The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres held their first camp over the weekend complete with two scrimmages, coming away with a pair of signees, including 20-year-old Fort Frances native Shaun Egan.
Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan said in a statement that he was impressed with Egan’s skating and ability to read the ice.
He also called Egan “feisty”—no doubt in part to a spirited scrap between the defenceman and another tryout, Andrew Easton.
Also signed out of camp was forward Nick Knutson of Red Lake Falls, Mn.
While Strachan said he was disappointed with the level of conditioning at the camp, he chuckled the camp was “for the most part not bad . . . being a prospect camp, you kind of got to expect your ups and downs.”
While the Sabres didn’t come away with more than a couple of signings, Strachan insisted he liked what he saw.
“There’s probably five or six players that will move on,” he noted. “There’s a lot of young talent that could move on but should probably play for the Muskies . . . or where they live to get more practice.”
Strachan figured out of the 47 players at camp, about 15 were from out of town. He said he expects to draw more players from outside the region at the team’s last camp, which runs Aug. 24-26.
Defenceman Mike McCaig was one of the players who lasted until Sunday, and said the camp was “totally what I expected.”
“A lot of guys out there I know so pretty much what I expected—fast, good hockey,” he remarked.
Both scrimmages and the skating drills Friday evening drew healthy crowds of parents of the prospective Sabres, as well as eager fans enjoying some rare summertime hockey.
And the Sunday morning game didn’t disappoint anyone on hand—the younger White team had to stage a comeback down 3-1 in the third period, and a flurry of late goals evened the score at 4-4 with only seconds left on the clock.
Also on the weekend, Strachan made a trade with the Fort William North Stars for veteran forward Colin Spencer, a native of Dryden.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
