Victoria Grizzlies News

GRIZZLIES CAMP FULL OF NEW FACES

August 23, 2009 Sharie Epp ©Times Colonist -

The off-season for the Victoria Grizzlies was short on time, but long on recruiting.

After playing host to the RBC Cup Junior A Championship, it was well into May before the Grizzlies players packed up their dressing room, most of them for the last time. Just six players from the team that lost out to the Humboldt Broncos in overtime of the RBC Cup semifinal will be among nearly 75 hopefuls expected for the Grizzlies training camp, which begins today at Juan de Fuca Arena.

“After you lose a team, you want to have a big camp,” Grizzlies coach Victor Gervais said, already impressed by the early arrivals.

“They came in looking like they’re in shape right now. That’s the biggest thing for me.”

Gervais thinks 18-yearold rookie forward Joel Lowry of Calgary will fit in from the get-go, and fellow Calgarian Spencer Copp, 19, is a big, strong winger who’s an outstanding skater. Other’s who’ve shown the kind of early character and commitment Gervais is looking for are forwards Derek Bacon and Alex Allan, also of Calgary, and Craig Eisenhut of Kelowna.

“There’s going to be some surprises,” Gervais said. “Other teams are going to go ‘Wow.’”

Returnees to the lineup include defencemen Todd Gebert, Jordan Heywood, and Sean Robertson, forwards Madison Dias and Dustin Mowrey and goaltender Alex Peck, who’ll have the starting job this season, backed up by one of the 10 netminders at camp.

With the opportunity for a fresh beginning in his debut as a head coach and interim GM in the B.C. Hockey League, Gervais knows exactly what he wants out of his team — players who work hard and play their roles.

Defensively, the plan is to have three offensive and three defensive defencemen, while on offence, there’ll be two scoring, and two tough, grind-’em-out lines.

“We want four lines that work extremely hard, and pay the price to win,” Gervais said. “They need to learn to do all the little things, because that creates big things on the ice.”

Training camp features registration and some fitness testing today, with players divided into five teams playing a series of mini games tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, from 3:30 to 7 p.m., the survivors will don team jerseys for a fulllength White versus Black game, before exhibition play determines the final cuts.

In preseason action, the Grizzlies play the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Friday, 7 p.m. at Juan de Fuca, then travel to Nanaimo on Sept. 2, and Alberni on Sept. 4. They begin the season on Sept. 11 in Nanaimo, and play their first home game against the Clippers on Sept. 19.