Adam Prudhomme
Editor
A new era of Tamworth Sabres hockey is underway, complete with different ownership, a re-designed logo and an overhauled roster.
Fans will have a chance to see the re-vamped senior hockey team on Sept. 7 when they take on the Deseronto Bulldogs at Napanee’s Best and Bash Arena’s Goodyear Rink, starting at 3:30 p.m. for the fourth annual Labour Day Classic. The exhibition match will serve as a tune up as both clubs prepare for the upcoming Northern Premier Hockey League season.
The Sabres are looking to turn a page from last season that saw them win just once in 20 games last year, their first in Stone Mills since relocating from Frontenac the previous summer.
Now under the ownership of Dryden Bedard and Chuck Bray, the club is striving be much more competitive on a nightly basis this season.
“We’ve made a lot of changes to the roster,” said Bedard. “We did overhaul a majority of the players. While we appreciated everyone from the past season, it was important to utilize this opportunity to really step up and make significant changes and improvements for the betterment of the franchise longterm.”
That includes signing the likes of Mason Mangan, Miguel Poissant, Donovan Francis, Justin Thies, Kyler Ephraim, Ben Pilon, Brayden Robinson, Zachary Beaubien, Elliott Belzile, Thomas Murphy and James Nolan, while also swinging a deal with PEC to land Tyson Moore and Westport to acquire Matt Halle. Dean Gauvreau has been brought in as goalie.
“We believe greatly in the group we’ve created at this time,” said Bedard. “Now it’s a matter of action, not just saying we’re going to do it. We need to do it.”
Bray says under their ownership they’ve been able to take the team in a new direction.
“We were able to achieve what we wanted to achieve based on what we wanted to put on the ice,” said Bray. “It’s just simpler this way. We own the team so we can do basically what we want. We just saw what we were missing and we were able to fill in those pieces and parts and we’re not done yet. There’s still other things that we’re trying to do, but we’ll get there.”
Part of the re-brand comes with a new logo, which is actually a throw back of sorts, incorporating the buffalo’s head that is reminiscent of the Stone Mills Sabres minor hockey team, itself inspired by the Buffalo Sabres look from the mid 1990’s. The buffalo is framed between two crossed sabre swords, set in front of a Canadian maple leaf.
Bedard says they want to ice a competitive team to reward the community that has embraced them.
“The community of Tamworth is the most unique experience,” said Dryden. “Those are words that are not necessarily coming directly from me but other league executives, other players and organizations across the NPHL. The atmosphere in Tamworth in the Stone Mills Recreation Centre on a Saturday night is full of energy and always amazing in terms of the capacity of people that show up to support the organization and provide that amazing boost that the players need on a nightly basis to keep going and keep persevering and knowing that they have our back every weekend is something we need to not only appreciate, but utilize to our advantage this season and give them the opportunity to be part of the success.”
The Sept. 7 scrimmage will allow the coaching staff an opportunity to see the new look roster in action as they begin to finalize the lineups for opening night.
Beyond the Labour Day Classic, the regular season schedule is still yet to be released.