Petes lineup shaping up
Training camp opens with draft picks, free agents battling for some open roster spots
The puck drops on the 61st season of Peterborough Petes hockey when players hit the ice for training camp Wednesday morning.
Sixty Petes hopefuls were put through medicals and fitness testing Tuesday afternoon at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School. The real evaluation will begin with the first scrimmages at 10:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday at the Memorial Centre.
The Petes have six defencemen, 11 forwards and two goaltenders in camp who have seen previous action with the OHL club.
They also have three rookies they ’ve already signed in top picks Pavel Gogolev, Declan Chisholm and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev as well as three CHL Import Draft selections in Jonne Tammela, Matyas Svoboda and Igor Martynov.
Add in some 2015 draft picks and a handful of free agents and there should be some battles for roster spots.
The Petes have lost several key pieces from last season including Eric Cornel, Dominik Masin and Greg Betzold to the pro ranks, Hunter Garlent and Daniel Nikandrov to CIS hockey, Matt Mancina to a trade to Mississauga Steelheads and Josh Maguire who joined his hometown OJHL Cobourg Cougars.
“We’re excited by the group we have,” said Petes GM Mike Oke. “We have a lot of returning players. The players who returned from last year you can tell some of them have made some big strides in terms of their conditioning and strength. We expect that will pay dividends on the ice,”
The Petes had no unexpected no shows at camp. All but two of the players selected in the most recent draft showed up. American Max Ellis, who played for Detroit Honeybaked last season, signed with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.
Wyllum Deveaux, a 10th-round pick, has committed to Harvard University and signed with the USHL’s Tri City Storm. Oke took a flyer on both in the draft knowing it might be a challenge to sign them.
Logan Buchanan, a 2015 draft pick, suffered an injury in a preseason junior A game and missed opening day.
“He’s still nursing a bit of an injury so in speaking with him we felt it was better for him to take a little longer at home to recuperate and he’ll join the team later this week,” Oke said.
The Petes also scrimmage at 9 a.m. Thursday and hold their Maroon and White Game atv 6 p.m. Friday. Their first pre-season game is at 2 p.m. Sunday against the Oshawa Generals at the PMC.