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Lacrosse

Wells set for first season as Jr. Predators head coach, GM as training camp gets underway

Apr 14, 2023 | 1:18 PM

It was an off-season of change for the Prince Albert Predators Jr. Lacrosse team when they said farewell to long-time coach Tyson Fetch.

Fetch was the team’s coach for over a decade when this past off-season, he decided that it was time to hand over the reins to someone else. The team didn’t have to look far to find a replacement, however, as the club named assistant coach Lucas Wells as the new bench boss and general manager.

“The first couple games I’ll probably be nervous, but right now I’m excited and I’m looking forward to it,” Wells said. “Last year, Tyson helped me out a ton just teaching me the ins and outs of the Junior game.”

In addition to the new title, Wells added that he’s coached some of the players for years already, but not at this level of competition.

“I’ve coached the Bantam A teams in town here a couple times, obviously Junior is a big step up from that, but I’ve coached these kids for the last 4-5 years now all the way through. I started with this group in Bantam, so they kind of know what to expect from me and I kind of know what to expect from them.”

With the new season right around the corner, training camp began Friday and runs until Tuesday.

Wells explained what attendees can expect if they decide to tryout.

“We’ll start Friday night at 7 p.m., there will be fitness testing for the first hour and the next two hours will be up-tempo,” he said. “Just trying to get back into the groove of things getting our sticks working again and then as we move along through the weekend, we’ll up our drills and get into more of the experienced stuff. hopefully Saturday night, if there’s enough guys, we’ll have a scrimmage or a 5-on-5 type of thing.”

With the season set to start on Saturday, April 29, the Preds will be starting the season off on the road spending their first four games in Southern Saskatchewan.

To some, that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to start a season with a four-game road trip but to Wells, he’s excited for the opportunity to be away from home to start the year.

“I think that we’re going to have a pretty strong team this year, so I’m kind of hoping that we can come home with four wins and be leading the league,” he said. “The idea of us starting on the road is so that we can build that team character, team bonding. I mean, you’re living on a bus for two weekends so the guys get to know each other a lot better, become a lot closer, and we get our road games out of the way as well.”

After their four-game road trip, Prince Albert will host a doubleheader against Moose Jaw for their home opener on May 13. Game one is at 1 p.m. while game two is slated for 7 p.m.

logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann

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