The Belleville Senators 2025-26 regular season gets underway this weekend.
Fourteen of the team’s first 20 games will be away from CAA Arena, however, Head Coach David Bell says travelling and bonding early is never a bad thing.
“I think it’s valuable, I mean you’re stuck on that bus for seven hours or so (first weekend). The cards get going and the conversations will go, and I think it’s great. Then they’ll get off the bus and they’ll have a meal wherever they go. Why not start the season off with a crazy road trip and a crazy back-to-back, and travel, and afternoon game. Embrace it.”
He says their motto this year is “Embrace the Grind.”
“Everything’s not easy, it’s hard. You can either complain about the hard or you can embrace it and take it as a challenge.”
We asked the coach to described the type of team that is going to be on the ice this season at CAA Arena.
“A more focused group and a more purposeful group. Everything we do from practice, to training, to off ice, group activities all has a purpose and an intent.”
“We’ve brought in some guys that have won in the past, won multiple times in the past, captains from other teams and it’s just going to be a very, very focused approach every day, not just game day, but every day. I think that’s going to be a word we use a lot.”
We asked him about the situation between the pipes.
“Mads (Soggard) had a horrible year last year with injuries and setbacks on those injuries and he’s healthy. Hunter Sheppard’s won four championships in the last six years, whether it be college or in the American Hockey League. He knows how to play, he knows how to compete, he knows how to win.”
Belleville plays Saturday evening in Lehigh Valley against the Phantoms, followed by a matinee Sunday in Bridgeport against the Islanders.
The B-Sens then return home next weekend for games against Toronto (Saturday) and Syracuse (Sunday).
(© Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography)
