John MacNeil
DAILY HERALD
Before pausing to enable their players to attend junior camps, the U18 AAA Prince Albert Mintos went to work last weekend for their fall training camp at the Art Hauser Centre.
“It was a really great camp,” reported Chris Bourdon, the Mintos’ new general manager. “All the players showed well.
“We’re just really excited to get going here in September.”
Before the regular season begins in the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League, the Mintos and Saskatoon Contacts face other in a home-and-home exhibition series Sept. 16 in Prince Albert (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre) and Sept. 20 in Saskatoon (6 p.m., Merlis Belsher Place).
In the league’s season-opener Sept. 23, the Mintos host the Battlefords Stars in a 7 p.m. start at the Art Hauser.
As they conducted their three-day training camp, Prince Albert’s fresh-faced coaching staff and management underlined the importance of shifting from skill-focused summer hockey to competitive and gritty in-season hockey.
“As we moved into Saturday, the very first (intrasquad) session was maybe a little bit soft,” Bourdon said after Sunday’s exit meetings with prospects. “All these kids, they go into the summertime and they’re playing shinny hockey, they’re playing skill hockey at all their camps with their skill-development coaches. It’s tough to get them out of that routine and get them back into real hockey.
“(We) had a little chat with a few players and just kind of reminded them that this is hockey season now. And the second session, and all the sessions after that, were very competitive, which is great.”
About 60 prospects, including all but one of 19 signed players, participated in at least part of the Mintos’ camp. Jakob Schmidt had already left for his WHL camp with the Vancouver Giants. Lachlan
Vandall took part in Friday’s fitness testing and early intrasquad play before departing Saturday for the Prince George Cougars’ camp.
The physical tests were strictly for Prince Albert’s signed and returning players, the same group that gathered at the end of camp for a team function.
“Those tests ended up being a great success in showing us where they’re at (fitness-wise) at this point in the year,” Bourdon said. “We’re going to be doing the same testing throughout the year. It’ll be a good benchmark, a good base to run those numbers off later on in the season. We’re planning (to do more testing) sometime around Christmastime, and then at the end of the year.”
Last Friday’s fitness results varied, depending on the events, and the relative strength of the players.
“Every one of them is kind of better at some of the events than the other,” Bourdon said. “You’d have some kids that are a little bit heavier or a little bit stronger. We finished it off with a cardio event at the end, on the bikes, and some of them did really well and some of them you could tell that maybe they weren’t doing as much (training) as they could have.
“But we’re going to fix that. It’s the start of the hockey season. We’ve got six months to play hockey. We’ve got a great coaching staff. We’ve already identified ways that we can start off the season on a good note. It’s going to be fun.”
Joining the fun last weekend was 17-year-old defenceman Liam Myhre, a Prince Albert Raiders’ prospect who wasn’t necessarily expected at the Mintos’ camp.
“Liam came out to our camp and participated in everything,” Bourdon said. “He even came to the physicals, even though he wasn’t really obligated to. We knew full well that he has aspirations to make the Raiders this year.
“He looked great out there, so poised with the puck, great skater, great hands, great vision. He’s just one of those guys, it’s tough to lose a player like that, because he does have one year of eligibility (remaining). But we wish him nothing but the best of luck (with his Raiders tryout) and we’re cheering for him.”
This week, Myhre is off to the Raiders’ WHL camp, which begins Friday.
Bourdon said Madden Dell and Denys Lupandin are the other Mintos participating in the Raiders’ camp. Lupandin is a newcomer in Prince Albert, joining the Mintos from the Contacts.
Along with Schmidt to Vancouver and Vandall to Prince George, the nine Mintos going to WHL camps include Beau Anholt and Cohen Kuntz (Lethbridge Hurricanes), Linden Abercrombie (Moose Jaw Warriors) and Caleb Philp (Swift Current Broncos).
At the junior A level, most of the Mintos are attending SJHL training camps. Max Cooper, who was Prince Albert’s top scorer last season, is bound for a BCHL camp with the Blackfalds (Alta.) Bulldogs.
Bourdon said at least one other Minto was also likely headed to a BCHL camp, pending confirmation.
