Around 70 hockey players will do what they can to be part of the the orange and black this upcoming Manitoba Junior Hockey League season.

Winkler Flyers Main Camp starts today.

"We want to see some guys with a good work ethic and drive to beat out some of the other guys. We want to see the pace up high and from the guys that are coming back, they know the standard and what we expect moving forward. They're going to push the new guys to get to that level and help them out," explained Flyers head coach and general manager Ken Pearson.

The last two season Winkler has fallen in the Semi-Final and the Flyers are preparing for another solid season. With a number of graduating players from last years team comes a few new faces and Pearson is happy with how the off-season went in terms of bringing in new players to help fill those vacancies.

"I think that our offseason went really well. We were able to fill some of the holes of the guys who graduated," said Pearson. "I think we are going to have some really good battles up front and on our blue line we've made a number of acquisitions and signed some players back there. We are just excited to get things going and see how things turn out."

The team names represent four memorable Winkler Flyers alumni. Duane Derksen, Don Gibson, Jeff McGill and Colby Genoway. All four players were great players for the Flyers and all four also went on to receive NCAA Division I Scholarships.

The schedule for the 2017 Main Camp is as follows;

Wednesday, August 30th

Registration 1 (GIBSON) 1:30-2:00pm (Arena Lobby)

Practice 1 (GIBSON) 2:30pm

Registration 2 (DERKSEN) 2:30-3:00pm (Arena Lobby)

Practice 2 (DERKSEN) 3:30pm

Registration 3 (MCGILL) 3:30-4:00pm (Arena Lobby)

Practice 3 (MCGILL) 4:30pm

Registration 4 (GENOWAY) 4:30-5:00pm (Arena Lobby)

Practice 4 (GENOWAY) 5:30pm


Thursday, August 31st

Game 1: (GIBSON VS DERKSEN) 10:00am

Game 2: (MCGILL VS GENOWAY) 12:00pm

Game 3: (DERKSEN VS MCGILL) 3:30pm

Game 4: (GIBSON VS GENOWAY) 5:30pm


Friday, September 1st

Game 5: (GENOWAY VS DERKSEN) 10:00am

Game 6: (GIBSON VS MCGILL) 1:00pm


Saturday, September 2nd

Alumni Cup Intrasquad Game - 12pm (Free Admission)

Meanwhile, your first taste of pre-season action will be Tuesday, September 5th when the Winnipeg Blues come to the Winkler Recreation Complex for a 7:30 p.m. game. 

Again this year the Flyers will be competing for the Goose Cup, with a home and home series with the Thief River Falls Norskies. Last year Winkler won the inaugural Goose Cup.