As the bantam A Thompson King Miners' 2009-2010 season draws to a close with the rural city A provincials here this weekend, coach Jason Brabant hopes to have a better result than at December's Don MacLean Bantam Tournament.

"It's going to be a pretty good weekend, I'm predicting," said Brabant. "I'm predicting everybody is going to come up ready to take anyone on."

His team has played four of the seven teams who will be in the tournament.

"We've been pretty much even," the coach says. "We're probably going to be the team everybody wants to beat."

The teams they haven't played will be on his radar in their opening games.

"I'm going to do my homework on the Friday," said Brabant.

It will be important for his team to stick to their game plan of playing physical hockey up to, but not over, the edge.

"You want to intimidate and set the tone, but you don't want to do it to the point where it's going to cost you."

The bantam A Miner have shown the stuff it takes to win provincials their last few tournaments, said Brabant.

"The intensity seems to be there. The penalty killing's been unbelievable the last month. Goaltending has been a plus. We've been definitely working with the kids to get them ready for the game."

Part of the coaching staff's job will be to cut down on the distractions that are part of playing a tournament at home.

"The main focus is the tournament," said Brabant.

He says if the team that shows up this weekend in Thompson is the same one that showed up when they won their last tournament in Saskatchewan, a championship won't be out of their grasp.

"I think the boys are ready," the coach says. “The team that showed up in Saskatchewan - focused - was a team that could very easily have a chance to take home provincials."

The wild card will be how they react under pressure.

"When you're 13 to 15 years old," said Brabant, "[home-ice advantage] is kind of a disadvantage."

Every player will have to show up to have a better result than the last time provincials were in Thompson two years ago, when Brabant was a member of the coaching staff of the bantam AA squad.

"I'll be looking for big things out of my captain and assistants,” said the coach. "The first drop of the puck will tell the tale."