Potential Olds Grizzlys hit the ice on Saturday for the first time this year in attempt to make the club following the conclusion of the exhibition schedule on Sept. 5.
The rookie camp was to run Saturday through to Wednesday, with 90 players getting a chance to show their skills to the coaching staff.
Kevin Willison, head coach, said he plans to take a look at all the players and evaluate not only how they might fit into the plan for this year, but also for the next couple of years if those players don't make the team in the next three weeks. With only about six or seven spots open on the club this year due to returning veterans, he said the competition should be good. Willison expects there to be one spot open for a goalie, with the other six spots open to either forwards or defencemen.
“We're looking forward to a competitive camp. There's going to be lots of ice for them to show us their stuff. We want guys to come to Olds and want to work on their game,” he said.
There is only one 20-year-old in the rookie camp, along with five or six 19-year-olds, making the rookie camp a fairly young one. The plan is to pare the 90 who start the camp down to 25 to 30 for the main camp, which runs Aug. 25 and 26.
Willison said the plan is to then pare down the talent pool to about 25 to 30 players total going into the exhibition schedule, which begins when the Grizzlys travel to Drumheller to take on the Dragons on August 30. The first exhibition home game for the Grizzlys is Sept. 2 when the Calgary Mustangs come to town for a 7:30 p.m. game.
“We're obviously going to take the best players open to us,” he said.
