The Eastman Selects will open the 2018-2019 Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League season this weekend.

Second year Selects head coach Scott Wong says his players are more than ready to go.

"They're very excited. It's been a long go and it's quite stressful on them. Tuesday we took a little bit of a break and went on a scavenger hunt and a barbeque. We did a little team bonding. We'll be ready to go Friday."

"We're young and energetic," added the Eastman bench boss. "Got my two veteran goaltenders (Danton Belluk and Justin Powers) back from last year. We have a solid core of defensemen. Not sure how we're going to do being quite young but as long as we compete and get one of the eight playoff spots - you never know what's going to happen."

The Selects will play their home opener Friday night againt the Winnipeg Thrashers at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour and then face the Pembina Valley Hawks in Morden on Saturday.

"Usually the first go around you see what other teams have and how can compete against them," Wong said. "We look for certain tactics in their game that we can work around to move ahead accordingly."