Wolves Prepare for Russia
The Sudbury Wolves will invite 23 players to arrive in Sudbury on Sunday, August 18th to prepare for a return trip to the WORLD JR. CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS in Omsk, Russia. The Wolves will be Hockey Canada’s representative and will compete in the 3rd annual tournament where Sudbury is the defending champions. Last season, the Wolves defeated the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks by a score of 2-0 in the Championship final played in front of 5,000 hockey fans at the Omsk Arena. Josh Leivo and Frank Corrado scored the goals while Joel Vienneau recorded the shut-out.
This year, the Wolves will be going up against seven other Jr. Club teams including teams from Russia, Belarus, Sweden, Finland, USA, and Latvia. The 23 players selected for the trip will be a combination of veterans and rookies as the Wolves will once again utilize the pre-season tournament as an evaluation event for the players that will be participating. Upon the team’s return to Sudbury on September 1st, the Wolves will be inviting 25 drafted players and prospects for a two-day main camp. This will be one of the smallest training camps in recent memory with less than 50 players involved in selecting the Wolves’ 24-man starting roster.
“The players traveling to Russia will benefit from a great hockey experience as well as a unique life experience as Moscow and Omsk are very historic cities” notes Wolves’ President & GM Blaine Smith. “It will also be a great experience for the players and the new coaches to become familiar with each other and partake in a unique team-building experience. In addition, we will be using the games as an evaluation of the players participating and it will assist us in identifying the areas that we will need to address upon our return to Canada. Our main camp will certainly provide us with a look at some new and highly-motivated players that will be looking to grab hold of a roster spot on our team. This will make for a very competitive environment in selecting our starting roster for the 2013-14 season.”
Wolves’ Fans can follow the tournament by logging-on to http://mhl.khl.ru/en/worldcup/. The Wolves will return to Sudbury on September 1st in time for the on-ice sessions that begin on September 1st and continue at the Sudbury Arena on September 2nd and 3rd. Wolves’ players traveling to Russia will practice on Monday and Tuesday, August 19th and 20th at the Countryside arena from 2:30 – 4 pm. The Wolves will play their first pre-season home game on Friday, September 6th against the Kitchener Rangers at 7:30 pm. Tickets for the pre-season games will go on sale at the Sudbury arena ticket office commencing August 29th.
