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By Stephen Dafoe
Gibbons – Saturday night’s Noralta Junior C exhibition game between the Morinville Titans and Gibbons Broncos wasn’t so much a contest between two rival towns’ hockey teams as it was a contest between Titan hopefuls hoping to avoid a red pen through their names on the roster.
But the 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Broncos gave Head coach Jeff Montina and his coaching staff plenty of insight into who was and was not prepared to wear a Titans’ jersey heading into the 2010-2011 season.
“There was definitely some guys that played their way onto the team tonight, but there was definitely a few guys that played their way off this team,” Montina said after Saturday night’s drubbing.
“The power play wasn’t very good at all,” Montina said of the Titans’ second period. “That’s going to come in time as they play together and gel a little bit more. Overall, it’s kind of what I expected. I thought we’d be a little bit stronger, but it’ll come in time.”
Montina said the team had 38 or 39 players try out for the team this season, a number that was whittled down to 29 before Saturday night’s exhibition game. Another raft of players are scheduled to be cut this week.
The club has a couple skates and an exhibition game left before the regular season opens Oct. 8, when the Titans take on the Rivermen on home ice. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
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