Lucas Punkari
While hoping for a strong showing in the Nickel City this past weekend, Fort Frances native Colton Spicer couldn’t even imagine the performance he put on at the Sudbury Wolves’ prospect camp.
The 17-year-old—selected by the Wolves in the 11th round of last year’s OHL Priority Selection—was an offensive force during the two scrimmages at the Countryside Sports Complex, netting four goals and collecting two assists.
“Going into the weekend, I didn’t think I would do as well as I did, to be honest with you,” Spicer admitted.
“I have been working hard lately in my workouts and all of those types of things, and I guess that is really starting to pay off as I was feeling really good out there,” he added.
Unlike his previous visit to Sudbury, which took place at last year’s main training camp, Spicer was one of the more experienced players at the prospect camp.
“I was actually one of the older guys that was there this time, as it was just 1995 and 1996 birth date players,” he explained.
“I was also just coming off a season here with the Lakers, and I felt a lot bigger and stronger than the rest of them,” added Spicer, who tops 6’1” and weighs in at 182 pounds.
Lining up with 2011 third-round pick Danny Desrochers and free agent invite Steven Green, Spicer made an immediate impact in the opening scrimmage on Saturday, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists in an convincing 9-4 win for Team White.
“I’m not sure what was the key in that game, but the puck just seemed to be going in,” he smiled.
“I was shooting the puck a lot more it seemed, and I was able to end up with a hat trick.
“Plus I was having a ton of fun out there,” he added.
Spicer hit the twine once during Sunday morning’s scrimmage, but it wasn’t enough to help Team White get the win, who fell 3-2 to Team Blue.
“In that game, everyone was a lot stronger out there as I think everyone knew just what to expect between each other,” Spicer said of the much-tighter second scrimmage.
Besides his scoring exploits, Spicer also cited his use of the body as to why he was able to have a strong weekend.
“I felt like I was a lot bigger and stronger than most of the guys that were there,” he stressed.
“I was able to use my physical side of my game and I threw a lot of big hits over the weekend as a result of that.”
One of the most impressed observers of Spicer’s play over the weekend was Wolves’ head coach Trent Cull, who talked to the Fort Frances native following Sunday’s scrimmage.
“He actually told to come back and be ready to make the team later this year, as I have a good chance of making the team,” Spicer enthused.
“That gave me a lot of extra motivation for when I’m working out and to drive even harder to make that happen.”
The Wolves, who finished fifth in the Eastern Conference this past season before being swept by the Brampton Battalion in the first round of the playoffs, will have at least three forward spots up for grabs with Russian Andrey Kuchin, team captain Michael MacDonald, and OHL most outstanding player runner-up Michael Sgarbossa all leaving the junior ranks.
With only a couple of months until the Wolves hold their main camp in August, Spicer already knows what he’ll need to work on if he wants to start the 2012/13 season in the OHL.
“I’ll need to continue to strengthen up and to work on my quickness, for sure,” he noted.
“One of the things that the staff told me was to work on my quick feet.
“And I know that I’ll have to be a faster out there as I’ll be playing against a lot of faster guys if I do make it,” he added.
