67’s trio headed to NHL rookie camps

As well as prospects game in San Jose

Noel Hoefenmayer, Sasha Chmelevski and Travis Barron are a little too young to remember Dionne Warwick’s 1968 Grammywinning hit Do You Know The Way To San Jose.

Come to think of it, that might even be true of their parents.

Regardless, the trio of Ottawa 67’s will leave training camp this week, then reunite Sept. 9-12 in San Jose at the 2017 Prospect Showcase, hosted by the Sharks and involving prospects of the Colorado Avalanche, Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes and the Sharks.

There have been recent seasons when the 67’s have barely lost a player to NHL camps.

It’s a positive sign that three key pieces in Ottawa’s anticipated 2017-18 resurrection will leave and return a little bit wiser — and in time for the Sept. 21 season opener in Barrie, which also kicks off the team’s 50th anniversary season.

Hoefenmayer (fourth round, 108th overall, 2017), who jumped 35 points from his rookie season to his sophomore year, will suit up for the Coyotes. Chmelevski (sixth round, 185th overall, 2017), who stands a chance to be the best player ever born in Huntington Beach, Calif., will skate with the Sharks. Barron (seventh round, 191st overall, 2016) will play for the Avalanche. The three will go headto-head after short rookie camps in their respective cities.

“I spent the whole month of June in Denver training,” Barron said, “and I became a professional this summer.

“I dropped 20 pounds staying away from the carbs. I wasn’t fast enough. And I guess I was a little thick around the edges. The diet and training worked.”