Caps hit ice Monday
Summerside’s junior A team opens training camp at Credit Union Place
Summerside’s junior A team returns to the ice on Monday.
The D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals will open training camp at Credit Union Place in preparation for the 2017-18 Maritime Junior Hockey League season.
“We are excited to get going,” said Capitals general manager Pat McIver. “It seems like it’s been a short summer, but there’s a buzz around.”
Registration, fitness testing and on-ice sessions are all part of Day 1, and McIver expects “around 40 players” at camp.
“Most of our draft picks from this year are coming,” said McIver. “(Forward) Thomas Harper, (defencemen Matt) Templeman, (Jordan) Spence and (forward Josh) MacDonald, our top four picks, are going to be at camp.”
The Caps have two possible returnees – forward Brodie MacArthur (Moncton) and goaltender Matt Williams (Saint John) – at Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) camps.
Summerside also owns the MHL rights of three players — forwards Zach Thususka, Thomas Casey and Sam Meisenheimer — at Charlottetown’s QMJHL camp.
McIver explained the Team Cameron and Team Gallant rosters will be comprised of rookies, prospects and walk-ons for the first week. Those teams are named after two former Caps head coaches now coaching in the NHL. Dave Cameron is an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames, and Gerard (Turk) Gallant is head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
“For the first couple of days the veterans will skate on their own, and we will get a good look at the new guys,” explained McIver. “Honestly, we have a good taste of (returnees) T.J. Shea, Hunter McIntyre and those guys, and we want to give these guys a good look.”
The Caps play back-to-back exhibition games in Amherst and Pictou County next week.
“It will be all rookies playing in the games Wednesday and Thursday,” added McIver. “Then we’ll cut it down, and mix in the veterans.”
The first round of cuts are scheduled for Friday, Sept. 1.
“If we can get down to 30 guys competing for 22 spots, that would be a manageable number,” added McIver. “We have five exhibition games, so it still gives us three more (games) to get a good look at everybody and mix in some veterans.”
With Summerside graduating nine players and the possibility of some returnees playing at different levels this year, there are lots of jobs open.
One position in particular is defence. The Caps traded Jacob Levesque to Campbellton, Alex McQuaid and Tanner McCabe, who McIver feels was the league’s best defenceman last season, graduated and Jesse Annear is playing in the United States.
Defenceman Matt O’Leary, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 draft and was acquired during the summer as future considerations of the Casey Fox trade, arrived in Summerside on Wednesday.