The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Watching Bombers training camp is almost like watching CBC's Making The Cut. Though he's not Mike Keenan, players are still going to be fearing the pink slip from Bombers coach/GM Ryan Hoffman. There are 50 players with desires of donning the maroon and white jerseys now and in the future. "Thus far we're pretty happy with it (camp)," says Hoffman. "We'll throw these guys in the fire the next three days and see how they do in exhibition games. We're pretty happy with our veteran guys so far, everyone came back in good shape and has played pretty well." Hoffman is also pleased with the young prospects, especially Drew Hoff. Hoffman believes the 1988 born forward is ready to play this year. Kenton Staines is another player who has impressed. "He's just a blue-collar, hard-nosed kid who does whatever he can out there and works very hard," says Hoffman. "His style and approach fit in to what we want to be." Hoffman went on to say that Staines is a very skilled, incredibly quick and tenacious player. "His motor never stops running," added Hoffman. "He makes it very difficult on defensemen when he gets in on the forecheck, but he's also talented enough to make them pay if they do turn the puck over." Local talent and fan favourite, Richard Dupre has been impressing the staff with his offensive abilities. His training during the summer seems to be paying dividends has he scored a couple of goals during the first scrimmage game. "I just hope that will continue once the regular season gets going as we're counting on him to put up some numbers on that second line," says Hoffman. "We feel with (Tyler) Beachell, (Dalton) Pajak, and (Brett) Needham we've got one pretty effective scoring line. We're projecting that Richard is going to do more scoring this year with Clayton Geiger and whoever is playing on his right side, whether it's Andrew Leslie or Blake Rolston." While it may seem difficult to decipher who is who on the ice, it may not be hard to find a goalie who is performing well. In the eyes of Hoffman, Calvin Bartel has been the most consistent goalie. The only bad news is, he's returning to Moose Jaw to play one more season of midget triple 'A'. "You can look at it that way or say it's exciting we have a guy like that that's going to be coming into our program in a year's time and we're not going to have to go out and really recruit goaltenders other than him very hard," says Hoffman. "We look forward to bringing him into the fold next year and solidifying our goaltending for the next three years." Hoffman admitted the other goalies haven't done anything to 'wow' him yet, and he's still waiting for them to stand on their heads. Hoffman hasn't seen what Jonathan Trout can do as he wasn't expected to arrive until this past Wednesday. Seeing him in action will have to wait until he plays in some exhibition games. Dale Pettit, the teams back up goalie from last year has impressed the staff when he's been good, but Hoffman feels the 19-year-old has a ways to go. "When Dale's been good in camp, he's been really good," noted Hoffman, "but he's had a couple of chunks of 10 or 15 minutes I'm sure he'd like to have back." There are no concerns yet, and the coaches like the fact players are showing quickness. Hoffman says the team should be able to get the forecheck going with speed and four lines of forwards that combine size and skill with the quickness. The Bomber rookies traveled to La Ronge for a friendly scrimmage yesterday and return tonight for their game against the OCN Blizzard at Whitney Forum. This will be the first of five exhibition games the team will play before opening the regular season in La Ronge for a home and home doubleÐheader starting September 16.
