OCN Blizzard Main Camp Day 2

Day two of OCN Blizzard main camp was a long and tiring one for the Blizzard hopefuls, a full drill session followed by two 50 minute scrimmages.

Here are the scoring breakdowns for today's scrimmages.

Game 1

Goal- Avory Wilkie (F, 96) - Team White, Unassisted, 
Goaltender In Goal - Kamil Prezpiorka (G, 93)

Goal - Cody Zulyniak (F,92) - Team Blue, Assist - Thomas Ward-Cardinal (D, 92)
Goaltender In Goal - Ryan Brown (G, 94)

Goal - Shaq Houle (F, 96) - Team Blue, Assist - Robert Smith (F, 95)
Goaltender In Goal - Ryan Brown (G, 94)

Final Score: 2 Blue - 1 White

In game one neither Mitchell Backhouse nor Justin McDonald allowed a goal. Ward-Cardinals pass to Zulyniak on the first blue goal was sent from his own face-off dot to just outside the White blue line through about three players. He's going to be some kind of special on the blue line.

Game 2

Goal - Wilson Dumais (F, 93) - Team Blue,  Assist - Shaq Houle (F, 96)
Goaltender In Goal - Ryan Brown (G, 94)

Goal - Shaq Houle (F, 96) - Team Blue, Unassisted
Goaltender In Goal - Justin McDonald (G, 92)

Goal - Braeden Makokis (F, 94) - Team Blue, Assist - Grant Valiquette (F, 94)
Goaltender In Goal - Justin McDonald (G, 92)

Final Score: 3 Blue - 0 White

Some young players really stood out today, Grant Valiquette was one of them, he has great vision, skates very well and has quick hands that he uses effectively in tight spaces. He has the potential to be a top flight play maker.

Avory Wilkie is another one who stood out, while Valiquette is tiny Wilkie is a giant of 16 year old (somewhere around 6'2, 6'3), he's already built like a man. His skating needs to improve but his hands in tight are very good, especially for someone his size. He brings a physical element to his game and is one of those players who will go through a wall if you ask him to. He also has good positional awareness and understanding of where the play is heading.

Another one is 16-year old Shaq Houle. Houle picked up three points today and is one big kid. Not as thick as Wilkie but just as tall if not taller and has plenty of time to fill out his frame. Great skating for someone his size and the puck just seems to follow him around.

As for veteran players Ward-Cardinal is a very entertaining player to watch when the puck is on his stick. Just head down to the rink and watch him. Wilson Dumais also stood out on his goal in the second game, the second gear on that kid is unreal. He can do it all, score, pass, play physical and play sound defensive hockey. I have a feeling he's going to be a big key to the success for the Blizzard this year.

Today was just the first day of scrimmage action, I'll have more tomorrow and throughout training camp.

More scrimmages tomorrow beginning at 4.

Here is an interview with Clay DeBray after the first scrimmage game.

Blizzard Camp Fitness Results

Here are the results from yesterday's fitness testing.

Hill Climbs:

1. Justin McDonald
2. Darien Cardinal
3. Mitch Spence
4. Brad Swampy, Josh Elmes and Preston Sinclair-Martin all tie for fourth.

Push Ups:

1. Wilson Dumais
2. Justin McDonald
3. Kamil Prezepiorka
4. Cody Zulyniak

Sit-Ups:

1. Donny Ross
2. Mitch Backhouse
3. Justin McDonald
4. Robert Smith
5. Cody Zulyniak

Agility/Foot Speed

1. Robert Smith
2. Daniel Stagg 
3. Josh Elmes
4. Wilson Dumais
5. Justin McDonald

Endurance Run:

1. Mitch Spence
2. Kamil Prezepiorka
3. Matthew Cameron
4. Ryan Brown
5. Justin McDonald

 Just some quick thoughts. Clear indication of how key goaltender fitness is at this level as both McDonald and Backhouse are in phenomenal shape. I imagine that the staff are pleased that Wilson Dumais showed up to camp in such great shape after a tough year last season. Talking to play by play guys in the SJHL he's supposed to be an incredibly dominant player when he's "on".

Scrimmages kick off at 4 and run to 9 PM tonight. I'll be up in the booth, feel free to introduce yourselves to me!

2012-2013 NorMan Northstars Roster

The NorMan Northstars completed their roster for the 2012-2013 season this week.

It breaks down as follows.

*Indicates rookie
** Indicates rookie who played as an AP last season.

