Courtesy of Steinbachonline.com – Written by Clayton Dreger
You just never know.
A future Steinbach Piston maybe on the ice this week working on his skating and shooting skills at the Manitoba Junior Hockey League team’s inaugural Power Camp at the T.G. Smith Centre.
The camp, which did sell out, is for hockey players between the ages of 7-12 and they’re being coached and mentored by Pistons players.
Head coach Paul Dyck told steinbachonline’s Daryl Braun the camp is a great way for his players to get involved.
“It teaches them how to communicate to a group and also specific skills, that of course are modified according to the age group, but some of the things that we do as well,” Dyck said. “I think they have a better understanding maybe of why we’re stressing those points as well.”
The Pistons Prospects Camp starts Saturday and will continue until September 6th when Main Camp begins.
“There’s a lot of moving parts right now,” said Dyck. “It’s a very exciting time of the year for the players and staff. We’re seeing some new faces coming in this year – it’s going to be fun to get to know some of the players as well.”
“I think we’re very optimistic,” replied for the Pistons head coach when asked about the upcoming season. “We have some experience in our defence group. We have a starting goaltender who played extremely well for us last year in Roman Bengert coming back and up front…the last few years have been interesting. We had a group of ’95 forwards which would be 20-year-old forwards last year that were very strong and played prominent roles for us. Because of that some of our younger players didn’t necessarily get the opportunities to play in certain situations. We believe they were capable already last year. This year they are certainly going to get a larger opportunity so that’s exciting for them. And then we feel we have some players that have graduated from Midget that are ready to step in and make an impact and they are eager to get going. We’re looking into the season with a lot of enthusiasm.”
Steinbach’s first exhibition game is Tuesday, September 6th against the Steelers in Selkirk.