Some of the best young hockey players from across the country will be convening in Bonnyville this upcoming weekend to compete for a spot on the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs.
A total of 59 players will be split up into three teams for the three-day training camp, which will run from Aug 15 to 17 at the RJ Lalonde Arena.
“We think we have a really good young nucleus of kids that have high reputations coming with them,” said Rick Swan, Bonnyville head coach and GM.
“One kid, Joey Desrosiers is the top 18-year-old goaltender from Alberta. He is coming in and we are really excited about him. We think he can be an elite player in this league.”
Desrosiers is one of many younger players that will be attending this year's camp, as the Pontiacs have a ton of roster spots to fill after losing 11 players in the offseason.
The team was forced to get young with Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) rules mandating teams to have at least six players 18-years-old or younger in the lineup every night. Bonnyville only has one returning 18-year-old in Bobby McMann, which gave the coaching staff a leg up in recruiting younger players.
“We were able to utilize that to help us with our recruiting because those young kids coming out of midget that knew they had a great opportunity to play junior hockey knew the opportunity with Bonnyville was better than most.”
The open roster spots will also give more local kids a chance to make their hometown Pontiacs squad, with a large group hoping to suit up in the black, white and gold over the next few years.
“We will have six local kids trying out which all have a good opportunity to play this year,” said Swan. “We think within two years we could have four Bonnyville kids and a potential of nine zone kids from this area on the team.”
Even though the number of veteran players coming to camp will be smaller than most years, Swan said they will still have to “come in and make the team.”
Players will arrive on Thursday for an information session with the coaches before camp gets underway on Friday. Both Friday and Saturday will see two intrasquad games take place at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., with practices in between. Sunday will see a final intrasquad game played at 9:30 a.m., with all games open to the public.
According to Swan the coaching staff plans to have the roster cut down to 40 players for the annual Milton Romachuk Cup, an intrasqaud game, on Aug 18. That roster will then be carried into their first week of the preseason with two games against both Lloydminster and Fort McMurray. By the time the second week of the preseason roles around the Pontiacs “will be down to a good young nucleus of players.”
“I think that our veteran players, kids like Ryan Black, Braiden Doucette, Bobby McMann, Kyler Hehn, Wyatt Noskey, Luke Mahura and Steen Pasichnuk; they are all ready for that next level and I think they have embraced our culture. We really need to take a step as an organization and we need to have the right character kids in here who are prepared to work hard enough to be able to do that.”
The Pontiacs will play three games at home this preseason. They will host Lloydminster on Aug. 21, Fort McMurray on Aug 23 and Whitecourt on Aug. 25. Their regular season gets underway with a pair of games on Sept 5 and 6 in Grande Prairie.
The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs and Flin Flon Bobmbers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) hooked up in a trade earlier this offseason, which resulted in Alex Smith getting shipped out of town.
Smith, along with future considerations, was sent to Flin Flon for 20-year-old forward Dylan McCombie.
McCombie racked up 60 goals and 127 points playing in 193 games over the course of four seasons with Flin Flon.
Former Bonnyville Pontiac forward Jackson Dudley will be suiting up for the American International Yellow Jackets during the 2014-15 season.
Dudley committed to the Division I NCAA school last week after being flown down for a tour of their Springfield Massachusetts campus earlier this month.
In 51 games last season, Dudley scored 21 goals in added 30 assists for 51 points.
He is the fifth Pontiac player to land a Division I scholarship this offseason, joining Spencer Foo, Dan Wedman, Mike Iovanna and Sean Mostrom.
Defenseman Max Gottlieb is heading to the United States Hockey League after being drafted 142 overall by the Muskegon Lumberjacks in this past springs USHL draft.
“I'm honored to be drafted by such a great organization in Muskegon and I'm thankful for all of the coaching staffs and teammates that I have had along the way,” said Gottlieb. “Over the past season, I've gotten better at playing two-way hockey and learning the right time to create offense.”
In one season with the Pontiacs, Gottlieb scored four goals and added 21 assists over the course of 50 games.
