Friday, July 25, 2008

Canadian Development Camp set to kick off

Sabres prospects Paul Byron, Tyler Myers, and Tyler Ennis are among 44 hopefuls skating at the Canadian junior development camp beginning Saturday at the University of Ottawa. A shorter list of players will be invited to battle for spots on the 22-man roster at the national junior team's final selection camp in mid December in Ottawa. The camp will be thick with talent, as 19 NHL first-round picks are included on the preliminary roster. The participants will be broken up into two squads with Team Red taking the ice for a 5:00 Saturday practice, while Team White will hit the ice at 7:30. The teams will again alternate practice times of 10:00 and 11:15 AM on Sunday and Monday before scrimmaging at 6:00 each day. The practice sessions are free to the public, while a little over 800 tickets will be available for each scrimmage (cash only at the door). With less than half of its 2008 roster returning, Team Canada's selection process is wide open this year. It would seem that 2008 first rounders Myers (D, Kelowna - WHL) and Ennis (F, Medicine Hat - WHL) would have the inside track on claiming spots in the December cut-down camp, but don’t count Byron out either. The 5’10 forward will lead Gatineau’s quest for a repeat visit to the Memorial Cup after a 37-goal campaign in 2007-08, and hot start out of the gate this fall could fuel his chances of wearing the coveted Maple Leaf. It certainly helps that les Olympiques Head Coach Benoit Groulx will also be manning the bench for Team Canada this winter. One of just 10 QMJHL players in camp, Byron dinged his shoulder at the Sabres Development Camp a few weeks back, but is healed and ready to fly. SabresProspects looks to have more camp details as they become available.