Tim Fragle isn’t exhibiting too much exhibition satisfaction yet.
The G.M. and head coach of the Sherwood Park Crusaders is quite cautious in downplaying his team’s successful 3-0 start to the pre-season, not wanting a lineup of new players vying for 12 vacated positions to start getting ahead of itself.
The Cru are the only undefeated team in the North to have played three exhibition matches, defeating the Bonnyville Pontiacs 2-1 on the road last Wednesday and then hitting the home confines of the Sherwood Park Arena over the weekend to record a 3-2 victory over the Spruce Grove Saints and another 4-2 win over Bonnyville.
“From my perspective, we haven’t been that great,” Fragle said. “We have three wins, but exhibition games can be very misleading. You play the games to win so that is a positive. We still have 35 guys on the roster and we’ve had pretty good results, but at the same time we’re not jumping up and down. We still have lots of room for improvement.”
The Crusaders have not made any further cuts since their main camp concluded, wanting to give all of the players a chance to showcase themselves in game action before rushing to judgement.
“We wanted to get through at least these first three games,” Fragle said. “We still have four guys at Western Hockey League camps. During this upcoming week we would like to get down to the high 20s for our final three exhibition games.”
Fragle said those cuts will not be easy as the players have been making the choices difficult.
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