The junior club opens camp with 41 on the roster and one goalie question
Two forwards signed out of the spring draft, a defence that returns almost whole, and a crease that belongs to whoever takes it.
The Wapiti Kings opened main camp Tuesday morning with 41 names on the board, and the shape of the season was visible by the second drill: the defence is back, the forwards are faster, and the crease is an open competition that everyone in the building is too polite to call a controversy.
The blue line returns five of six regulars, which in this league — where a good defenceman is usually a departing defenceman — counts as a windfall. Up front, the two forwards signed out of the spring draft both skated with the veterans' group by Wednesday, a promotion the coaching staff insists means nothing and every parent in the stands correctly read as meaning quite a lot.
The goaltending is the honest question. Last year's starter aged out; the two candidates are a nineteen-year-old with junior experience and a sixteen-year-old the scouts have been quietly excited about since bantam. The coach's official position is that games will decide it. The unofficial schedule has them alternating through the exhibition slate, which is the same answer with dates attached.
Camp runs through the weekend, with the intrasquad game Saturday at 5 — free admission, donations to the food bank at the door. The regular season opens at home the second Friday of September, and the club would like the town to know the new jerseys have, at long last, been delivered.
