Jr. Senators prospects camp.
Nearly 80 players, hopefuls and veterans alike, took to the ice at the Jim Durrell Complex from June 24-26 for the Ottawa Jr. Senators prospects camp.
Matthew Jay
For a team that missed the Central Canada Hockey League playoffs last season, there is a burgeoning sense of optimism surrounding the Ottawa Junior Senators this summer.
The club has a new coaching staff, including head coach and general manager Peter Ambroziak, a slew of young prospects secured in the recent CCHL draft and 16 players eligible to return from last year’s roster.
That sense of promise grew over the course of last weekend as the Jr. Senators hosted a prospect camp from June 24 to 26, which provided a chance for more than 60 players from Ontario, Quebec and the United States to show Ottawa’s coaches what they’ve got.
“The feedback from those who have been around for the last couple years is that they’re pretty excited because this is the most talented camp they’ve had in quite a few years,” said Ambroziak, who joined the team in April.
That’s no coincidence, he added. The team has tried to expand its scouting in an effort to locate and attract top talent from outside an area that is well scavenged by not only the other 11 clubs in the league, but major junior clubs as well.
“We put in that concerted effort to get some new faces in here,” Ambroziak said. “Kids from outside the area, outside the province, outside the country – we’ve got a lot of Americans in camp, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Despite the influx of players from outside the Ottawa area, some of the players that stood out during the three-day long series of on-ice sessions were several young forwards who played their hockey in Eastern Ontario. Ambroziak said he’d been particularly impressed by the team’s two bantam protected players, Hunter Racine and Ryan Kuffner, who both played for the Ottawa 67’s major bantam AAA last season, and top draft pick Bruno Cheff, who was with the Eastern Ontario Wild major bantam AAA club.
With a number of talented forwards expected to be in the Jr. Senator’s main camp in August, Ambroziak wants to focus his efforts on the blueline. Three of the team’s top five picks in the May 20 draft were defencemen.
“We’ve got a good core coming back, but look at (Owen) Werthner and (Liam) Burtt, two of our more experienced guys, they’re going to be done after this year,” he said. “You don’t want to start next season (2012-2013) starting fresh, especially on defence, so we’re going to try to get some younger kids in the lineup this year.”
The Jr. Senators have also beefed up behind the bench, welcoming back former associate coach Martin Dagenais, who spent the past two seasons as the head coach and GM of the Hawkesbury Hawks, and adding John Ambroziak as an associate coach and Eli Rassi as goaltending coach. John Ambroziak, brother of head coach Peter, is a Jr. Senators alum who also played for the Nepean Raiders.
The club is also in the midst of its summer fundraising efforts, which include a raffle draw and an annual golf tournament, hosted at eQuinelle Golf Club near Kemptville. The raffle sees golf memberships at eQuinelle and Thunderbird Golf and Country Club up for grabs, as well as winter memberships for the driving range at the Ben Franklin sports dome. Funds raised go to support the non-profit team’s operational and development efforts. For more information, call 613-248-1575 or visit the website at ottawajuniorsenators.com .