Intensity increases as Greyhounds development camp concludes

The comfort level and intensity ramped up on Saturday as the Soo Greyhounds wrapped up its 2016 spring development camp at the Essar Centre.

The two-day camp, which featured players drafted in the last two OHL drafts and 11 free agents, saw a pair of scrimmages and was the first opportunity for the Greyhounds coaching staff to see players selected in the 2016 draft in action.

“We’ve only heard about them from Kyle and the scouting staff so it’s nice to get an idea of the kids that we drafted and the kids we invited,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “Overall it was a good weekend and a good look for us.”

“There are a lot of nerves for some being in a camp for the first time,” Bannister also said. “The game (Saturday) was a bit better and more physical. The guys got more involved than they were (Friday). Overall I was impressed with the level of play and the level of skill.”

Bannister also called the camp “an evaluation process.”

“(The team can) give them some tools to go home with in the summertime and come back and be better players come training camp at the end of August. We understand that some of them haven’t skated for up to a couple months. And some have just come off very long seasons. We have an understanding of that and that’s why we don’t want to put too much pressure on the kids.”

For General Manager Kyle Raftis was pleased with Saturday’s scrimmage was a step up from Friday’s.

“It was a little more physically-engaged today,” said Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Raftis. “Guys were playing a little bit harder and everyone was getting a little more comfortable with their teammates. You could hear guys calling for passes a little bit more and you could hear a little more chatter.”

“The pace was good and there was a lot more intensity than you usually see in a spring camp in May,” Raftis also said.

Goaltender Drew DeRidder, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2016 OHL Priority Selection, missed the camp while he participated in USA Hockey’s Warren Strelow National Goaltending Camp. DeRidder is considered to be among the top American goaltenders in his age group and was invited to the camp that includes goaltender born between the years 1997 and 2001. The camp opened on Thursday and runs through Sunday.

Raftis said the plan is DeRidder will be in main camp in August.

Corson Green missed the camp due to a back injury. Green, who has a college commitment to New Hampshire, was planning to attend camp but the injury kept him out of camp. Green was selected in the fifth round of the 2015 OHL draft by the Greyhounds.

Randy Hernandez, who was selected in the 13^th round of the 2015 draft played the 2015-16 season with the US National Team Development Program’s under-17 team and is committed to play with the team next season.

Defenceman Perry Winfree and forwards Ryan Horvath and Lucas Thorne were also not in camp.

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SCRIMMAGE RESULT

Team White 6, Team Red 1

Team White capped off a sweep of the weekend scrimmages led by a three-point performance from first round pick Barrett Hayton, who had a goal and two assists. Matthew Hayami (two goals), James Buckley (one goal, one assist), Ross Andreacchi (one goal, one assists) and Luca Nocita (two assists) also had multi-point nights for Team White. Ryan O’Bonsawin had the other Team White goal.

Alex Gritz had the lone goal for Team Red, who was outshot 38-23.