Goaltenders

Aaron Vallance - Thompson
Luke Penner - The Pas **

Defensemen

Bruce Highway - Thompson
Boyd Langan - Flin Flon
Aaron Beauchamp - Flin Flon
Rick Frechette - The Pas
Cory Reid - The Pas
Jordie Valentino - Thompson
Jory Ross - Thompson *

Forwards

Evan Akkerman - Flin Flon
Tyrel Chalrton - Thompson
Steven Goran - Thompson
Drake Bodie - Thompson
Tanner Hepp - Thompson
Lodie Ipeelie - Iqaluit, NU
Teagan Quinn - Flin Flon
Tavish Quinn - Flin Flon
Brendan Barron - Creighton, SK
Arnell Evans - Thompson **
Myles Bennett - Thompson **
Josh Barnowich - Thompson *
Trent Laycock - Thompson **
Layne Anderson - Gillam *

The Northstars finished last season with a 19-22-3 season finishing fourth in the East division. Head Coach Stu Cunningham thinks that with six returning defensemen and nine returning forwards that they can clinch a top three finish in the division. The Northstars will play in a tournament in Souris later this month before kicking off their regular season October 5th at home to the Brandon WheatKings.

OCN Blizzard Main Camp Day 1

In talking to both coaches (Jim Mollard, Clay DeBray) and Derek Fontaine they feel they can take a run at a league championship this season. They have three returning defensemen in Nathan Bruyere, Josh Elmes and Ralph Cochrane from last years Blizzard team plus the addition of '92 born Thomas Ward-Cardinal brings more experience on the back end. They are hoping to have one of the strongest defensive corps in the league with those four as the backbone.

Up front seven players are returning from last year plus Wilson Dumais who came over via trade.

In total there are 35 players in camp and the Blizzard will keep 25.

In nets they have Justin McDonald (acquired from Kindersley) and Mitchell Backhouse penciled in as their goalies for this season.

First scrimmage is tomorrow at 4PM.

Derek Fontaine Pre-Season Interview

Here is an interview I recorded with Derek Fontaine on August 22nd for 610 CHTM's Sport Report. The show also re-ran on Shaw TV in Thompson, Flin Flon and The Pas the following day.

Have a listen,

OCN Blizzard Training Camp Schedule & Info

Here is all the information for this weeks OCN Blizzard main camp.

Schedule:

Tuesday Aug 28

Players check in @10:00 AM

Fitness testing @10:30 AM

Drill Sessions: Team DeBray @ 3:00PM - 4:00PM
                      Team Mollard @ 4:30PM- 5:30PM


Wednesday Aug 29

Drill Session: Team Mollard @10:00AM - 11:00AM
                     Team DeBray @12:00PM- 1:00PM

Scrimmages:   DeBray vs Mollard 4:00PM - 5:30PM
                      Mollard vs DeBray 7:30PM - 9:00PM

Thursday Aug 30

Drill Sessions: Team DeBray @10:00AM - 11:00AM
                      Team Mollard @12:00PM - 1:00PM

Scrimmages:  Mollard vs DeBray 4:00PM- 5:30PM
                     DeBray vs Mollard - 7:30PM - 9:00PM

ROSTERS

TEAM MOLLARD (WHITE)

G - Justin McDonald (92), Ryan Brown (94)

D - 2 Nathan Bruyere (92), 4 Josh Elmes (93)
      5 Bruce Highway (95), 6 Terrence Roulette (96)
      7 Drew Morin (94) ,    8 Mitch Spence (94)

F - 27 Lance Hiebert (96), 9 Camacho Lathlin (95), 11 Waylon Neault (95)
      12 Bradley Constant (94), 13 Avory Wilkie (96), 15 Preston Sinclair-Martin (96)
      16 Matthew Cameron (95), 17 Eddie Bayer (94), 19 Bradley Swampy (92)
      24 Kirkland Chief (93), 21 Kolton Baptiste (92), 25 Darien Cardinal (93)

TEAM DEBRAY (BLUE)
  
G - Mitchell Backhouse (93), Kamil Prezpiorka (93)

D - 2 Thomas Ward-Cardinal (92), 4 Ralph Cochrane (92)
      5 Joseph Sutherland (94),         6 Evan Dorion (94)
      7 Zack Richards (94),              8 Brendan Carlson (94)

F - 26 Shaq Houle (96), 24 Robert Smith (95), 27 Donald Ross (95)
      17 Braeden Makokis (94), 19 Cody Zulyniak (92), 21 Grant Valiquette (94)
      13 Zack Garrett (94), 15 Bryce MaCinnis (95), 16 Taylor Santorelli (93)
       9 Daniel Stagg (94), 11 TJ Constant (93), 12 Wilson Dumais (93)

 

Welcome!

Hello!

I'll start off with an introduction. My name is Bradley Karp and I am the new voice of the OCN Blizzard and News/Sports Director at CJ1240 after a move over to The Pas from our sister station in Thompson.

Now on to this blog...

As I'm sure you can already tell my focus won't be solely on the OCN Blizzard (don't worry there will be more than enough coverage) but instead on all sports here in Northern Manitoba including the Flin Flon Bombers and NorMan Northstars. Coverage of Northern Manitobans making a big splash in any sport will be covered as well.

My goal is to increase the visibility of athletes and their stories here in Northern Manitoba.

I look forward to the many conversations regarding sports that are sure to come.

* A note regarding comments -- All comments will be approved by me, no anonymous posters.

If you have a story, comment, or question send me an email - bkarp@arcticradio.ca

You can also follow me on twitter @BradleyKarp

- Bradley Karp