Preds hope to improve record second half of season

The holiday break is as good a time as any for Niagara Predators coach Kevin Taylor to assess his first season behind the bench with the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL). 

Just past the half-way point of the season, the Preds are in sixth place in the GMHL’s South Division with a record of 10-12-3, and 17 games remaining in their 42-game schedule. 

“The goal all year has been third or fourth place,” Taylor told The Local. “When you consider the games we’ve played, there are two losses that I’m still bothered by. Take those away and we’d be at .500 at the Christmas break.”

The two losses to which Taylor is referring are most likely two of their three overtime losses — the 6-5 loss on Nov. 11 to the first-place North York Renegades and the 5-4 loss Nov. 25 to the fifth-place St. George Ravens. 

The loss to the Renegades was a hard-fought, physical back-and-forth affair that saw Niagara give up the lead three times. The Renegades potted the winning goal two minutes into the overtime period. Taylor was happy to come out with the single point, but after having lost 9-0 in their previous match against the Renegades, it was frustrating to be so close to victory and watch it slip away.

Newcomer Cameron Savoie tallied a hat trick in the loss to the Ravens, but St. George forced the overtime with the Preds shorthanded. Niagara later squandered a power play opportunity that carried into the extra period by taking a penalty of their own. The Ravens sealed the victory just moments after Niagara’s Riley Ellis skated to the penalty box. 

Taylor acknowledged that the team is still working on improvements to both their power play and penalty kill strategies, something that has been lacking for the first 25 games of the season. And he’s hoping within the first two weeks of 2023 that they can sign another defenceman to shore up the blue line in those situations. 

In the meantime, two new additions to the front ranks should be ready to take to the ice at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union arena for this Friday’s game against the third-place Bradford Bulls. 

Left winger Askar Aimanbetov from Kazakhstan is expected to be at Tuesday evening’s practice, as is new signing Andras Kehl. The 19-year-old Kehl is originally from Budapest, Hungary, but played his last five seasons of junior hockey at various levels in England. This season the forward has exhibited a hot hand in 10 games for the GMHL’s Northern Division’s Mackenzie Mountaineers, scoring 25 goals and 24 assists. 

“We’re really deep,” Taylor said about the roster moving forward. “This team is easy to coach, everyone gets along. The new guys may not be on the top lines right away, and all the way to our fourth lines we will be strong. The guys are looking forward to the second half. There’s a real buzz and we don’t want to disrupt that.”

Looking at the first 25 games, Taylor said the biggest surprise player-wise has been the performance of 16-year-old forward Nolan Wyers, who has been named to the GMHL’s Under-18 All Star Game scheduled for Jan. 17 in Bancroft, Ont. Wyers has amassed eight goals and 10 assists in 24 games for the Predators.

“Our goaltending is another surprise,” said Taylor. “I didn’t think we’d have the level of goaltending we have. And we picked up (Declan) Fogarty and (Cameron) Savoie late in the season, and you can see they’re really buying into the whole thing. They’re willing to do what they have to do to make the whole team better.”

After hosting Bradford Friday, the Predators travel the next day to Tottenham to take on the fourth-place Thunder. Those are two important games for the team to begin its climb up the Northern Division standings. 

In their two previous meetings this season with the Bulls, the Predators came out on the short end of 8-1 and 6-1 decisions.

“Friday will be tough, but we’re going to have a different lineup than we’ve had all season,” Taylor predicted. “It will be interesting to see how it goes. The second-half schedule doesn’t see us playing the top couple of teams as much as we did the first half, so I think we have a real chance to make it into third or fourth place.”

The following week will be a busy one, with a trip to Bradford on Jan. 11, a home game against Tottenham Jan. 13 and a Sunday road game against the eighth-place Streetsville Flyers. 

Game time Friday is 7:30 p.m.