ESTEVAN - Nearly 50 players were on the ice, looking to impress those with the Estevan Bruins’ organization, during the Black and Gold’s annual spring camp from Friday to Sunday at Affinity Place.
Head coach and general manager Jason Tatarnic said the players were divided into three teams and there was a lot of on-ice sessions for the young athletes to showcase their skills. After a few guys were injured Saturday, they dropped down to two teams on Sunday.
“We were pretty happy with the talent level that was there,” said Tatarnic.
The club was particularly impressed with some of their Saskatchewan talents. Kale Margolis, a 2006-born forward with the Tisdale U18 AAA Trojans program, his Trojans’ teammate Madden Wallace, who was born in 2005, and Steven Steranka, a 2007-born forward from the Regina Pat Canadians U18 AAA team, all had good camps, said Tatarnic.
Matthew Ronn, a 2005-born defenceman who started the season with the Bruins and then returned to the Canadians, looked really good, Tatarnic said.
Several local products had good camps, including some players from the Estevan Apex U18 AA Bruins, such as forward Spencer Copeland; and others from the Estevan Steelhaus U18 AAA Bears, including forward Carter Onrait, who was an affiliate player with the junior Bruins late in the season.
Defenceman Colton Pushie, who finished his minor hockey career with the Bears last season, had a good spring camp and earned an invite to the Bruins’ fall camp, while Jack Taylor, a 2007-born defenceman who will be with the Bears next season, was also at spring camp.
“We were looking at everything, at all positions, and we had some nice surprises,” said Tatarnic. “We had a couple of players from North Dakota who showed really well in Dillon Jackson and Mason Reynolds. When somebody catches your eye, as a forward or a defenceman, it doesn’t really matter, you always want to find good players.”
Jackson and Reynolds played high school hockey in Grand Forks last season. Jackson was a last-minute addition to the camp.
The club had four goalies at spring camp and Tatarnic said they will likely bring two of them back. Matteo Cavilla, a 2005-born goalie from Calgary, is the son of former Bruins’ netminder Colum Cavilla. Tatarnic and the elder Cavilla were teammates at one time in Europe.
Another 2005-born goalie, Casey Castleberry, had a good camp.
Tatarnic noted Wallis has already committed to the Bruins for next season, while Margolis has a good chance to play for the Bruins, too.
