The selection process to determine the 2018-2019 edition of the Southwest Cougars starts this weekend.

The Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League team will hold it's try-out camp at the Murray Arena in Souris.

"Really looking forward to this weekend," said Cougars head coach Dennis McNish. "The cold weather kind of gets the hockey brain going and with junior camps kind of dominating the news right now and all that getting going, we're definitely off to a good start."

McNish and the rest of the Southwest coaching staff will spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday evaluating 35-39 players.

"There will be a handful of guys still skating with their MJHL teams. Obviously I would like it to be more but that's enough guys that we can have some good scrimmages."

"From the incoming players I expect quite a bit really," added McNish. "The bantam team last year won rural provincials. They got lots of quality players and the kids are smart enough to know that there's not enough spots for all them so I expect a competitive camp."

The Cougars annual preseason tournament takes place September 13th-16th in Souris.

Southwest will open the regular season schedule Saturday, September 29th against the Thistles in Kenora.