If there were any concerns coming out of the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks season-opening loss to the Ripley Wolves, Jim Grieve isn’t letting on.

The Winterhawks head coach said he was happy with the way his team performed in a 2-1 loss to the Ripley Wolves on Saturday in Kincardine.

Grieve said the effort was there, but rust got the best of them after a seven-month offseason.

“We played really well [against Ripley], there was no issues with the effort, everybody’s a little rusty,” said Grieve. “We battled hard, and that’s a big plus for us.”

Early season games are about getting the legs going and finding some chemistry, which Grieve admitted was hard to establish with the Winterhawks missing some key bodies in the opener.

“We were missing some guys, but there’s lots of time to come together, we’ll regroup for the next one,” said Grieve.

The next one is the Outlaw Brew Co. Home Opener on Friday night, when the Winterhawks entertain the Huron East Centenaires.

The Winterhawks defeated Huron East both times they met last season, by 4-2 and 6-3 scores respectively.

Grieve said the Seaforth squad battled the Winterhawks for every inch of the ice last season, despite having a short bench, and he expects a better team and a full bench.

“It looks like all the [former South Division] teams are going to be good this year, and we expect Huron East to even better,” said Grieve. “They were tough last year, they worked hard even with a short bench, so we expect a good one.”

Huron East opened their season on September 30th with a 6-4 win over the Tillsonburg Thunder.

Ticket prices remain unchanged this season, with $8 general admission gaining you access to the best hockey product in the area.

Season tickets are on sale now at Gord’s Pro Shop and will also be available at the door. $100 gets you a pass to all regular season and playoff games, plus reserved seating.

The Outlaw Brew Co. Home Opener goes this Friday, October 13th, at 8:30 p.m. at The Plex.

Please note: The October 14th home game against Mapleton-Minto has been cancelled and rescheduled on January 27th against the Milverton 4-Wheel Drives.

For season schedule click here.

Click here for information on this year's roster.

with files from winterhawks.net