Warriors building for present, future

CORNWALL ISLAND, ON – Finding a theme or catch phrase to define a goal is a time honored tradition among coaches. The whole idea is to bring together all of the minds in the locker room and focus on one thing, one aspect of the team dynamic that will push the players to work hard to achieve.
In the case of the Akwesasne Warriors of the new Federal Hockey League, the theme of  “Warriors hockey has no boundaries” has as much to do with building the franchise as it does winning championships and that the sky’s the limit for both.
For those not familiar with it, the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne straddles the St. Lawrence River where Ontario, Quebec and New York state intersect. The A’nowara’ko:wa Arena where the Warriors will play is situated on Cornwall Island, making the Warriors the sole Canadian team in the six-team league.
In preparation for the upcoming season, the team held an evaluation camp to look at players to invite into their main training camp. For team owner and president Basem Awwad, it was a chance to see what the players could do.
“A lot of guys look good on paper but we want to see what they look like on the ice,” Awwad said prior to the camp.
The busiest man at the camp may have been Mike Piquette. As the Warriors general manager, vice-president of hockey operations and head coach, Piquette had very little time to adjust after being hired at the end of August after he left the Cornwall Colts. A major part of his first month on the job was planning the evaluation camp weekend.
Approximately 60 players plus recruited and signed players had two days to showcase their talents for the Warriors’ staff. Point one was passing basic athleticism tests geared toward determining which players were in shape and had the stamina to compete at a high level. Beyond that, Piquette was looking for players with a combination of skills and character that would help them compete every time out on the ice.
“After you’re looking to evaluate the skill level, you look at the character of the person and how they would fit into our organization,” Piquette said.
According to Piquette, the players who make the Warriors’ roster will have plenty of responsibilities both on and off the ice. His team will be expected to don a mantel of civic involvement in the community, especially when it comes to area youth. Fans can expect to see Warriors players in schools discussing healthy lifestyles, the importance of playing hockey and living drug free and the importance of literacy and education. One of Piquette’s initiatives is the “Warriors’ 100% Club” where local youngsters who achieve  perfect grades on tests will be eligible to receive free Warriors tickets.
“We place a big emphasis on our players being a positive role model to the youth in the area,” he said.
The camp, which was open to the public and the media, featured a “black vs. white” scrimmage with Piquette and his staff choosing sides from the players who participated. The team did not charge admission for the Saturday night affair but did request donations for the local Cornwall

and Akwesasne Boys and Girls Clubs. Despite very little advance advertising other than on the team‘s website, over 200 fans attended the scrimmage, donating over $200 for the charities. It was also a positive weekend for staffing purposes as the Warriors locked in trainers, an equipment manager, off-ice officials and game day staff for the upcoming season.
As for the camp itself, Piquette said that he was very pleased with what he saw on the ice, extending several training camp invitations.
“We were very pleased with the level of competition at the camp. Three or four guys came in and really surprised us. We’re really happy with the whole weekend,” he said. “We’re going to have a team that works hard and doesn’t take anything for granted. We think we’ll be able to compete with anybody in the league on any given night.”
Piquette said that he plans on starting the season with a roster comprised of “a good mix of veterans and rookies”. He indicated that fans could expect to see a range of older, more mature players with prior professional or Canadian senior league experience combined with younger players coming out of major junior or NCAA Division I venues. He added that most of the team will be comprised of Canadian players.
The Warriors have already been busy signing players they think will fit the mold that Piquette is building.
Martin Beaulne comes in with both playing and coaching experience in the junior ranks. He was the team captain for the 2004-05 Fred Page Cup champion Hawkesbury Hawks of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. He also gained valuable senior league experience with the Cornwall Comets and Cowansville Voyageurs. Last season, Beaulne was behind the bench for Hawkesbury.
Pat Deraspe played four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, including the 1993-94 year when he helped lead the Beauport Harfangs to the league semi-finals. He turned pro in 1995, spending time in the ECHL, WCHL and IHL. Later he played in European leagues in France, Germany and Italy. During the last decade, Deraspe skated in semi-pro and senior leagues around Quebec including 2004-2006 when he wore the sweater of the Cornwall Comets.
