View Full Version : Rockets’ future hits the ice in pre-season camp
By Warren Henderson
The club’s No. 1 bantam draft pick from this past spring will highlight the 2010 edition of Kelowna Rockets’ rookie camp beginning Thursday morning.
Defenceman Jesse Lees—the ninth overall choice—will be one of more than 140 young prospects the Rockets scouting staff will examine closely during three days of scrimmages at the Capital News Centre.
The 6-foot, 165 pound Lees played last season with Calgary Northstar Sabres bantam AAA squad and comes to Kelowna with high expectations.
The team won’t get a look at its second choice from 2010, defenceman Madison Bowey from Winnipeg, until next week when main camp kicks off.
The 5-foot-10 Bowey is an outfielder playing for Manitoba at the Canadian bantam baseball championship this week in Vaughn, Ont., and is unable to join the rest of the rookies.
While the Rockets third-round pick Tyson Baillie—a 5-foot-8 forward—from Fort Saskatchewan will also make an appearance this week, the club’s fourth pick from 2010, forward Cole Linaker from Edmonton, is recovering from an ACL injury suffered in the spring and is not expected to show.
According to Rockets head scout and assistant GM Lorne Frey, the crop of 1994- and 1995-born players features some reasonably good quality.
“We didn’t have a lot of early picks in the draft, but we feel like we’ve got some pretty good players coming in,” said Frey. “Some of the later picks are maybe a little more of the fly-by-night types, but you’re always hopeful some of those will turn out well.
“As far as our 94s go,” added Frey, “we invited quite a few back that we here last year so that we can have another look. A number of them were certainly of interest to us and we want to give them another try.”
Frey expects about 10 to 12 players from rookie camp will be carried over to main camp which begins on Tuesday, Aug. 31 and will feature about 70 players in all.
Players born in 1995 are eligible to play in just five games with their WHL teams during the regular season, so all will be returned to their respective teams by the time camp and exhibition season is complete.
“We usually try to keep some of our 95s around for a bit of main camp so they can get a taste of the pace and a chance to be around the older guys to see how things work around here. It’ll help them adjust down the road.”
Frey will be joined at rookie camp by 10 other Kelowna Rockets scouts who will watch the players in eight controlled scrimmages per day.
The Rockets main camp runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Kelowna will then play a home-and home exhibition set against the Vancouver Giants—Friday Sept. 3 in Ladner, and Saturday, 7 p.m. at Prospera Place.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/101433139.html
By Kevin Parnell
He might be attending his first Kelowna Rockets training camp but 14-year-old defenceman Jesse Lees is well aware of the Rockets rich tradition along the blueline.
Lees, the Rockets first round pick in this past summer’s Western Hockey League bantam draft, is among 130 young prospects skating twice daily at the Rockets annual rookie camp.
He’s turned heads with his game during the camp, jumping into the rush from the blueline and showing offensive flair and physical play.
The Calgary native says it’s been exciting to come to a team that has graduated several defencemen into the NHL.
“I think this is probably the best place there is for me,” said Lees, who the Rockets selected 9th overall in the draft. “There has been lots of great defencemen that have come through here. I’m really excited to be here.”
The Rockets are pretty excited as well by Lees, who played bantam AAA last year in Calgary and scored 20 goals and added 18 assists in 30 games.
“He’s presenting the complete package,”said Rockets director of player personnel Lorne Frey, who watched a couple other defencemen drafted before the Rockets were happy to choose Lees.
“He’s got great size, he moves the puck well. He’s very intelligent," said Frey. "For the most part he’s very complete. Now he just has to keep getting better and improving.”
At 15, Lees will head back home to play midget hockey in Calgary and is only eligible to play five games for the Rockets this year. It’s his first experience at a junior hockey camp.
“It’s been great,” said Lees, who is listed at 6-foot, 162 pounds. “There’s lots of talent here. The tempo is high. I had some nerves but they calm down once you hit the ice.”
The Rockets are happy with their summer draft of 1995 born players despite the fact they didn’t have many picks in the middle rounds. After picking Lees, the club traded up to draft Madison Bowey with the first pick of the second round. Bowey is not at rookie camp as he is playing at the Canadian bantam baseball championships this week.
“Overall were pleased with the guys we drafted,” said Frey. “We only had one pick from the middle of the third round to the middle of the eighth so we picked nine guys after the eighth round. We’re pretty pleased.”
