Entering their sixth season in the AHL and coming off of their first ever playoff berth, the Belleville Senators hope an improved offence can improve their standings. Photo by Jordan Mills, QNet News
By Jordan Mills [1]
BELLEVILLE – With another season set to begin, the Belleville Senators [2] are preparing for another long year with the ultimate goal being to make the playoffs and win the Calder Cup [3].
Last season ended on a disappointing note, with the Sens losing two straight games to the Rochester Americans in its first ever playoff berth after a fourth place finish in the North Division. With that loss in the rearview mirror, a revamped team is hoping to make another run for playoffs.
Dillon Heatherington, the team’s newly named captain and seven-year veteran of the AHL, has high expectations for the team.
“Whenever you come in at the start of the season, the main goal is to win it all,” said Heatherington in an interview with QNet after the team’s Thursday morning practice. “That’s going to be our goal and thats where we’re going to set the bar.”
On Tuesday, the Sens named Heatherington as the fifth captain in team history. This is Heatherington’s second year with the team, and hopes to provide a veteran voice to help usher in the young players on the team.
“It’s a great honour and privilege to be captain,” he said. “I want these young guys to make that next step to the NHL. They got great attitudes and I just hope to guide them and give them advice here and there.”
The Sens consider their defensive play a strength going forward. They finished with the second least amount of goals allowed in the North Division last year, and head coach Troy Mann is proud with the teams defensive play. Mann wants offence to play a bigger role though this season, as the team also finished second last in goals-for last year.
“I think defence wins, but we don’t want to take away creativity from our offensive guys,” Mann told QNet in an interview. “We got some new guys coming in this year with offensive ability, so I think that’ll be a work in progress to see how much more of an offensive team we will become.”
Some of those new offensive faces are forwards Angus Crookshank, 23, and Ridly Greig, 20.
Crookshank missed all of last year with a lower body injury suffered in the rookie tournament and Greig will be going into his first pro season after a successful junior career. Mann thinks that both players will help spark some needed offence.
“(Crookshank) has a tremendous work ethic and compete level, and put in the work over last season and over the summer,” said Mann. “He had a good three-four weeks with a real strong rookie showcase in Buffalo. (Greig) is a top end prospect and we look at him as the Josh Norris of 2019/20. We expect him to contribute in all situations this year.”
This Senators will play their first game of the season on Friday as they pay visit to the Laval Rocket. The B-Sens will host Laval on Saturday in their home opener.