Tryouts underway for Muskie pucksters

About 40 Muskie hopefuls hit the ice at the new Ice for Kids Arena here Monday for the first night of tryouts for the high school hockey team.
“We had a very good turnout,” noted head coach Glen Edwards, adding the talent he saw on that first night of camp was better than in previous years.
“This year, there are more kids trying out,” he said. “The quality of the kids is better and there is good hockey talent.”
About 15 veterans were at the tryouts, Edwards noted, but they all don’t automatically make the team.
“There are about seven spots that everyone is fighting for,” he said. “The new kids are pushing harder–everyone is battling and there may be some surprises.”
“We are not sure when the first cut will be,” noted assistant coach Ken Christiansen. “We like to give kids a pretty good chance . . . we will play it by ear.”
“We look for players who have a quick and strong skating ability, the ability to handle the puck, overall strength, and obviously the mental aspects like understanding and being able to play the game,” Edwards stressed.
Christiansen agreed, but added having a “team-player attitude” also is a major factor.
“School marks are also looked at,” he continued. “If a player’s marks drop, then he can’t play. There is no use in having a good player who fails out because if he fails out, then we can’t use him for the rest of the year.”
Edwards said the Muskies will ice a much older team this season so it will be tough for the younger guys to crack the lineup.
“Realistically, grade 11 is the year to make the Muskie hockey team but coming out in grade nine and 10 gives them the experience and knowledge about the game and it shows them what level their skills need to get to,” he reasoned.
Elijah Smith, who is going into grade nine this year, was at Monday night’s tryout but had to sit out due to an injury.
“[The tryouts] are hard but I am going to come out for the rest of the week,” he noted. “If I wouldn’t have got hit in the knee with a puck, I would still be out there practising.”
Smith doesn’t think his chances of making the team are that great but he is out for the experience.
“I probably won’t make the team because I only played in PeeWee last year, also because I need to work on my backwards skating,” he said. “That [backwards skating] is probably the only reason I won’t make the team.”
Smith added he’s been working on improving his skills at the AA developmental hockey school here this summer. And he said he won’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t make the team because he’s using these tryouts as a practice run for next year’s.
Curtis Galusha, who also is trying out for the Muskie hockey team for the first time, admitted he wasn’t prepared for how difficult the tryouts were going to be.
“It is too hard. I am not sure if I am coming back for the rest of the week but I will think about it,” he noted Monday. “If I do stay the rest of the week, it would be to have fun.
“Before I left the ice, I thought the tryouts were good but the skills were hard . . . knowing how hard they are is motivating me to try harder,” he enthused.
Meanwhile, Edwards thinks the Muskies will emerge from training camp with a strong team.
“Our goaltending and offence is strong but the defence is a bit of a concern,” he admitted. “We lost three good defencemen [John Rogoza, Chris Kellar, and Boomer Redford] this year and it will be hard to replace them.”