Orientation camp previews prospects
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Thirty-eight current and prospective Ontario Hockey League players, including 17 who appeared in at least one game with the Brampton Battalion during the 2010-11 OHL season, are expected to attend the team’s orientation camp this weekend.
The group doesn’t include incumbent goaltender Matej Machovsky, who resides in his native Czech Republic during the offseason, or overage candidates Michael Santini and Ian Watters, both forwards.
On Saturday, the players are to undergo morning fitness testing and participate in two on-ice sessions at the Powerade Centre, with the first scheduled for 5 p.m. The camp concludes after another on-ice session at 9 a.m. Sunday.
“We look forward to orientation camp because it lets us evaluate players from this year’s OHL Priority Selection against the older age groups,” said Stan Butler, director of hockey operations and head coach.
“At the same time we can identify 1994-born players who have made improvement and can challenge for a spot on next season’s team.”
Butler said that, while the Troops have a strong returning cast, there are positions available, particularly among the forward ranks.
“We’re in good shape on defence because our young group had great development last season, but we’re looking for some big improvement among our returning and new forwards.”
The Battalion is coming off back-to-back seasons in which it had difficulty scoring, finishing last in goals in 2009-10 and second-last in the most recent campaign.
“Our focus is to challenge returnees and prospects to improve our scoring ability,” said Butler. “We’ll look to veterans like Sam Carrick and Philip Lane to lead our forwards, but there’ll be plenty of opportunity for younger players to make an impression.”
Among the 13 players chosen in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection who are expected to attend the camp are minor midget forwards Brandon Robinson and Mac MacSorley, the Troops’ first and third picks.
Robinson, a six-foot-two 185-pounder from Pickering, Ont., was taken seventh overall from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, while MacSorley was the Battalion’s second of two third-round choices, 50th overall.
Six rookie goaltenders are scheduled to play during the weekend, including 19-year-old Keegan Wilson, the last of three ninth-round picks this month. A Mississauga resident, he appeared in 24 games with the Stayner Siskins of the Georgian Mid-Ontario Junior C League, posting a won-lost-extended record of 19-3-0 with six shutouts, a 2.28 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
Forward Bryson Cianfrone, the Troops’ first third-round selection and 49th overall, declined an invitation to attend. Defenceman Wilson Vershay, an eighth-round pick from Nichols School in Buffalo, has a school commitment, while it’s uncertain whether 10th-round pick Bryce Abraham, a rearguard from the Halton Hurricanes, will participate.
Notables from the 2010 OHL Priority Selection not expected to attend are forwards Matt Lane, a fifth-round pick who recently completed the first of a two-year commitment to the United States National Team Development Program based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cody Bradley, a sixth-round choice, who has school obligations.
