhaps as good, as or better than they have ever been for this time of the year. “We are very much on target, the response has been very good.”