The next time they make the trip, the opportunity to compete for a roster spot will also be a part of it.
For the Soo Greyhounds, a weekend-long development camp that featured players selected in the past two Ontario Hockey League drafts as well as three players selected in this year’s Under-18 draft and a handful of free agents wrapped up Sunday afternoon.
The two-day camp saw players skate in a pair of practices and two scrimmages while also going through fitness testing.
For the players, the weekend is a chance to learn about the organization and get a taste of being in the OHL.
For the team, the weekend is a chance to see where the players are at in their development and have a standard for when they return in the late summer for the Greyhounds training camp.
“It’s not so much an evaluation of where they’re at today, it’s moreso just [to] set a standard of where they’re at today and then reinforce what we need to see in August,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said. “That’s really where the evaluation gets more serious.
Asked about the on-ice portion of the two-day camp, Raftis said he was happy.
“Sometimes with these camps, you’re never sure what kids have skated where they’ve been at previously, but right from day one, it was real physical, a lot of speed,” Raftis said. “The guys who were returning from that ’06 class really set the tone for it.”
Raftis added that having three regulars from the Greyhounds 2022-23 roster – Christopher Brown, Alex Kostov, and Matthew Virgilio – as well as a handful of players who saw time with the team as callups plays an important role in the camp.
“Everybody, by default, always looks to those guys and see how they’re taking it,” Raftis said. “There’s been years where you have a returning guy that might be too cool for it or thinking they don’t belong, but all these guys really set the tone really well.”
While the players were set to return to their respective homes on Sunday afternoon, the Greyhounds focus has shifted to the Canadian Hockey League import draft, which is slated for early July.