Another season of the Calgary Junior "C" Hockey League is just around the corner for the Airdrie Dragons and Head Coach Tracy Derksen is busy getting the team prepared.  

The new head coach of the Dragons says it's been a tough year for recruiting.  

"It's been a pretty slow start to the season with registration.  We've got about ten guys signed up for sure and then we've got a bunch that we're hoping to get signed up to come out and play with us.  It's been a weird year.  Not a lot of kids are signing up for hockey."

Derksen says he's not worried about having enough players.  "We're on the horn trying to get guys to sign up.  We're dealing with Hockey Calgary as well to find out if they have any additional players that need a spot to play in.  Steve Hamilton (Dragons Manager) advises me that we should have 13 guys signed up.  We're probably going to have a shorter squad.  Hopefully we'll get up to 18 players."

Despite that, Derksen feels the Dragons should be a contender in the Calgary league.  "We should be fairly decent this year.  We have a lot of returning players from last year and we're hoping to bring up a couple more.  We only have three or four kids who are rookies for our team this year."

One spot Derksen thinks the team will be strong is in goal.   "We've got some good goaltenders, one returning goalie and one rookie.  We're kind of excited about the goal tending, we just need a couple more bodies."

The regular season in the Calgary Junior "C" League begins on Sunday (October 29) at home in the Ron Ebbesen Arena.  The Dragons will host the Symons Valley Storm at 8:15 pm.  The Dragons lost 7 - 2 to the Storm in an exhibition game.

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