Like many players, he has high hopes entering his first Ontario Hockey League training camp.
With a development camp under his belt, Soo Greyhounds first round pick Christopher Brown has his sights set on training camp in late-August and the 16-year-old is looking to bring a strong game at both ends of the ice to his new club.
“I love making plays,” Brown said in a recent interview. “I feel like I’m a two-way playmaker. I love creating offence, holding the puck and being patient and not giving the puck away by making a bad pass. On the defensive end, I’m smart. I don’t mistrace the puck.”
Brown’s talent level in the offensive zone has stood out for Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis, who said after selecting him that the youngster “has a lot of those tools in how he thinks the game, his skating, and his skill level that, once that strength comes, he’s going to be a real force for us.”
After officially announcing the signing of Brown recently, Raftis called Brown “such a cerebral player.”
“He’s smart. He’s got great creativity with the puck and (knows) how to use his body,” Raftis added. “He’s got edgework that, once he gets that strength that’s needed to be at that level, he’s going to put up a ton of points in the league.”
His first OHL camp – the Greyhounds development camp in early-June – gave the young centreman his first taste of the city and he came away impressed with what he saw.
“It was a ton of fun,” Brown said of the Greyhounds early-June development camp. “The facilities are incredible. The way they ran practices and the way the whole staff was running things was great. It was really professional.”
With a pair of returnees in 2021 first rounder Justin Cloutier and second rounder Marco Mignosa, also participating in the camp, Brown said having the pair in town was a help for the newcomers.
“They pushed the pace throughout the whole camp,” Brown said.
With development camp behind him, and training camp just under a month away, Brown is focused on adjusting his game to be ready for his first taste of OHL game action in the fall.
“I’m working on my speed and my explosiveness,” Brown said. “Playing in the OHL, that’s what it is. It’s speed, playing fast, and always moving your feet, so I’m working on that and also my strength up for next year. There are a lot of bigger, stronger guys so I want to be confident enough to go in the corners and take the puck.”
Brown was one of two Greyhounds prospects – the other being 2022 second round pick Landon Miller – who participated in Hockey Canada recent Under-17 development camp in Calgary, which featured players from across the country.
“It was an incredible experience,” Brown said of the U17 camp. “Seeing players (drafted into) the WHL and QMJHL and players from the OHL too, the speed was incredible. The amount of skill, there wasn’t one guy there that you could point out and ask, ‘Why is that guy here?’”
Brown said in addition to the skill level of the camp, a number of the players drafted into the WHL through its bantam draft (players are drafted a year earlier than in the OHL) have played a small number of games in the league and the camp helped him learn some of what he can expect in making the jump to major junior.
“One thing we always got told was that every second, you’re getting hit,” Brown said. “There’s no time where there’s a guy away from you. He’s always beside you.”
Brown added that in some ways, the WHL players were a little ahead of the Ontario players because of their limited Canadian Hockey League experience.
“It really just showed me that you have to work hard,” Brown said. “If you really want this, this is the time to just work. It doesn’t matter if it’s COVID or no COVID, games or no games, everyday you have to put in the work. It definitely helped me with that time being off. I got stronger, faster, and more confident in my game.”