As for Lees, he’s pretty pleased as well, skating with an organization that has produced the likes of Shea Weber, Josh Gorges, Luke Schenn, Scott Hannan and Tyler Myers.
“I’m loving it,” he said. “I just came in trying to show what I can bring to the team.”
Camp Shots: Rockets rookie camp is at the Capital News Centre in Kelowna and is open to the public. Games take place from 8 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Saturday and from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
http://www.kelownarockets.com/hockey/news-display.php?public_id=2273§ion_id=3
By Warren Henderson
If there is indeed strength in numbers, then the Kelowna Rockets should have a head start on assembling a formidable roster for the 2010-11 Western Hockey League campaign.
In the club’s largest main training camp in recent memory, as many as 70 players—split into four teams—will take to the ice next week at the Capital News Centre.
Aside from the graduation of over-ager Lucas Bloodoff and the likely departure of Brandon McMillan to the pro ranks, the Rockets could return virtually their entire corps of forwards from last season.
So with vacancies up front rather scarce and, with a large and skilled group of new candidates joining the fray, the Rockets’ brain trust expects a long and intense battle for jobs.
“There’s going to be some really good competition,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. “We have a really strong group of forwards coming in and there are only so many jobs. The guys who were already here are going to be pushed, so we look at that as a real positive.”
The Rockets will be looking to bolster an already substantive forward lineup, led by veterans Evan Bloodoff, Geordie Wudrick, Shane McColgan, Brett Bulmer and Mitchell Callahan.
Newcomers up front pushing for employment will include the team’s 2010 import picks, Andreas Stene from Norway and Slovakian Gal Koren.
Adding drama to mix will be Abbotsford’s Jason Siebert, the club’s first pick in the 2009 bantam draft; Zach Franco, 17, a top prospect from Winnipeg; and Colton Sissons, the North Vancouver product who played last season with the BCHL’s Westside Warriors.
Then there’s a pair of 16-year-old rookies who saw call-up duty last season when the Rockets ran headlong into injury trouble — Colton Heffley from Swift Current and Edmonton’s Tyrell Goulbourne.
On the back end, newly-acquired veterans Brendon Wall, 20, and Kevin Smith, 19, will bring considerable experience to the Rockets, while also serving as an insurance policy in the event 2009-10 WHL defenceman of the year Tyson Barrie lands a job with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.
Sophomores Colton Jobke, Antoine Corbin, Mitchell Chapman and MacKenzie Johnston round out the cast of rearguard returnees, while Damon Severson, 16, hopes to push for full-time status after appearing in five games last season.
With the excessive injury woes suffered by the club last season, Huska knows how crucial depth is to an organization.
Only Mitchell Callahan played in all 72 regular season games last season as the Rockets regularly struggled to put a full lineup together.
At one point last season, Kelowna was missing eight regulars due to injury, while a ninth, Brandon McMillan, was at the World Junior Championship.
From Huska’s perspective, there’s no such thing as too many players vying for jobs.
“Last year was a very challenging year for coaches and players,” said Huska.
“With all the injuries we had, with guys in and out of the lineup, the ones who were playing were maybe not competing as hard as they should be every night. It’s nice for us to have some options, then no one gets too comfortable with their place on the team, and it makes everyone push that much harder.”
Rocket Shots: Main camp begins Tuesday morning at CNC with on-ice sessions at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/101612463.html
by Regan Bartel
I spoke to 17 year-old Zach Franco this morning. The Winnipeg resident has indeed committed to playing in the Western Hockey League this season.
http://reganbartel.blogspot.com/2010/08/franco-commitsmathesons-gym-work-is.html
By Kevin Parnell
Of the eighteen skaters who Rockets fans saw last year, seven of them are heading off to NHL training camps. Barrie will head to Colorado Sept. 10 to attend the Avalanche's rookie and then main camp.
It will be the second year at Avs camp for Barrie, who flew back to Kelowna on the day of the Rockets season opener and registered an assist last year. This year will be different.
"Last year I knew I was coming back," said Barrie. "This year I'm more confident. I'm going to go in and give it all I can. I have nothing to lose. If I go there and don't make it then I have a great place to play here, try to make the world junior team and help lead the Rockets."