Miguel Delisle played most of his junior career with the famed Ottawa 67s in the OHL, playing a role in the 67s Memorial Cup championships in 1999 and the team’s 2001 appearance in the tournament. Along the way, he was drafted in the 4th round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (100th overall pick) by the Toronto Maple Leafs. His pro career includes stops in the WCHL and the ECHL.
Carter Trevisani was a teammate of Delisle’s in Ottawa during the 2000-01 campaign. Like Delisle, Trevisani was noticed by the NHL, being drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2001 (8th round, 244 overall). Since 2003, he has been playing in Italy and also was a part of Italy’s Olympic team.
Anthony Sarno is the only American player who has signed with the Warriors so far. His playing portfolio boasts an international flavor with stops in Belgium and France to go along with the UHL, MAHL and EPHL here in North America. Last season he split time between the AAHL (Chi-Town Shooters) and the ECHL (Toledo and Johnstown).
Deraspe and Sarno have been given the responsibility of being player/assistant coaches for the Warriors. Piquette also set up assistant and goalie coach positions, choosing to allocate resources he felt would be necessary to the overall goal of player development.
“I’m a big believer in surrounding myself with competent people, For success on the ice, we have to have a strong organization off the ice,” he said. “When you’re building something, the foundation has to be strong for the walls and the roof to stay up.”
Training camp is just around the corner and the expectations are going to be high. Then on October 23 and 24, the Warriors will play two pre-season games with the 1,000 Islands Privateers. Owner Awwad is very anxious to get to the exhibition contests because he feels they will be the first true indicators of what the team will be like.
“It (games) will give them and it will give us an idea of what to expect when we’re playing against these teams and what the caliber (of play) is going to be like,” Awwad said. “Do we have to make adjustments? Are we looking strong? I truly believe we have a strong team on paper but we just have to see if this team can translate all that past experience into a winning hockey club.”
Piquette is just as antsy to get to the pre-season games, comparing the anticipation to a race horse chomping at the bit in the starting gate. In fact, he isn’t used to starting the season this late. His goal in the two contests are to see how his potential players handle the competition, giving the coaching staff a much better measuring stick than the daily camp sessions.
The extra evaluation time will come in handy given that Piquette must have the roster pared down to 17 players for the regular season. That number may seem small but Piquette thinks it will go a long way toward defining “FHL-style single A hockey”.
“It affects the depth of your lineup on any given night. It shortens your bench,” he said. “It makes for probably a faster game. There will probably be less fighting, which is a good thing.”
Toughness and fighting have been part of the game for decades. In more recent times, however, the NHL – with other leagues following – has been trying to lessen the pugilistic aspect through rule changes. Piquette said that the 17-man roster size in the FHL will make coaches like himself more picky when it comes to players.
“You need players that have toughness but they also have to be able to skate and have more of a role than just going out to fight. I don’t think the FHL is a fighting league,” he said. “We’ve got to have players that are skilled enough to play on the top three lines. The league mandates that we’re down to 17 players after the first six games so there is really no room for a guy that all he can do is drop the gloves.”
Piquette went on to say that he thinks that once the players realize that there is no room for “gooning it up”, it will create a hard-hitting, fast-paced environment that the fans will enjoy. He is also a great believer in the FHL’s mission of being a developmental league that will appeal to junior hockey fans with its level of play.
“We’re hoping to take the guys that weren’t quite ready to step into the East Coast (ECHL) or AHL and groom them to possibly step up,” he said. “I think you’re going to find out that there’s not a whole lot of difference between the ECHL and our league.”
Awwad was in complete agreement with Piquette’s assessment that the effort of the players will dictate just how good the product is.
“I think if we put a really good team together, this will be the best hockey in this part of Ontario,” he said.
Only time will tell whether the team without boundaries will build it big and deliver the first ever FHL championship to this international intersection. Until then, a nation waits with hope.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com