Royals head to Clarenville with revamped roster

Corner Brook - The new look Corner Brook Royals are set to hit the ice Saturday against the Clarenville Caribous.

Royals general manager Wally Fitzpatrick had a busy off-season overhauling his roster in an attempt to improve on a recent series of disappointing campaigns. As a result, only nine players who dressed in last year's semi-final series against the Caribous will return to the fold this year.

Up front, veterans such as Morgan Warren, Steve North, Steve Hynes, Kirk Costello, Robbie Dunville and Richard Paul will be joined by new recruits Scott Doody, Ian Bown, Thomas Bailey and Timmy Caines. Former fan favourites Terry Ryan, Darren Colbourne, Todd Gillingham and Lenny Blanchard will also don the red, white and blue this season to form what Fitzpatrick hopes will be a formidable and diverse group of forwards.

"Our firepower should be phenomenal with the talent we've got there," Fitzpatrick told The Western Star. "If the younger skaters we have are taken under the wings of the older players, you're going to see a combination of youth, speed and experience all on four different lines."

Despite some nervous rumblings from Royals fans, Fitzpatrick says he has five defencemen currently signed, including returnees Mike Fougere and Chad Oake, as well as newcomers Dale Loveless, Chris Hynes and Jason Anthony. Loveless and Hynes played in the Avalon East Senior Hockey League last season with the Torbay Steelers, while Fitzpatrick describes Anthony as someone who has flown "under the radar in Newfoundland" hockey circles despite being pursued by the Halifax Mooseheads for the past few seasons.

After struggling to replace stalwarts like Ashley Coles and Randy Upshall, Fitzpatrick admits he's happy with the five defencemen he currently has signed and although players such as Colbourne have volunteered to fill in, he hopes to add more blueliners in the future.

"We feel a whole lot better now with the new signings," he said. "Right now, Mike Fougere and Chad Oake are our top two defencemen without a doubt and we're looking for big things from Chris Hynes and Jason Anthony. We realize Dale Loveless is going to take a while to be ready but we're willing to give him his shot at it. We're still exploring defencemen every day and we're going to improve. We're not finished yet looking for players, I keep saying there's a lot of irons in the fire and there still are."

Nova Scotia native Andrew Sim and Josh Hackett will share duties between the pipes for the Royals as replacements for Jeff Murphy and Mark Abbott and Rob French will return behind the bench as head coach.

Heading into the weekend series, Fitzpatrick says the Royals will have all players on hand with the exception of Ryan, who will be absent due to work commitments, and Paul, who is serving a suspension stemming from his involvement in the bench-brawl which occurred between the Royals and Caribous in Game 7 last year.

French won't be behind the bench for the weekend series because he is under suspension for the dust-up in Clarenville.

Regardless of the number of new faces on the squad, Fitzpatrick clearly has high expectations and is looking for immediate results.

"I'm not going to be patient," he said bluntly. "We're got too much to prove this year and we've got to start from the get-go."