28
TOTASPORTSQUINTE.CA
BELLEVILLE SENATORS Season Preview
By: Jeff Gard Total Sports Media
The American Hockey League’s Senators are back in Belleville. As a professional team, the Belleville Senators – affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators – were the only local team to play regular hockey games during the 2020-21 season. They weren’t based in Belleville, though, and even if they had been there wouldn’t have been fans allowed. The Senators were instead limited to a 35-game AHL regular season and played out of Ottawa. “Last year was filled with a lot of adaptation going on and flexibility,” said Belleville Senators head coach Troy Mann. “The fact that we’re back in our own rink, able to practice at CAA Arena, have our own locker room, that’s certainly what you want as a team.” Mann, who received a two-year contract extension during the offseason, considers Belleville to be “a great little town,” a good fit for AHL hockey and he’s looking forward to spectators returning. He’s pleased to be sticking around to build a competitive team in Belleville while also continuing to develop prospects for the NHL club. “I certainly love the organization, I love the people in it and I’ve really enjoyed coaching the prospects,” Mann remarked. “There’s a lot of pressure on us as coaches because for Ottawa to have success, they need our prospects to graduate and I think we’ve done a good job of that and we’ll have to continue to do that for the Sens to have some success at the NHL level.” Coaching in the AHL presents a unique challenge many leagues don’t face as there is constant movement and change for the roster. You can practice or play one day and the roster is different by the next morning. “You’re always having to adapt and that’s one of the things at the AHL level you have to be conscious of,” Mann said, noting injuries at both the NHL (which leads to recalls) and AHL levels can have a huge impact as the season goes on. “Sometimes you’re just
All photos by Amy Deroche Total Sports Quinte hanging on and that’s why there’s so much movement in the AHL in the standings because you could be really shorthanded for a month and not have a great month and then be full strength where another team is not and you’re able to make up ground. The teams that are able to manage that and have enough depth are usually the ones that have the most success at the AHL level.” With not many jobs available in Ottawa during training, Mann expected some of the club’s top prospects like Lassi Thomson, Roby Jarventie and Egor Sokolov to begin the season in Belleville. “They have tremendous upside and will play in the NHL at some point,” the coach said. “It’s just a matter of us getting them ready and a position being available for them to be recalled.” The same goes for the goaltenders. Matt Murray and Anton Forsberg had the spots locked up in Ottawa, leaving Filip Gustavsson, Mads Sogaard and Kevin Mandolese to battle for the two positions in Belleville. Continued next page ....
