One Selects team will play a pair of games in Beausejour this weekend and the other will face the Esso Cup hosts in Morden.

The Eastman Selects will open the 2016-2017 Manitoba "AAA" Midget Hockey League season against the Southwest Cougars on Saturday and the Yellowhead Chiefs on Sunday at the Sun-Gro Centre.

"We're a very fast team," said first-year head coach Dennis Senebald. "We have a lot of good speed up front. We have some bigger D on the backend and some good goaltending. We're going to keep things pretty simple for the start and try to get some wins on the board hopefully early and just try to build off that."

Eastman won 40 of 44 games last season and after playoff series victories over the Cougars and Chiefs, lost out to the Winnipeg Wild in the final.

"The coaching staff is definitely looking forward to the games this weekend. It's been a long haul through tryouts and I'm glad everythings over. It's always a difficult process releasing players at any level but were definitely excited to get the season going and see how we're going to make out."

"Our expectations are very high going in but realistic. As the season moves on we want to be peaking at the right time going into playoffs and then build from there."

This is the start of what will be a lengthy season for the Selects who will host the 2017 Western Regional championship in April.

 

The Manitoba Female "AAA" Midget Hockey League season begins this weekend and the Eastman Selects will be playing in the arena that will be the home of the 2017 Esso Cup in April.

The Selects will take on the Pembina Valley Hawks on Saturday and Sunday at the Huron Arena in Morden.

"Everybody is chomping at the bit," said head coach Bill Bram. "We've had nine games already. We're working on our lines and it is coming together. The kids are very excited."

It was a busy month of September as Eastman played five games at the Stoney Creek Showcase Hockey Tournament in Hamilton and four more at the Central Plains Capitals tournament in Portage.

The Selects have an idea what to expect from Pembina Valley this weekend as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Hawks last weekend in Portage.

"We didn't play our best game," said Bram. "We'll be ready. It's a long year and you got to start somewhere. They're hosting the Esso Cup so it's great to start against them."