Olds Grizzlys head coach Brett Hopfe is excited for the upcoming Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) season, especially when it comes to the rookies.“To be quite honest, it's been one of our best rookie camps in a long time. You could tell they worked hard through the summer (since the spring camp),” Hopfe says.Under AJHL rules, the Grizzlys can only keep two rookies (usually 16-year-olds, but they could be as young as 15 and old as 19 in some cases). Sixteen-year-olds were born in 1998.This year's crop of 16-year-olds is extremely talented, Hopfe says.If allowed, “we could have four or five '98-born players on our roster right now because of how deep the (talent) pool is,” he says.The Grizzlys' rookie camp started Friday, Aug. 15 and wound up Monday with the Top 40 game.The Grizzlys are trying to fill holes left by five 20-year-old players who graduated from the team in April.Hopfe says one of the biggest battles is for goaltender.For now, Jordan Piccolino is penciled in as the Grizzlys' number 1 goaltender. After all, they gave up a lot to get him from the Dauphin Kings in June, sending two 20-year-oids – forward/defenceman Marc Eremenko and defenceman Jordan Lajimodiere -- the other way.“It's his spot to lose,” Hopfe says, noting there's always a chance another player – maybe even a rookie – could grab that spot. “Stranger things have happened.”Another big hole is the loss of Captain Spencer Dorowicz, who committed last fall to play for Robert Morris University, in Pittsburg, Pa.Hopfe says it may take two players to fill his skates, so to speak, because he was such a strong leader and led the league in scoring.Although the Grizzlys' defence is pretty solid, Hopfe and staff would also like to obtain an offensive defenceman who can quarterback the power play.Overall, they lost five 20-year-old players so they'll be looking to fill that gap. Under AJHL rules, teams can have six 20-year-olds on their rosters.About 50 players will be invited to the Grizzlys' main camp, which starts this Friday. Sunday it'll be cut down to 40 players and eventually, it'll be cut down to 30 players. When the season starts Sept. 5, they'll have a squad of about 25 players.Players from Montreal to Vancouver were invited to camp, including many from Olds, Didsbury and other Central Alberta communities (no European or American players this year).“We take a lot of pride in (having) Alberta-born players and especially Central Alberta-born players because that's where our team's from,” Hopfe says. “I believe that this is why this league was put in here, to develop our own provincial kids to go on to the next level. I think that we've done a good job the last few years doing that.”He predicts they'll have seven or eight players from the Red Deer hockey program.“It's a staggering number, but they come from a program that knows how to win and has won so many times,” Hopfe says. “That's something we want to have instilled in our players – a culture of winning, and those guys definitely know how to do that.”
