The feeling of hockey is in the air, and for Morden Thunder coach Kyle Nixon, the excitement for the upcoming season is building, and it can't come soon enough.
What a difference a year makes
Heading into year two is a much different feel from a a year ago, according to Nixon. "I think from the perspective of our school, and just selfishly just for me, kind of having an idea of what I'm getting involved in, not having everything be brand new, makes for preparing for the season a little easier. Kind of understanding what goes on at the start of the school year, what tryout camp is going to look like, having a bit of an idea of what the hockey situation is in terms of who's trying out, and who's looking at AAA. All the different moving parts at the start of the year, having familiarity with it certainly helps at the start of the year, and not just jumping into it. It's a big difference from figuring it all out as you go along."
Rolling positives over into 25/26
"I think I was very fortunate with the group last year coming off a championship season," Nixon says when talking about building off of last year. "Understanding the commitment, the time that it takes to be successful, the guys knew it. When you look at the potential for the group this year, I mean, you never really know in high school hockey who you may lose, or who you may get, but we have the possibility we do have a lot of guys return from last years team. That can be something we build on for this season, we're hopefully going to have a core there that has been through a high school hockey season, understand what my expectation are throughout the year, and also have seen some success. If we're able to build around a group that's kind of been there and done that, that should help us early on, and throughout the regular season."
Culture and identity in place
Another exciting thing for Nixon is that coming into year two, things are somewhat established, and he can teach the new kids the Thunder way. "It'll make a huge difference, having the players understand what my coaching style is, what our staff expects from players as students athletes, as well as hockey players. Those things won't be things that have to go through a big learning curve. I think one of the challenges last year was, Morden's program has seen a lot of success, but anytime you get a new coach, there's an adjustment period. To hopefully not have to go through that, or at least in the same way we did last year, I think will help build on what we started last year, and try and continue to get better. To have success, and have guys understand what it means to be a part of the Morden Thunder program. We as a staff are all back, so some of those things won't be guesswork, it'll be things that most guys understand. We have expectations, and they'll be expected to follow those things to be successful hockey players, and represent their school the right way."
Training camp
With camp right around the corner, Nixon has given lots of thought to what he wants to see from those looking to earn a spot. "We put a decent amount of time into preparing our goals for camp, and our biggest thing is that kids can always show, regardless of what grade they are in or their hockey background, they can always show how hard they work. They can show their leadership, how hard they work, the type of teammate they are, and their attitude. They'll have chances to show their own individual hockey sense and hockey skill. It's not about playing a position or understanding a role, or anything like that when it comes to camp, it's simply how hard you work, what your attitude is, and then the ability you have as a hockey player will show up throughout. Between skill work, large group tryout skates, and hopefully some inter-squads and exhibition games, we're hoping to nail down what our team will look like by the end of September."
Open invite
The community is encouraged to come out and take in camp, something Nixon says they really don't need an invite for, they already know they are welcome. "Last year, one of the things that surprised me, was just how many people came out for our skates. We had a really good turnout for the tryouts, a lot of parents and people were wondering what the team was going to look like. Maybe having a new coach was something they wanted to see how that process worked, too. There were a lot of people in the stands watching the skates early on, which was interesting. We start our first skate on September 17th, in Morden. We have three or four tryout skates, we have a home and home exhibition set up against Sanford, which is nice, seeing a team outside of our league, it'll be a little different. Hopefully, end of September or start of October, we're hopeful we can get our roster where it needs to be."
Polo game feeling strong
Standing on the bench, Nixon jokes that he's not too worried about how he looks working games, he knows the concern is how the team looks on the ice. "I'm pretty sure no one is watching me behind the bench," he says with a laugh. "Everyone is there to watch the kids, so if I got a new tie or a new hairdo, I don't think there'd be a lot of people that would take notice. I think I'll be sticking with golf shirt, or semi-casual look behind the bench."