Other Rockets that will be attending NHL training camps this fall are Mitchell Callahan (Detroit), Evan Bloodoff (Phoenix), Geordie Wudrick (Phoenix), Brett Bulmer (Minnesota), Colton Jobke (Minnesota), and Antoine Corbin (Dallas).
http://www.kelownarockets.com/hockey/news-display.php?section_id=3&public_id=2299
By Warren Henderson
Madison Bowey traded in his ball glove for a hockey stick this week.
The 15-year-old defenceman from Winnipeg was a late arrival at Kelowna Rockets training camp Wednesday after playing outfield for Team Manitoba at the Canadian bantam baseball championship in Ontario.
The Rockets' second-round choice in the 2010 WHL bantam draft, the two-sport athlete has no reservations about which game is No. 1.
"Hockey is my sport," said Bowey. "I play baseball in the summer for fun, it's more of a hobby. Hockey, I'm serious about it. It's the game I want to play and the one I want to make a living at when I'm older."
While baseball kept Bowey away from rookie camp last week, he's hoping to make up for lost time this weekend at main camp before returning to Winnipeg for school and his first year of midget AAA hockey.
His inaugural major junior camp has also been a fact-finding mission for Bowey who has yet to decide on whether the Western Hockey League or the NCAA is the best route to take.
"Right now I'm swinging back and forth between the WHL and college, but I still have time to think about it," said Bowey who had 57 points in 28 games for the bantam AAA Winnipeg Monarchs last season. "In the WHL you get a lot of exposure, you have someone like (GM) Bruce Hamilton here who is very successful and a team that develops pro defencemen…the WHL is one of the best ways to get to the NHL.
"College would give me a lot more time to develop and more focus would be on education." he continued. "I have to consider both. Right now I'm here to see life in the WHL."
Of course, in the club's humble opinion, a player of Bowey's potential would look best wearing the Rockets' black, teal, red and white. Still, player personnel director Lorne Frey accepts that like many young players of the day, Bowey plans to carefully examine all of his opportunities.
"That's the way it is for a lot of young players now, they want to keep their options open and we understand that it's part of the game," said Rockets assistant GM Lorne Frey. "The good thing is he's here to check out the team and check out Kelowna, so he's giving it a serious look."
As for what Bowey brings to the ice, Frey said there's no shortage of talent.
"He does everything well, he's an excellent skater, a skilled guy…just a good all-around player."
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/rockets/news/102091678.html
By Kevin Parnell
The Kelowna Rockets are heading into a week of practice after a pair of victories in WHL exhibition play on the weekend as the 2010-11 team continues to take shape.
The Rockets are still carrying close to 40 players after sending some of its youngest prospects home including 14-year-old defenceman Jesse Lees, the team's number one pick in the 2010 WHL bantam draft.
2010 second round pick Madison Bowey also returned home, following all of the newest Rockets youngest prospects who will head into a season of midget play.
The rest of the team will continue to work towards making the club this week.
"We are where we thought we'd be at this point," said Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton. "The guys that are coming back after playing a year think it's going to be a little easier and it isn't. It is what it is and now we're looking for a really good week of teaching."
The Rockets defeated the Vancouver Giants in a home and home exhibition series, winning 2-1 in Kelowna Saturday and 4-2 on Fridayin Ladner.
"The Giants were certainly more advanced than us with regards to their game plan but we managed to stay competitive," said Hamilton. "Now we move into teaching the systems and the discipline that we want these guys to play under."
Seven Rockets will leave this week for NHL camps meaning there will be plenty of opportunity for the players left behind to play in another home and home this weekend, this time with Kamloops.
http://www.kelownarockets.com/hockey/news-display.php?section_id=3&public_id=2330
By Warren Henderson
Rocket Shots: The Rockets have 30 players remaining on their roster — 19 forwards, eight defencemen and three goaltenders…
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/102398614.html
The three goaltenders are assumed to be Adam Brown, Chase Martin and Jordan Cooke.
The eight defencemen are assumed to be Brendon Wall, Tyson Barrie, Kevin Smith, Mitchell Chapman, Antoine Corbin, Colton Jobke, Mackenzie Johnston and Damon Severson.
The 19 forwards are assumed to be Evan Bloodoff, Tyler Matheson and Geordie Wudrick;
Mitchell Callahan, Cody Chikie, Codey Ito and Andreas Stene;
Max Adolph, Sean Aschim, Brett Bulmer, Gal Koren and Spencer Main;
Jessey Astles, Zach Franko, Shane McColgan and Colton Sissons;
Tyrell Goulbourne, Colton Heffley and Jason Siebert.
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