More than 60 players, including several members of the 2013-14 Osoyoos Coyotes team that made the conference finals in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs, will be at the Sun Bowl Arena for the annual Coyotes’ spring prospects camp. The action begins Friday morning and continues all day and resumes Saturday and Sunday morning. The camp will wrap up with an “all-star” scrimmage Sunday at noon. This is a photo taken from opening day of last year’s camp. (Keith Lacey file photo)
One month after the 2013-14 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) season came to an end for the Osoyoos Coyotes, the building blocks for next season will begin to fall into place this weekend as the Coyotes hold their spring prospects camp at the Sun Bowl Arena.
For the fifth-consecutive year, the Coyotes are holding a spring prospects camp.
Head coach and general manager Ken Law and his coaching staff are inviting returning players as well as bantam and midget-aged prospects who might consider trying out for the team in the fall to make an impression at the camp.
“We had around 60 players last year and we’re hoping for the same kind of numbers and even a few more this year,” said Law late last week.
“We always have a few returning players and that will be the case once again and we’re inviting any player that thinks they have the ability to play at this level to show up and show us what they have.”
Returning players who have confirmed they will participate in the prospects camp include captain Colin Chmelka, top rookie Aaron Azevedo, veteran Troy Maclise and Jackson DeMatos.
The prospects camp gets underway with registration at 8 a.m. on Friday and the first scrimmage set to take place at 9:30 a.m.
Practices and scrimmages will continue all day and into the evening on Friday.
Scrimmages continue Saturday at 10 a.m. and continue until the early evening.
The camp continues on Sunday with players hitting the ice starting at 8 a.m. with the camp wrapping up with an all-star game at noon, said Law.
“All of the players who have stood out will be invited to participate in the all-star game on Sunday afternoon,” he said.
All local hockey fans are invited to take in the action throughout the weekend free of charge.
For the second year in succession, the Coyotes had an outstanding playoff run come up just short of reaching the KIJHL championship series.
After disposing of Kelowna in a series sweep and easily defeating the North Okanagan Knights in five games in the division final series, the Coyotes got off to a great start in the conference final series against Kamloops by winning the first game in Kamloops.
However, the Storm, who had the best record during the regular season in the entire KIJHL, rebounded with four-consecutive victories to advance to the league championship series.
The Beaver Valley Nighthawks defeated Kamloops in six games to win the league title.
Law said he expects between eight and 12 players from this past season to return next year, which means there will be several openings for new players on the 2014-15 squad.
He is confident many of those players will be attending this weekend’s camp.
“There were a few guys we were excited about at last year’s camp and it’s our hope that they had a very good season in midget or bantam and will be ready to take the jump to the next level,” he said. “We always get some very good kids from the bantam and midget level who have improved a lot after one more year of good hockey and we hope several of them will be able to make our club in the fall.”
Brett Jewell, the brother of former Coyotes’ star Alex, and Jackson Glimpel, the brother of talented rookie Rainer, will both be attending the weekend camp, said Law.
“It’s kind of cool to have the younger brothers of some of the players who have played for the organization want to come out,” said Law. “I think it goes to show we run a pretty good organization here and the kids who play for us almost always have good things to say and that’s why we get so many brothers coming out to this camp over the years.”
Good news for Coyotes’ fans is the annual training camp in August is just over four months away.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
